Towards Transformation of Communication Strategy in Dealing with Russian Propaganda

Year 2021, Volume: 18 Issue: 39, 727 - 749, 01.07.2021

Eduard Melnikau

https://doi.org/10.26466/opus.783555

Abstract

The article claims that there are other no less effective than purely “military” methods of successful opposing Putin’s propaganda both in Russia and abroad and aims at providing alternative approach towards organizing mass communication systems designed to change the situation both in Russia and the whole post-Soviet area. The article starts with the analysis of the transformation of “Soviet idea” into “Russian idea” and the KGB concept “active measures”. Then specifics of modern Russian media and its role in “hybrid warfare” are revealed. Finally, possible approaches in dealing with Russian propaganda are discussed. Authors conclude that stereotypes of Putin’s propaganda cannot be eradicated by purely “military”, “counter-propaganda” methods. Instead, it is necessary to break the vicious identity of both Russian mentality and Russian government. This can be done only by presenting the reality of Russian life through live examples, personal experience as well as by the development of constructive psychological stereotypes.

Keywords

Russian idea, Putin’s propaganda, hybrid warfare, active measures.

Rus Propagandasıyla Mücadelede İletişim Stratejisinin Dönüşümüne Doğru

Abstract

Bu makale, hem Rusya'da hem de yurtdışında Putin'in propagandasına karşı başarılı bir şekilde “askeri” yöntemlerden daha az etkili olmayan başka yöntemler olduğunu iddia etmekte ve Sovyet bölgesinde hem Rusya'daki durumu hem de olası Rusya sonrası durumu değiştirmek için tasarlanmış kitle iletişim sistemlerini organize etmeye alternatif bir yaklaşım sağlamayı hedefliyor. Ayrıca makale, “Sovyet fikrinin” “Rus fikrine” dönüşümünün ve KGB kavramının “aktif önlemler”in analiziyle başlarken sonrası için de öngörüler ve kestirimler içermektedir. Ardından modern Rus medyasının özellikleri ve “hibrit savaş”taki rolünü ortaya çıkarmak amacıyla yeni bir yaklaşımı ortaya koymaya çalışmaktadır. Son olarak, Rus propagandasıyla ilgili olası yaklaşımlar tartışılarak analitik bir çözümleme yapma çabası gerçekleştirilmiştir. Yazar, Putin'in propagandasının klişelerinin tamamen “askeri”, “karşı propaganda” yöntemlerle ortadan kaldırılamayacağı sonucuna varırken yapılan analiz sonrasında bunun yerine, hem Rus zihniyetinin hem de Rus hükümetinin kısır kimliğini kırmak gerekliliğinin altını çizmiştir. Bu, ancak Rus yaşamının gerçekliğini canlı örnekler, kişisel deneyimler ve yapıcı psikolojik stereotiplerin geliştirilmesi yoluyla sunarak yapılabilir.

