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Рy06 May 2015
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Gheorghe BUDEANU, journalist
Journalists have invited lately the civil society to discuss on securing the local information space - an issue that became a national priority since the Russian aggressive propaganda emerged in the former soviet countries. This issue has been repeatedly discussed after our country declared its independence, but several governments that came to power ignored it.
The military expansion of the Putin regime into Ukraine, including a Goebbels-like propagandistic expansion made the Chisinau Government realize the danger that menaces our country. But the bill aimed at amending the Broadcasting Code registered in the Parliament by a group of PD and PLDM MPs, on the ground of regulating the information space security, raised doubts in specialists, who believe it to be a reason to established thorough censorship mechanisms. Media, civil society and CCA representatives, journalists, sociologists and opinion leaders had a prompt reaction and launched several discussions, criticising the bill roughly; this lead to the postponement of the passing of the bill.
The ones that try to bury the bill on securing Moldova’s information space may soon regret this. It is high time our government, as well as the civil society learned their lesson from the ongoing atrocities in Ukraine during the last two years. Kremlin does not believe in tears and tries to reach its goals by all means, ignoring the standards of civilisation, including in respect to the information war against its neighbour country. Talking to several peers from Kiev, I realized Ukraine is now between Scylla and Charybdis when it comes to addressing Russian propagandistic attacks. On the one hand, the county wishes to join the European civilization and cannot to return like for like to Russia’s aggressive use of information. On the other hand, it makes Ukraine lose against the Eastern propaganda. It’s like facing a tank with a flower. The tank would only stop in a poem or in a romantic movie, but if the tank is Russian, it will not stop neither in a movie, nor in a poem…
The president of the Kiev press club, Iuri Peresunyko believes one of the errors in addressing the Russian propaganda is Ukraine’s reactiveness. He believes the country should take proactive steps instead, as propaganda must be stopped not only by interdictions and by revealing false statements, but also by addressing the country with its own well-made speeches.
After recovering from the early 1990s recession, Kremlin realised that to recreate its empire it needs to adopt a new military tactics. Thus, a “hybrid warfare” emerged, which it successfully implemented in Crimea, and then in Donbas. The Chief of the Russian Army Staff, Valeri Gherasimov, gave in February 2013 a clear explanation of what would be a “hybrid warfare”. He said war and peace are now notions “with almost erased boundaries” and that the methods of the conflict involve “massive political, economic, information, humanitarian and other non-military means”. All these measures may be supplemented by consolidating the “fifth column” created in the local population and with covered armed forces. Thus, the stake in this hybrid warfare is mainly on propaganda. Kremlin also admitted this, when allocating 643 million euros to support pro-Russian media institutions. Vladimir Putin himself revealed this figure during a seminar of the All Russia People’s Front.
It is the joint duty of both the authorities and the civil society to save the local media space as soon as possible by addressing the information war started by Russia. The civil society must take control over this issue and require the government to develop a program to address the Russian information war. I would even suggest a social movement: Stop the Russian propaganda!
The military expansion of the Putin regime into Ukraine, including a Goebbels-like propagandistic expansion made the Chisinau Government realize the danger that menaces our country. But the bill aimed at amending the Broadcasting Code registered in the Parliament by a group of PD and PLDM MPs, on the ground of regulating the information space security, raised doubts in specialists, who believe it to be a reason to established thorough censorship mechanisms. Media, civil society and CCA representatives, journalists, sociologists and opinion leaders had a prompt reaction and launched several discussions, criticising the bill roughly; this lead to the postponement of the passing of the bill.
The ones that try to bury the bill on securing Moldova’s information space may soon regret this. It is high time our government, as well as the civil society learned their lesson from the ongoing atrocities in Ukraine during the last two years. Kremlin does not believe in tears and tries to reach its goals by all means, ignoring the standards of civilisation, including in respect to the information war against its neighbour country. Talking to several peers from Kiev, I realized Ukraine is now between Scylla and Charybdis when it comes to addressing Russian propagandistic attacks. On the one hand, the county wishes to join the European civilization and cannot to return like for like to Russia’s aggressive use of information. On the other hand, it makes Ukraine lose against the Eastern propaganda. It’s like facing a tank with a flower. The tank would only stop in a poem or in a romantic movie, but if the tank is Russian, it will not stop neither in a movie, nor in a poem…
The president of the Kiev press club, Iuri Peresunyko believes one of the errors in addressing the Russian propaganda is Ukraine’s reactiveness. He believes the country should take proactive steps instead, as propaganda must be stopped not only by interdictions and by revealing false statements, but also by addressing the country with its own well-made speeches.
After recovering from the early 1990s recession, Kremlin realised that to recreate its empire it needs to adopt a new military tactics. Thus, a “hybrid warfare” emerged, which it successfully implemented in Crimea, and then in Donbas. The Chief of the Russian Army Staff, Valeri Gherasimov, gave in February 2013 a clear explanation of what would be a “hybrid warfare”. He said war and peace are now notions “with almost erased boundaries” and that the methods of the conflict involve “massive political, economic, information, humanitarian and other non-military means”. All these measures may be supplemented by consolidating the “fifth column” created in the local population and with covered armed forces. Thus, the stake in this hybrid warfare is mainly on propaganda. Kremlin also admitted this, when allocating 643 million euros to support pro-Russian media institutions. Vladimir Putin himself revealed this figure during a seminar of the All Russia People’s Front.
It is the joint duty of both the authorities and the civil society to save the local media space as soon as possible by addressing the information war started by Russia. The civil society must take control over this issue and require the government to develop a program to address the Russian information war. I would even suggest a social movement: Stop the Russian propaganda!
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The article was published within the Advocacy Campaigns Aimed at Improving Transparency of Media Ownership, Access to Information and promotion of EU values and integration project, implemented by the IJC, which is, in its turn, part of the Moldova Partnerships for Sustainable Civil Society project, implemented by FHI 360.
This article is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The content are the responsibility of author and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
This article is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The content are the responsibility of author and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
