Russia Disinformation Digest Friday 22 April 2016

• News: No adverts on disinformation sites
• Analysis: Answers from the President
• News: Reports without Borders warns of “era of propaganda”
• Analysis: Too successful?
• Friday fun: The most watched TV show in the universe

No adverts on disinformation sites

A brand new method for fighting the challenge of pro-Kremlin disinformation campaigns was presented this week in Slovakia by a group of private companies, academics and journalists, major Slovak newspaper SME informs.

Companies that want to keep their brand away from suspicious websites will have a new tool for that – the new website konspiratori.sk aggregates sites with “non-credible, deceitful, conspirational or propagandistic content”. The site is run by a marketing agency, NetSuccess.

“Lies, nonsense, and unfounded information have become a part of our everyday life. But why should our agency, or our clients, support it?” explains the director of the project, Ján Urbančík. The initiative is supported by many of the biggest agencies in the country and the list of supporters is growing. A special committee identifies the conspiracy or disinformation outlets – among the twelve members are not only people from the marketing business, but also journalists, academics, or civic activists.

Answers from the President

Last week, President Putin held his traditional annual phone-in Question and Answer session, which was broadcast live by Russian government-controlled TV and radio stations.
This year a series of independent Russian media analysed Putin’s speech: Independent investigative website The Insider ran an article covering also the claim that Mr Roldugin spent the funds in his offshore account on musical instruments, reminding readers that the Panama papers reveal where the money had actually been spent. Independent, internet-based Slon ran the headline “Checking language. Putin’s 15 mistakes during his Q&A.”
One of the errors resulted in an official correction from Putin’s spokesman Peskov who apologized for the President’s claim that Süddeutsche Zeitung should be owned by Goldman Sachs. In Vladimir Soloviev’s Sunday night talk show, Peskov took responsibility for the mistake having found its ways into the President’s briefing note, adding that the mistake led to “trouble” with his boss: “I wish for no one to be criticized by the President.”
On a less critical note, government-owned news wire RIA Novosti published an articleabout the international coverage of Putin’s Questions & Answers. RIA asks rhetorically if western leaders are capable of such long live media appearances (the Q&A lasted three hours and 39 minutes, and the president answered a total of 80 questions) and suggests that it is an indication of Russian democracy.

Reporters Without Borders warn of “an era of propaganda”

“Media freedom has declined steadily in the post-Soviet region” amidst a “new era of propaganda”, warn Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in their annual World Press Freedom Index, released on 20 April. While attacks on journalistic freedom intensified in many authoritarian regimes, Russia’s score in 2016 reached its worst performance to date, putting it on place 148 out of the 180 countries evaluated.
According to RSF’s analysis, the survival of independent news coverage in under threat from ideologies hostile to media freedom. RSF says: “It is unfortunately clear that many of the world’s leaders are developing a form of paranoia about legitimate journalism.” In addition, Reporters Without Borders highlight that “throughout the world, ‘oligarchs’ are buying up media outlets and are exercising pressure that compounds the pressure already coming from governments.”
Prominent democracy advocacy group Freedom House has also drawn attention to the information war the Kremlin has been conducting since 2014: “Russia’s occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine helped to drive an increase in propagandistic content in the Russian news media and tighter restrictions on dissenting views,” it said in its 2015 report.
The image below shows the global evaluation of press freedom by Reporters without Borders.

Too successful?

News about media in Russia may indicate the balance of power in a market divided between state media; private, but state-loyal outlets; politically neutral media and critical sources.
This week RBC, owned by Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov and one of the most successful neutral media, found itself under what many perceived as pressure from the authorities. Although it was the critical opposition media flagship Novaya Gazeta that made the Russian contribution to the Panama Papers investigation, RBC relayed Novaya’s results, most notably the names of President Putin’s personal friends.
When offices of Prokhorov’s companies were raided last week, Russian media speculated that the raids were a message to the oligarch that a red line had been crossed for Russia’s most popular online media. While many focused on the raids as a political warning sign, two anonymous sources quoted by independent TV Dozhdinterpreted the raids as pressure on Mr Prokhorov to sell RBC, which is successful, but also heavily indebted.