"Given the size and scope of the Russian propaganda campaign that targeted the U.S. electorate in 2016, it is critical to understand both the impact of that campaign and the mechanisms that can reduce the impact of future campaigns. This report, the third in a four-part series, describes a study con
...
ducted by RAND researchers to assess how people react to and engage with Russia’s online propaganda and to determine whether the negative effects of that engagement can be mitigated by brief media literacy advisories or by labeling the source of the propaganda. Russia targets the extremes on both sides of the political divide, and a short media literacy video and labeling intervention were both shown to reduce willingness among particular categories of participants (defined by news consumption habits) to “like” the propaganda. This is one of the first studies to show that Russian propaganda content works, at least partially, as it is intended to—that is, it successfully elicits strong partisan responses that may help it exacerbate divisions in American society. For certain audiences, the content is also likeable and sharable. This study is among the first to use actual Russian propaganda in a randomized controlled trial." (Back cover)
more
"RT (formerly, Russia Today) is one of the most important organizations in the global political economy of disinformation. It is the most richly funded, well-staffed, formal organization in the world producing, disseminating, and marketing news in the service of the Kremlin. It is an agency accused
...
of many things, but little is known about all the creative work involved in financing, governing, training, and motivating RT’s activities. To understand more about the production of political news and information by RT, we investigate its organizational behavior through in-depth interviews of current and former staff. Our data show that RT is an opportunist channel that is used as an instrument of state defense policy to meddle in the politics of other states. The channel has been established in the shadows of the Soviet media system and its organizational behavior is characterized by Soviet-style controls." (Abstract)
more
"In Deutschland wollen RT Deutsch, Sputnik mit SNARadio, Ruptly und die neuen Internet-Firmen Maffick Media und Redfish eine Gegenöffentlichkeit zu den aus ihrer Sicht manipulierten deutschen Medien schaffen. Dabei präsentieren sie sich als unabhängige Alternative. Dies entspricht aber nicht den
...
Tatsachen: Diese Medien werden aus dem russischen Staatshaushalt finanziert und sind organisatorisch in das vom Kreml kontrollierte Mediennetzwerk eingebunden. Diese Sprachrohre des Kremls verbreiten seine Positionen und Narrative [...] Die Bundesregierung spricht das Problem der hybriden Kriegsführung kaum öffentlich an, obwohl der Bundestag 2015 und Bundesministerien 2018 „mit an Sicherheit grenzender Wahrscheinlichkeit“184 Opfer von Cyberabgriffen des russischen Geheimdienstes GRU wurden. Im Mai 2020 wurde ein Haftbefehl gegen einen russischen Hacker erlassen, der im Auftrag des GRU das IT-System des Bundestags angegriffen haben soll [...] Die Nutzerzahlen von RT Deutsch und der Social Media Plattform In the Now zeigen, dass sich das Auditorium dynamisch entwickelt und einige etablierte Online-Medien überholt wurden. Auch für die „Trollfabrik“ genannte Agentur Internet Analyse ist Deutschland eines der wichtigsten Ziele. Russische Narrative werden täglich von tausenden Nutzern in Deutschland konsumiert. Die genannten Beispiele zur tendenziösen und teils falschen Berichterstattung belegen: Die russischen Medien sind eine Waffe im Informationskrieg." (Resümee, Seite 21)
more
"The Routledge Companion to Media and Activism is a wide-ranging collection of 42 original and authoritative essays by leading contributors from a variety of academic disciplines. Introducing and exploring central debates about the diverse relationships between both media and protest, and communicat
...
ion and social change, the book offers readers a reliable and informed guide to understanding how media and activism influence one another. The expert contributors examine the tactics and strategies of protest movements, and how activists organize themselves and each other; they investigate the dilemmas of media coverage and the creation of alternative media spaces and platforms; and they emphasize the importance of creativity and art in social change. Bringing together case studies and contributors from six continents, the collection is organized around themes that address past, present and future developments from around the world." (Publisher description)
more
"Existe-t-il un chemin particulier d’ouverture d’un système médiatique à l’économie, aussi épineux soit-il ? C’est justement le fil rouge de cette monographie, qui examine, sur la base de données empiriques et théoriques, les processus de transformation du journalisme et des médias d
...
