30 May 2022
Access to facts 'not enough' to counter Kremlin propaganda
Attempts by Vladimir Putin’s regime to manipulate public perception of the war in Ukraine have been “quite successful” and new approaches will be required to counter the flow of misinformation and propaganda.
In a new article for Nature Human Behaviour, Dr Maxim Alyukov sets out how the Kremlin had been able to tap into existing political grievances and exploit political apathy in Russia through an organised hybrid media strategy that has helped to drown out competing media.
Dr Alyukov said: “The attempts of the regime to shape perceptions of the Russia-Ukraine conflict appear to have been quite successful.
“This success results from the fact that regime narratives tap into pre-existing grievances, produce political apathy, are reinforced by a hybrid media system and play on the structure of political institutions and social communication in an authoritarian environment.”
Dr Alyukov, a member of the King’s Russia Institute, said there were several issues in countering the sort of propaganda emanating from the Russian state, with access to facts alone “not enough” to sway people from the government’s line.
You can read the article in full here.
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Research Fellow