Unveiling Truths: Understanding Media Manipulation Introduction

ARE TRUTHS IN THE EU STILL TRUE OUTSIDE THE EU?Indrė Vareikytė

TRADITIONAL TOOLS ANISSA NAOUAI, News Anchor and Senior International Correspondent for RT: "Russia Today" airs to a global audience. So it's not really watched in Russia; it's in English; … because they [our viewers] know very well, is that we have nothing to hide. People know where our funding comes from. We're "Russia Today." We're funded by the Kremlin.” Positive news are associated with Russia, while negative - with the West. All other sources of information are treated as unreliable. RT has the most Youtube videos of any news agency on the planet. Now available to more than 86 million cable subscribers in the United States alone. Boasts almost 2 million Facebook followers. 1 billion Youtube channel views. More than 1 million Youtube subscribers. Over 2,000 staffers. Is given more than $300 million each year by the government.

AFTER 20 MINUTES OF RUSSIAN MEDIA

NEWS REPORTING…

NEW TOOLS: OLD PRODUCT IN NEW PACKAGING “Foreign media are currently actively forming a negative image of the Russian Federation in the eyes of the global community,“Additionally, the discussions formed by comments to those articles are also negative in tone“. “Like any brand formed by popular opinion, Russia has its supporters (‘brand advocates’) and its opponents. The main problem is that in the foreign internet community, the ratio of supporters and opponents of Russia is about 20/80 respectively.” • On an avarage working day the blogger must: • Post on news articles - 50 times; • Maintain 6 Facebook accounts publishing at least 3 posts a day; • Discuss the news in groups at least twice a day; • By the end of the first month, they are expected to have won 500 subscribers and get at least five posts on each item a day; • On Twitter, the bloggers are expected to manage 10 accounts with up to 2,000 followers and tweet 50 times a day. The Internet Research Agency itself, founded last summer, now employs over 600 people and, is set to budget for over $10 million in 2014. Half of its budget is earmarked to be paid in cash.

HOW PROPAGANDA MACHINE WORKS The creation of an image of the mystical ‘they’ or enemies. Inclusion of religion. Pollution or saturation of all possible channels of information with own truth. Projection of bad deeds onto the opponent or application of own faults to the others. Rewriting of history or interpretation of historical events in a favorable light. Propaganda uses confusion or an attack on the opponent which cannot be refuted by counterarguments. Propaganda unavoidably employs populism, when the society is told what it wants to hear. Finding the scapegoat. Everything is crowned by purposeful confusion of meanings.

BALTIC STATES: SYSTEMATIC ACTIONS Russia has a number of advantages forimplementing a soft power strategy in itsneighbourhood: the presence of large Russianminorities; a shared history; cultural and linguisticproximity; a larger economy and energy resources. Moscow fundscultural programmes based on the idea of acommon identity, language and history in thepost-Soviet space, and tries to spread itsmessagesthrough well-resourced Kremlin-linkedmedia outlets. FirstBaltic Channel (PBK), which re-broadcasts thenews from Russia’s state-funded ChannelOne. In 2012, the total audience of PBK in theBaltics exceeded 4 millionviewers. Rossotrudnichestvo agency responsible forinternational development, as a way ofpromotingRussian values in recipient countries, to increase its budget from thecurrent 0.03 per cent of Russia’s GDP to 0.1 percent by 2020. A 2011 report published by the Centerfor Strategic and International Studies (CSIS),‘Russian Soft Power in the 21st Century’,estimated that this so-called Russkiy Mir (the Russian world) outside Russia consists of roughly35 million people, mainlyconcentrated in thepost-Soviet space.

TARGETS OF HOSTILE INFO ACTIVITY IN LTU History of Lithuania The Lithuanian Armed Forces NATO Lithuania's membership in NATO and the EU Energy sector LTU – POL relationship Culture Sport Abusedethnicminorities Lithuania prepares the RUS opposition fighters

Baltic trail at Kiev EuromaidanBlood of Euromaidan - on the hands of Baltic authorities. “…NATO dwarf armies are “empty place”, the land forces of the NATO can be destroyed by 1-2 brigades of Russian Army…” …NATO rapid reaction forces are quite small, and the rest of European armies are at very low level of readines, there is even a question if they have any military value at all…” The Alliance is actively preparing for attack on Russia from Baltic countries, which clearly can be seen in ongoing exercises The three Baltic "sisters" are directly related to the bloody events in the brotherly country.- ... Among dozens of instructors and agitators also works experts from the Baltic states, including from Lithuania… Rioters who died in Kiev, could be killed by NATO sniper As always, at the forefront of “hawks” - Lithuania.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS • Almost 95% of Russian media is controlled by the government. • Some 94% of Russians obtain their information primarily from state television. • Russian state executes power over mass media, synchronises messages for internal and external audiences, controls media agenda, narratives and thematic frames. • In year 2011 Russia spent 1,3 Billion USDon international propaganda - more than on unemployement. • The positive things are linked to patriotism and Russia and the negativethings are linked to the west, Ukraine and Euromaidan. • An illusion thatonly the state canoffertheir people safe and reliable information. • In November 2013, 53% of Russians said they would vote for a different candidate during the next election. After the annexation of Crimea, 86% now say they would re-elect Putin.

ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN Raising awareness and condemning disinformation Can disinformation be called journalism? A single EU TV channel? Implementation of the European Directive for Audiovisual Media Services Call for more EU involvement Internationally recognized rating system for disinformation The disinformation charter for Media and Bloggers

PROTEST AGAINST DISINFORMATION Abby Martin, anchor from Russia Today, reads a monolog explaining her own personal position about Russia meddling with the sovereignty of the Ukrainian people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZolXrjGIBJs Liz Wahl, another news anchor in Russia Today, resigned the next day after the show with these words: "And that is why, personally, I cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions of Putin” "And that is why, after this newscast, I'm resigning” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55izx6rbCqg

Unveiling Truths: Understanding Media Manipulation Introduction