I’ve had one direct encounter with each of these government run media operations.
RT
RT is operated by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
At some point in around 2015 I was contacted by someone from RT in London. They wanted to interview me about the sanctions which had been imposed on Russia following the annexation of Crimea. They had obviously found this blog (then in a previous incarnation, with less emphasis on IR theory), and, seeing that I was critical of the Western position had decided I might be useful for a quick segment. At this time they would from time to time interview Western bloggers. I had a preliminary chat with the producer. It turned out that she had a very specific aim in mind. She wanted me to say something specific about the effect of financial sanctions. I can’t remember exactly what, but the gist was that they were ineffective. I pointed out that I had no expertise in the field of finance but she went ahead anyway. The interview started with a few questions I felt I could answer, and then she asked me her key question. I temporized and answered vaguely. I didn’t check, but I am quite sure they didn’t carry the segment. The point is I was not being interviewed for my opinions or expertise, (I had none in this field); I was being directed to produce a specific line.
Radio Free Europe
This media organisation is funded by the US State Department.
At some point during the Covid pandemic I was in the Republic of Tatarstan, in Russia. Probably in 2020. I had gone to visit the site of Bolghar – an archaeological site of world historical significance on the Volga river, a few hours drive from Kazan. The site was the capital of the Volga Bulgarians, the forerunners of the Tatar people, who had a kingdom in this region, until it was overrun by the Mongols in the 13th century. There were not many people about. Someone approached me, carrying a reasonably professional looking video camera, and introduced himself as a journalist. He asked if he could interview me about the pandemic. I agreed. He asked me a few introductory questions, but then he asked his main question. This was very much a leading question and he was trying to get me to say that I was panicking about Covid and felt that I could not rely on the authorities. I clearly said I wasn’t panicking. After the interview he said he was from Radio Free Europe. Once again; I had failed to produce the required piece and I very much doubt the segment was carried. (Also; I was speaking in very broken Russian and obviously not a Russian speaker). Again, I was being directed to produce a pre-planned segment.
After that I looked at Radio Free Europe’s website in Russia. One article caught my eye; it was based on an interview with a Russian woman who had a disabled child. She was complaining that the government was spending all the money on arms and not on social payments for people like her. (This was in 2020).
The similarities and differences between RT and Radio Free Europe
RT has a clear editorial policy and one can infer its strategic purpose. The stories tend to focus on and amplify discontent and dissidence in Western countries. Stories may cover some dissident movements, but then something negative about that dissident movement may also be reported. The aim is not to promote, for example, one particular dissident movement over Western governments. The aim appears to be to amplify discontent in general. It seems that the aim is to neutralise popular trust in and support for their governments amongst the Western populations. Nothing else is promoted in the place of the current governments. This ends up leaving the overall effect as being rather negative.
In contrast, Radio Free Europe, has an editorial line which pushes a single line and message. The message is that the Russian government is not a government for the people, that it betrays the people and does not represent their interests. The people know what they want, (e.g. a competent response to the pandemic, more social spending and less on defence) but their government is not delivering it. I haven’t studied Radio Free Europe in detail and haven’t, in fact, looked at it for some time. But this seemed to be the line in 2020. The implication of this editorial line is clear; the Russian people deserve a better government, which actually reflects what they want. Strategically, it is aiming at regime change. One can see how this line aligns with the way that the West promoted “democratic” Navalny as the “main opposition” in Russia. It is a regime change propaganda operation and aims to serve US strategic interests by installing a ‘friendly’ regime in Moscow.
RT and Radio Free Europe have differing editorial lines and ultimately different strategic aims. However; both share much in common. Both use journalistic methods; field interviews and research and so on. They are both funded by the Foreign Ministry of their respective governments and carry out political aims set by those Ministries. They are both therefore bona fide media organisations in as much as they do do real journalism. But they differ from the ideal of journalism in that their task is not to reveal and uncover the ‘truth’, but to carry out political and strategic interventions in other countries on behalf of the Foreign Policy body of their own country. At this point I have to note that I am not implying, for example, a direct comparison with, say Sky News, with the latter being a bona fide news organisation and RT or Radio Free Europe not. As readers of this site will be aware, part of the analysis we frequently return to is that the “free” media in the West is an arm of the financial-corporate-state and, in general, produces propaganda narratives to suit the aims of this bloc. It seems we can talk about a spectrum; RT and Radio Free Europe are special cases but they exist on a spectrum in which journalism is typically subjugated to produce required narratives by one force or another.
Concluding Remarks
My motive for writing this short piece is to comment on the narrative in the West, especially in Europe, about “Russian media influence campaigns”, by which they mean RT. Yes; RT is a political operation. But then, so is Radio Free Europe, produced by our US ‘allies’, and there really is no difference. If RT is terrible then so is Radio Free Europe. (You could construct an argument that Radio Free Europe is ‘worse’, because it specially aims at overturning the Russian government which is a step further than just making people lose faith in their political system, but for my purposes here that is not the point).Yet, European politician after European politician endlessly make this argument about “awful Russian interference” as if this kind of interference is unique to Russia. This is an example of the irrationality which governs the thinking of European political leaders.
Media Studies: Question. Do you agree with the analysis here? Can you do your own comparison by looking at a selection of articles from both publications?