e masse russes entraînés par un changement des structures économiques et sociales. L’étude analyse les approches russes et étrangères visant à comprendre la dynamique du système médiatique russe, les principaux domaines de ses changements, le rôle des facteurs de nature globale et nationale dans le développement moderne du journalisme national et des médias. L’ouvrage met en exergue de nouveaux enjeux, en analysant l’évolution du modèle des médias russes au sein de l’économie de marché après la chute de l’Union soviétique et la constitution des pratiques médiatiques de consommation en Russie contemporaine." (Dos de couverture)
more
"Taking a global and interdisciplinary approach, the Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories provides a comprehensive overview of conspiracy theories as an important social, cultural and political phenomenon in contemporary life. This handbook provides the most complete analysis of the phenomenon
...
to date. It analyses conspiracy theories from a variety of perspectives, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. It maps out the key debates, and includes chapters on the historical origins of conspiracy theories, as well as their political significance in a broad range of countries and regions. Other chapters consider the psychology and the sociology of conspiracy beliefs, in addition to their changing cultural forms, functions and modes of transmission. This handbook examines where conspiracy theories come from, who believes in them and what their consequences are." (Publisher description)
more
"Auf der ganzen Welt nutzen unterschiedlichste Akteure die Wirkungsmechanismen der digitalen Medien aus, um durch gezielte Desinformationskampagnen die öffentliche Meinung zu beeinflussen. Dies, so lautet die zentrale These von Peter Pomerantsev, bedrohe Demokratien und Demokratisierungsprozesse. W
...
o früher Informationen durch die Zensur kontrolliert wurden, gebe es heute ein Überangebot an Informationen, deren Wahrheitsgehalt immer schwerer feststellbar ist. Dadurch ginge das Vertrauen in eine gemeinsam gelebte und objektiv überprüfbare Wirklichkeit als Voraussetzung öffentlicher Meinungs- und Willensbildung zunehmend verloren. Autokratische Regime hätten es so leichter, Narrative zu verbreiten, die das Ziel haben, politische Gegner zu schwächen, missliebige Journalistinnen und Journalisten zu diskreditieren oder zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen zu delegitimieren. Kriege wie der in der Ostukraine würden heutzutage nicht durch Schusswaffen, sondern durch Troll-Armeen, Cybermilizen und Facebook-Posts entschieden. Auf seinen Reisen taucht Pomerantsev in die grenzenlose Welt der Internetaktivistinnen und -aktivisten ein und zeigt die lokalen Folgen davon auf, wenn sie Kategorien wie Wahrheit und Lüge ins Wanken bringen." (Klappentext)
more
"Through an exploration of Facebook groups designed for Russophones and Russians in the Netherlands, this study considers online community belonging negotiations. In doing so, the article aims to address the role of online administrators (admins) in online community construction, seeking to enrich t
...
he algorithmcentric literature covering customized feeds. The authors argue that by moderating discussions, approving and banning users, and setting the agenda more generally in the online environments that they create and manage, admins acquire and perform functions that may surpass or compliment algorithmic biases." (Abstract)
more
"The Russian book industry is actively preparing for the Bologna Book Fair and the 37th IBBY International Children’s Book Congress, which Moscow will host for the first time this year. How is children’s book publishing developing in Russia? What support does it need from the government?" (Page
...
2)
more
"There are still opposing and restraining forces to globalization processes taking place in media, and the global mediascape comprises international, regional and local markets, and global and local players, which in recent years have evolved at an uneven pace. By analyzing similarities and differen
...
ces in a landscape where driving forces of globalization meet locally situated audiences and institutions, this volume unveils a complex, contested space comprising global and local players, whose success is determined by both their national and international dimensions. It guides its readers to the geographical and intellectual exploration of the international media landscape, analyzing the global and local media players and their modus operandi." (Publisher description)
more
"With their heavily censored and restricted civil societies at home, China and Russia exploit the asymmetry of democratic systems by targeting open information environments, freedom of expression, participatory civic discourse, and pluralistic and fluid politics. Democracies have unique vulnerabilit
...
