Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Russia Today" in Simple English language version.
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Soviet-born British journalist Peter Pomerantsev documented the typical newsroom antics in one of Russia's largest propaganda outlets, RT News (formerly known as Russia Today). When his acquaintance composed a piece that referenced the Soviet Union's occupation of Estonia in 1945, the writer was chewed out by his boss, who maintained the belief that Russians saved Estonia. Any other descriptions of the events of 1945 were unacceptable assaults on Russia's integrity, apparently, so the boss demanded that he amend his text.
Ruptly, a subsidiary of RT that specializes in video, has 230,000 likes on Facebook, 52,000 Twitter followers, and 304,000 YouTube subscribers in the UK.
However, when it comes to disinformation from state-controlled media sources platforms' options are more limited. Most often channels like Russia's RT and Iran's PressTV do not technically violate a platform's terms of service and so cannot be removed. However, they still play a vital role in the disinformation ecosystem. Not only do they put out disinformation through their websites and social media channels, they are key nodes in coordinated campaigns, as well. For instance, the content originally posted on RT will be reposted down a chain of websites until it appears to be an organic article on an American outlet (Nimmo, 2017).
The impact of Russian state-controlled news outlets—which are frequent sources of pro-Kremlin disinformation—is concentrated in one, highly popular news outlet, RT. [...] When it comes to overt reach, the Russian government openly funds English-speaking outlets, such as Sputnik News and RT. These outlets serve as a frequent source of pro-Kremlin disinformation both according to scholars, fact-checkers and Western authorities (BBC, 2019; Elliot, 2019; Thornton, 2015).
State or state-friendly media in Russia—Life News, NTV, Channel One Russia, and Russia 24—disseminate not just the Kremlin's narratives but also outright fakery to domestic audiences and those in the Russian-speaking space. These outlets spread the same stories via social media as well. RT, meanwhile, pushes this manipulated content out to international audiences.
Among the conspiratorial ideas that feature in RT's broadcasts, two types are of particular interest: the first includes genuinely American conspiracy theories; and the second includes ideas of conspiracy in relations between the US and Russia. The analysis of these two types of conspiracy theories offers an opportunity to explore how they are employed to undermine US domestic and foreign policies.
Across our interviews, our respondents agreed that the goals of the channel since 2008 have been and still are as follows. First, to push the idea that Western countries have as many problems as Russia. Second, to encourage conspiracy theories about media institutions in the West in order to discredit and delegitimize them. This is clearly adherent to the channel's "Questions More" slogan. Third, to create controversy and to make people criticize the channel, because it suggests that the channel is important, an approach that would particularly help RT managers get more funding from the government.
Particularly in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine that erupted in 2013–2014, the Kremlin has been accused of orchestrating disinformation campaigns against the Ukrainian government and western countries by using online trolls and state-controlled online outlets such as RT (formerly known as Russia Today), Sputnik and Life News.
However, when it comes to disinformation from state-controlled media sources platforms' options are more limited. Most often channels like Russia's RT and Iran's PressTV do not technically violate a platform's terms of service and so cannot be removed. However, they still play a vital role in the disinformation ecosystem. Not only do they put out disinformation through their websites and social media channels, they are key nodes in coordinated campaigns, as well. For instance, the content originally posted on RT will be reposted down a chain of websites until it appears to be an organic article on an American outlet (Nimmo, 2017).
Notorious examples of fake news masquerading as news can be found in reports broadcast on the U.S. cable news channel Fox News (Schram & Fording, 2018) and the Russian international television network RT (Russia Today; Dowling, 2017). Thus, there are also a number of fake news reports published by traditional media outlets (White, 2017), generating a consequent increase in distrust for traditional journalism (Siddique, 2018).
For comparative purposes, we also included two prominent Russian news sites which have featured in European policy discussions around disinformation, namely Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik. These Russian state-backed organisations are clearly different from sites that engage in for-profit fabrication of false news, but both independent fact-checkers and the EU's European External Action Service East Stratcom Task Force have identified multiple instances where these sites have published disinformation.
State or state-friendly media in Russia—Life News, NTV, Channel One Russia, and Russia 24—disseminate not just the Kremlin's narratives but also outright fakery to domestic audiences and those in the Russian-speaking space. These outlets spread the same stories via social media as well. RT, meanwhile, pushes this manipulated content out to international audiences.
Across our interviews, our respondents agreed that the goals of the channel since 2008 have been and still are as follows. First, to push the idea that Western countries have as many problems as Russia. Second, to encourage conspiracy theories about media institutions in the West in order to discredit and delegitimize them. This is clearly adherent to the channel's "Questions More" slogan. Third, to create controversy and to make people criticize the channel, because it suggests that the channel is important, an approach that would particularly help RT managers get more funding from the government.
Particularly in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine that erupted in 2013–2014, the Kremlin has been accused of orchestrating disinformation campaigns against the Ukrainian government and western countries by using online trolls and state-controlled online outlets such as RT (formerly known as Russia Today), Sputnik and Life News.
State or state-friendly media in Russia—Life News, NTV, Channel One Russia, and Russia 24—disseminate not just the Kremlin's narratives but also outright fakery to domestic audiences and those in the Russian-speaking space. These outlets spread the same stories via social media as well. RT, meanwhile, pushes this manipulated content out to international audiences.
Among the conspiratorial ideas that feature in RT's broadcasts, two types are of particular interest: the first includes genuinely American conspiracy theories; and the second includes ideas of conspiracy in relations between the US and Russia. The analysis of these two types of conspiracy theories offers an opportunity to explore how they are employed to undermine US domestic and foreign policies.
Among the conspiratorial ideas that feature in RT's broadcasts, two types are of particular interest: the first includes genuinely American conspiracy theories; and the second includes ideas of conspiracy in relations between the US and Russia. The analysis of these two types of conspiracy theories offers an opportunity to explore how they are employed to undermine US domestic and foreign policies.
The impact of Russian state-controlled news outlets—which are frequent sources of pro-Kremlin disinformation—is concentrated in one, highly popular news outlet, RT. [...] When it comes to overt reach, the Russian government openly funds English-speaking outlets, such as Sputnik News and RT. These outlets serve as a frequent source of pro-Kremlin disinformation both according to scholars, fact-checkers and Western authorities (BBC, 2019; Elliot, 2019; Thornton, 2015).
Notorious examples of fake news masquerading as news can be found in reports broadcast on the U.S. cable news channel Fox News (Schram & Fording, 2018) and the Russian international television network RT (Russia Today; Dowling, 2017). Thus, there are also a number of fake news reports published by traditional media outlets (White, 2017), generating a consequent increase in distrust for traditional journalism (Siddique, 2018).
Particularly in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine that erupted in 2013–2014, the Kremlin has been accused of orchestrating disinformation campaigns against the Ukrainian government and western countries by using online trolls and state-controlled online outlets such as RT (formerly known as Russia Today), Sputnik and Life News.
