How Does a Russian Talking Point End Up on Fux Noise? One Researcher Has an Idea.
Russia’s war effort in Ukraine began years ago, but it has often raged out of view. Organized disinformation campaigns against Ukraine have been pervasive, with extensive hacking and practical operations similar to ones that targeted U.S. elections in 2016 in favor of Donald Trump. Now there is some evidence Russia’s manufactured narrative about the current war on the ground in Ukraine is reaching America, too.
Jane Lytvynenko has made it her job to monitor, identify, and study such disinformation campaigns as a senior research fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard. She was born in Ukraine and still has close family there, and told me she hasn’t slept in weeks. With full-scale war now underway, we talked about what the disinformation campaign against Ukraine looks like, its impact, and how to spot its influence in American outlets. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
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Do you have any theory of why some right-wing media in America and elsewhere would be receptive to this disinformation?
That’s a really difficult question. Of course, it doesn’t just happen out of nowhere. It has to do with the 2016 election and Russia’s interference. Russian’s interference played a central role in politicizing the country. But we saw a consistent narrative that Russia hadn’t done anything wrong, or their various disinformation campaigns, hacking campaigns, cyber attacks were all fabricated. I would guess that a part of that is an extension of the politicization on this issue that has stemmed from 2016.
But what the 2016 election proved is Russian disinformation knows no borders. We’ve also seen Russia spread false information around various elections around the world, not just the U.S.’s. And there was, in 2014, an international disinformation campaign after the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine in order for Russia to deny culpability. Russia was not above spreading false disinformation about that huge tragedy. Keeping that context in mind, there’s no way that they won’t continue spreading false information aggressively about Ukraine.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/how-does-a-russian-talking-point-end-up-on-fox-news-one-researcher-has-an-idea/ar-AAUjLeC