Keywords

Rus fikri, Putin, hibrit savaş, aktif önlemler

References

• Abd Kadir, Shamsiah, Mohd Lokman, Anitawati, and Tsuchiya, T, (2016). Emotion and techniques of propaganda in youtube videos. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 9(1), 1-8. Available from: http://www.indjst.org/index.php/indjst/article/view/106841
• Abrams, Steve (2016). Beyond propaganda: Soviet active measures in Putin’s Russia. Connections: The Quarterly Journal, 15(1), 5-31. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.11610/Connections.15.1.01.
• Aktas, H. (2017). Taxonomy of hybrid warfare: A perceptional analysis. Available from: https://www.behorizon.org/taxonomy-of-hybrid-warfare/. [22 September 2017].
• Vedomosty (2019). Almost 60% of Russians favor decisive changes in the country. Available from: https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/ar-ticles/2019/11/05/815494-pochti-60-rossiyan
• Cockburn, A. (1974). The first law of journalism: To confirm existing prejudice, rather than contradict it. Quote n.d., A-Z Quotes. Available from: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/609531.
• Bershidsky, L. (2019). Putin ne smog vernut lubov Rossii. Inosmi.ru 21.12.2019. Available from: https://inosmi.ru/politic/20191221/246458988.html
• Broad, W. (2020). Putin’s long war against American science NYT, Available from: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/science/putin-russia-disinformation-health-coronavirus.html
• Center for European Policy Analysis, (2017, April). Winning the information war redux: Techniques and counterstrategies to Russian Propaganda in Central and Eastern Europe. Available from: https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/644196_264a764d8fc04714a883355f4ac682b9.pdf.
• Chadwick, A. (2017). The hybrid media system: politics and power. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Available from: https://www.andrewchadwick.com/hybrid-media-system-second-edition
• Freedom House (2013). Contending with Putin’s Russia: A Call for American Leadership. 06.02.2013. Available from: https://freedomhouse.org/si-tes/default/files/2020-02/SR_Contending_with_Putins_Russia_PDF-.pdf
• Demurin, M. (2019) Raspad SSSR: Pochemu eto katastrofa I pochemu ne “blagoslovenie. [The collapse of the USSR: why is it a disaster and why is not a “blessing”] Available from: https://regnum.ru/news/po-lit/2664404.html ; “V RAN proschitali scenarii raspada Rossii” [The RAS calculated the collapse of Russia]. Ex-Press, 04.12.2019 Available from: https://ex-press.by/rubrics/v-mire/2019/12/04/v-ran-proschitali-scenarii-raspada-rossii
• Dougherty, J. (2015). How the media became one of Putin’s most powerful weapons. The Atlantic, 21 April 2015 Available from: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/04/how-the-media-became-putins-most-powerful-weapon/391062/.
• Franklin, B. and Carlson, M. (eds) (2011). Journalists, sources and credibility: New perspectives. New York: Routledge.
• Haridakis, P., Hugenberg, B. and Wearden, S. (2009). War and the media: Essays on news reporting, propaganda and popular culture. McFarland, Jefferson, N.C. Available at: https://www.worldcat.org/title/war-and-the-media-essays-on-news-reporting-propaganda-and-popular-culture/oclc/386706606.
• Kornienko, A., Kornienko, A., Fofanov, O. and Chubik, M., (2015). The nature of knowledge power in communicative information Society, Procedia. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 166, 595–600. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.12.579.
• Novye izvestiya (2018). Lenin byl prav: russkije vedut sebia kak shovinisty [Lenin was right: Russians are acting like chauvinists] Novye izvestiya, 05 June 2018. Available from: https://newizv.ru/news/society/05-06-2018/lenin-byl-prav-russkie-vedut-sebya-kak-shovinisty.
• Nastoyashchee vremia (2016). Levada: tret’ rossijan – za to, chtoby ne puskat’ v stranu kavkazcev i zhitelej Central’noj Azii [Levada: third of Russians are in favour of not accepting Caucasians and residents of Central Asia] 2016, Nastoyashchee vremia, 11 October 2016. Available from: https://www.currenttime.tv/a/28045092.html.
• Luzin, P. (2019). How successful is Russia’s military propaganda media? The Moscow Times 10.07.2019. Available from: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/07/10/how-successful-russias-military-propaganda-media-a66337
• Macdonald, S. (2007). Propaganda and information warfare in the twenty-first century: altered images and deception operations. Routledge, London; New York. Available at: https://www.psywar.org/macdonald.php Magda, Y. (2015). Hibrid war: Survive and win. Vivat Publishing, Kharkiv, 10.
• Miller, D. (2004). Information dominance: The philosophy of total propaganda control? In War and the Media: Essays on News Reporting, Propaganda: A Global Perspective. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, inc. Oxford, UK, 7-10. Available from: https://rowman.com/ISBN/97814616-46846/War-Media-and-Propaganda-A-Global-Perspective
• Mochar, K. (2019). Strategia Putina – vnutrennye problem Rossii reshaem cherez vneshnye [Putin Strategy – Russian Internal problems are solved though external]. Irex.ru, 29.10.2019. Available from: https://iarex.ru/articles/71934.html
• Nagy, P. M. , (2000). The meltdown of the Russian state: The deformation and collapse of the state in Russia. Edward Elgar Pub, Cheltenham, UK ; Northampton, MA. Available from: https://books.google.by/book-s?hl=ru&lr=&id=YA aa_4KsE4C&oi=fnd&pg=PR6&dq=collapse+of+-the+Russian+Statehood&ots=U_GnhMkspG&sig=0oupYSqsGuqHGk43ziQWqZ6ix0w&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=collapse%20of%20the%20Russian%20Statehood&f=false
• Nardelli, A., Rankin, J. and Arnett, G.(2015). Vladimir Putin’s approval rating at record levels. The Guardian, 23 July 2015. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/datablog/2015/jul/23/vladimir-putins-approval-rating-at-record-levels
