At first glance, it seems like Lifenews published the scoop of the century, and Belgium ignored a prophetic warning from both Russian media and security services.
However, just hours after the attack, Radio Svaboda, the Belarusian service of Radio Liberty, and Euroradio published interviews on with Aleksey and Ivan Dovbash, the “suicide bombers” named by Lifenews. “If,” as one of the brothers said, “we are suicide bombers, why are we are still alive? If we are terrorists, then why have they not arrested us?” They went on to rebut the accusation that they had traveled to Syria. Per the interviews, Aleksey Dovbash did convert to Islam, but he is far from a terrorist who fought in Syria, as Lifenews reported. The brothers even went to the police after the Lifenews accusations, but were told that the accusations were just “rumors” and that there was no suspicion against them.
Unless Radio Svaboda and Euroradio are being lied to, these brothers are innocent, and Lifenews falsely accused them of being responsible for dozens of deaths in Brussels. A survey of Russian and Belarusian media coverage of the “Belarusian terrorists” reveals that, in nearly every case, only three sources were cited: Lifenews, in their accusations against the brothers and Yunusov, Sputnik, from their report with Belarusian security services, and TUT.by (archive), a Belarusian media outlet that spoke with the brothers’ family members.
- Lenta.ru cited Lifenews (archive)
- RBC cited TUT.by, Lifenews, and Sputnik (archive)
- Ekho Moskvy reported on the “arrest” of three Belarusian citizens, citing Lifenews (archive)
- Meduza cited Lifenews, Sputnik, and TUT.by (archive)
- RIA Novosti cited Sputnik and Lifenews (archive)
- Izvestiya cited Sputnik (archive)
Most media outlets quickly updated their stories after the interviews on Radio Svaboda and Euroradio were published.
Considering the track record of Lifenews, which often reports breaking news to the detriment of both truth and taste, there should have been additional scrutiny of such an exact claim of the guilt of three “terrorists.” Significant praise should be given to Radio Svaboda and Euroradio for using social media to locate and reach out to the accused brothers in order to correct the irresponsible and borderline, if not outright, libelous accusations of Lifenews.
Source: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2016/03/22/lifenews-belarusian-brothers/
Filed under: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, Active Measures, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Propaganda, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, counter-propaganda, CounterPropaganda, information warfare, propaganda, Russia, Russian propaganda