ies to malign influence activities, but they also have unique and durable strengths. Transparency, rule of law, a free press, and democratic norms—hallmarks of democratic states—foster resilience against malign foreign influence. In the near term, it may be more important for democracies to redouble their efforts to build up their strengths than to reduce their vulnerabilities." (Conclusion)
more
"On December 15, Facebook announced that it had taken down three separate networks that it had discovered for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” that targeted communities across Africa. One, centered on the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali, was linked to individuals associated with the Fr
...
ench military. The other two, centered respectively on CAR and Libya, were connected to the business and influence operations of Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin, founder of the mercenary organization Wagner Group and the Internet Research Agency “troll farm.” The French and Russian operations in the CAR tried to expose each other, and repeatedly clashed in groups, comments, and cartoon wars. We have documented the first of the Russian operations in a joint report with Stanford University entitled “Stoking Conflict by Keystroke”; this report focuses on the French and Russian operations that targeted CAR. For the sake of brevity, the operation linked to individuals with ties to the French military will be referred to as the “French operation” in this report, while the Russian operation attributed to individuals associated with past activity by the Internet Research Agency (IRA) and previous operations attributed to entities associated with Russian financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin is referred to as the “Russian operation” in this report. It is worth highlighting that Facebook did not attribute the operation directly to the French Government or the French military, and that this report similarly does not offer evidence of institutional involvement from French governmental and military entities." (Executive summary)
more
"By examining Russian YouTube, this article has attempted to show how in this particular digital environment a shift in social attitudes and the emergence of counterpublics are likely to occur, thus advancing a bottom-up approach to social change. The paper has proceeded in three steps. The first se
...
ction reviewed and linked three distinct, yet interrelated theoretical terrains: social-political change, social attitudes change, and the public sphere. This section advanced the claim that a change in social attitudes must precede any bottom-up social change, and that the former is contingent upon the public’s ability to develop a reflective agency, that is, a capacity to reflect upon one’s previously held beliefs. The four conditions under which such reflective agency is likely to emerge were outlined and then linked to the emergence of counterpublics. On the basis of the theoretical discussion, the ensuing methodological and empirical sections have shown that all four conditions obtain to different degrees on Russian YouTube, thereby allowing for counterpublics to emerge. These four conditions are: a non-institutionalised environment, exogenous shocks, presence of difference and exposure to difference." (Conclusion, page 28)
more
"This book sheds new light on the study of journalism and communication, considering why and how journalism is studied in the 21st century. It notably offers both an international and interdisciplinary comparison of journalism and communication, examining the history of Chinese and Western journalis
...
m and addressing the similarities and differences between them. Focusing on the education and training of future journalists, it also provides a comprehensive study of news coverage systems in China and in Western countries, including the processing of news sources, attitudes towards news communication and comparative communication scholarship. Researchers of media and journalism will find this a key read, as well as practicing journalists and students of journalism." (Publisher description)
more
"An increasing number of media platforms - from newspapers and television to Internet social media networks - are the major providers of indispensable information about the natural world and environmental risk. Despite the dramatic changes in the news industry that have tended to reduce the number o
...
f full-time newspaper reporters, environmental journalists remain key to bringing stories to light across the globe. With contributions from across the world broken down into five key regions - the United States of America, Europe and Russia, Asia and Australia, Africa and the Middle East, and South America - this book provides support for today's environment reporters, the providers of essential news in the 21st century." (Publisher description)
more
"Since the start of the Trump era, the United States and the Western world has finally begun to wake up to the threat of online warfare and the attacks from Russia. The question no one seems to be able to answer is: what can the West do about it? Central and Eastern European states, however, have be
...
en aware of the threat for years. Nina Jankowicz has advised these governments on the front lines of the information war. The lessons she learnt from that fight, and from her attempts to get US congress to act, make for essential reading. How to Lose the Information War takes the reader on a journey through five Western governments' responses to Russian information warfare tactics - all of which have failed. She journeys into the campaigns the Russian operatives run, and shows how we can better understand the motivations behind these attacks and how to beat them. Above all, this book shows what is at stake: the future of civil discourse and democracy, and the value of truth itself." (Publisher description)
more