• Deutschlandfunk (2016). Nemeckij politik: “Obraz vraga nuzen Kremliu, chtoby otvlech rossian ot problem [German politician: Kremlin needs “Image of the Enemy” to distract Russians from problems]. Deutschlandfunk, 07.10. 2016. Available from: https://russian.rt.com/inotv/2016-10-07/Nemeckij-politik-Obraz-vraga-nuzhen
• Nisnevich, Y (2007). Problemy gosudarstvennoj informacionnoj politiki Rossii v uslovijah postindustrial’nogo razvitija [Problems of the state information policy of Russia in the conditions of post-industrial development] in Rossija: tendentsii i perspektivy razvitija [Russia: trends and perspectives of development]. Vypusk 2, pp. 241-243. INION RAN, Moskva. Available from: .https://publications.hse.ru/chap-ters/68171600
• Oates, S. (2016). Russian media in the digital age: Propaganda Rewired, Russian Politics, 1(4), 398–417. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1163/2451-8921-00104004.
• Odobreniye institutov vlasti (2019, 05 July). [Approval of government institutions] Available from: https://www.levada.ru/2019/07/05/odob-renie-institutov-vlasti-14/.
• Osipova, N. and Byrd, A. (2017). Inside Russia’s network of bots and tpoll. The NY Times, 31.10.2017. Available from: https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000005414346/how-russian-bots-and-trolls-invade-our-lives-and-elections.html?smid=pl-share
• Ottosen, R., (2009). Video games as war propaganda: Can peace journalism offer an alternative approach In Ross, SD & Tehranian, M (eds), Peace journalism in times of war, pp. 93-110. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick (U.S.A.).
• Panov, P. (2010). Nation-Building in Post-Soviet Russia: What kind of nationalism is produced by the Kremlin?. Journal of Eurasian Studies, 1(2), 85–94. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eur-as.2010.04.001.
• RISS (2014). Patriotism kak ideologia vozrozdenia Rossii: sbornik statej I dokladov [Patriotism as an ideology of the revival of Russia: compilation of articles and reports]. M.:RISS, 2014, 9; 11; 27. Available from: https://riss.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Patriot._ves-tekst.pdf
• Paul, C. and Matthews, M. (2016). The Russian ‘Firehose of Falsehood’ propaganda model: Why it might work and options to counter it. RAND Corporation. Available from: http://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html.
• Rankin, J. (2020). Russian media ‘spreading Covid-19 disinformation. Guardian, 18.03.2020. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/18/russian-media-spreading-covid-19-disinformation
• DW (2019). Reiting doverija Putinu dostig rekordno nizkogo urovnia [Putin’s confidence rating reaches record low], DW, 25.05.2019, DW.COM. Available from: https://www.dw.com/ru/рейтинг-доверия-путину-достиг-рекордно-низкого-уровня/a-48874105
• Shamsiah, A. K., Anitawati, M. L. and Toshio, T. (2016). Emotion and Techniques of Propaganda in YouTube Videos. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 9(S1), December 2016. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7996/273d350adef8105287dbce0584e340e9022f.pdf
• Shcipicyn J.B., Shcipicyna A.J. (2018). Gibridnaja” vojna: modelirovanie informacionnyh polej [“Gibrid Warfare: Information Fields Modeling]. Ekaterinburg.
• Sluzba monitoringa Fonda zashchity glasnosti. Available from: http://www.gdf.ru/monitoring
• Soules, M. (2015). Media, persuasion and propaganda. Media topics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Starikevich A. (2019). Tsunami dezinformatsii: kak otvechaet Zapad – Salidarnasć [Tsunami of disinformation: how the West responds]” – Salidarnosc, 05 December 2019. Available from: https://gazetaby.com/post/czunami-dezinformacii-kak-otvechaet-zapad/158801/.
• Sussman, G.(2011). The propaganda society: Promotional culture and politics in global context. Peter Lang, New York. Available from: https://www.amazon.com/Propaganda-Society-Promotional-Frontiers-Communication/dp/1433109964
• AdIndex.ru (2017). Tendentsii rossijskogo teleefira [Trends in Russian television] 10 October 2017, Available from: https://adindex.ru/publication/ana-litics/channels/2017/10/10/166352.phtml.
• Tolz, V., and Chatterje-Dooddy, P.(2018). Four things you need to know about Russian media manipulation. Available from: https://theconversation.com/four-things-you-need-to-know-about-russian-media-manipulation-strategies-94307
• Rbc.ru (2019). Uroven odobrenia Stalina rossianami pobil istoricheskie record. [The level of approval of Stalin by Russians broke a historical record]. rbc.ru, 16.04.2019. Aviable at: https://www.rbc.ru/politics/-16/04/2019/5cb0bb979a794780a4592d0c
• Veebel, V. and Markus, R. (2016). Will sanctions against Russia be successful: will Russia fall before Ukraine? Journal of security and Sustainability Issues, 5(4), 465-480. Available from: https://doi.org/10.9770/js-si.2016.5.4(1).
• Van Herpen, M. (2016). Putin’s Propahanda Machine. Soft Power and Russian Foreign Policy. Rowman & Littlefield, London-NY, 2016, 1.
• Vladimirov A. (2015). Gibridnye vojny v obscchej teorii vojny. Russian Ministry of Defense, 28.01.2015, 3. Available from: http://kadet.ru.skyline.mtw.ru/lichno/vlad_v/Gibridn_voiny_VUMORF_28.012015.pdf
• Haridakis, P. M., Hugenberg, B., S. and Wearden, S.T. (2009). War and the Media: Essays on News Reporting, Propaganda and Popular Culture. McFarland & Company, inc., publishers. SA.
• Kamalipour, Y. R. (2004). War, Media, and Propaganda. A Global Perspective. Oxford, UK, 2004.
• Woolley, S. and Howard, P. (2016). Automation, algorithms, and politics|political communication, computational propaganda, and autonomous agents — introduction, International Journal of Communication, 10, 4882–4890. Available from: https://ijoc.org/index-.php/ijoc/article/view/6298/1809
• Zollmann, F. (2019). Bringing Propaganda Back into News Media Studies, Critical Sociology, 45(3), 329–345. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920517731134.