The First Report on Monitoring Russian Televisions: “Manipulation, Propaganda and Disinformation are Heavy on the Daily Agenda”

The Association of Independent Press (AIP) presented on Friday, April 28, the first report on monitoring the Russian televisions that are retransmitted on the territory of Moldova. The purpose of the monitoring was to analyze and publicly report on possible manipulation and information propaganda messages disseminated by the monitored media outlets with reference to the most important topics of the day at regional and international level.

The monitoring was conducted between March 27 and April 26, 2017, and the report contains data for the first two weeks. Overall, five televisions were monitored: Perviy Kanal, RTR, NTV, REN TV and CTC.

According to Petru Macovei, executive director of the AIP, and Nadine Gogu, executive director of the Independent Journalism Center (IJC), who coordinated the monitoring and worked on the report, several manipulation and propaganda techniques have been found, including biased presentation of events, exacerbation of facts, unilateral coverage based on a single source, selective presentation of information, manipulation of images, etc. To be more exact, the newscasts and information-and-analysis shows of the five outlets delivered and promoted pro-Russian, anti-Ukrainian, anti-European and anti-Occidental messages.

For example, Perviy Kanal most frequently sent messages such as: “Ukraine is weak, it breaks down and lies”; “Ukraine is seized by chaos”; “God is on Russia’s side”; “Russia should be more aggressive with Ukraine”; “Europe is getting weaker.” As for the behavior of hosts of shows on Perviy Kanal and REN TV, Petru Macovei mentioned that they express their views and take the liberty of interrupting experts in the studio: “Pro-Ukrainian guests are verbally assaulted without hosts intervening to stop it.”

The same situation has been found at the other three channels. “Many people are invited to the studio, sometimes up to 20, but most of them come with the same messages and the same position. To simulate a discussion, a debate, often one or two experts with a different opinion are invited. However, this opinion is often not heard. Because they are actually not given the microphone to answer,” Nadine Gogu said.

Based on the monitoring results, recommendations will be drafted for the Broadcasting Coordinating Council and for the Parliament of Moldova. Experts’ suggestions will focus primarily on the protection of the domestic information space and on countering of false and manipulating propaganda information.

Photo source: www.api.md