An Investigation into Russian State Media and Disinformation
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 29 December 2022
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On December 15, the New York Times published an article that detailed an investigation conducted by three of its reporters into how Russian state media uses American right wing and Chinese media to portray the ongoing war in Ukraine to Russian citizens. The investigation utilized thousands of leaked emails from correspondence within a Russian state media agency and with Russian security services, to uncover how the Kremlin crafts its narratives and spreads disinformation to its people.
To unpack the findings of the investigation and their implications, Lawfare associate editor Katherine Pompilio sat down with the journalists that conducted the investigation: Paul Mozur, a New York Times correspondent focused on technology and geopolitics in Asia; Adam Satariano, a New York Times technology correspondent focused on digital policy; and Aaron Krolik, an interactive news journalist and developer also at the Times. They discussed how they conducted their investigation, Russia's propaganda machine that they describe as the country's greatest wartime success, the limits of the disinformation campaign, and more.
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Transcript
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| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:29.0 | So you see a Russian and Chinese disinfo campaign around these bioweapon labs, |
| 0:39.0 | linked back to COVID in the idea of well, maybe the US did create COVID in a lab |
| 0:43.0 | and send it to China, which is a popular theory. |
| 0:46.0 | And then you see that on Russian domestic news with VGTRK, |
| 0:49.0 | but you also see it on RT, and you see these various journalists from both organizations |
| 0:55.0 | getting these emails kind of backing that sort of stuff. |
| 0:59.0 | And you see scripts that would be written or that were very similar |
| 1:03.0 | across different Russian state media that are supposed to be somewhat independent, |
| 1:07.0 | even though they're all ultimately run by the state. |
| 1:09.0 | And so it does show the degree of coordination there. |
| 1:13.0 | I'm Catherine Pompilio, associate editor of LawFair, |
| 1:16.0 | and this is the LawFair podcast, December 29, 2022. |
| 1:21.0 | On December 15, the New York Times published an article that detailed an investigation |
| 1:25.0 | conducted by three of its reporters into how Russian state media uses American right wing |
| 1:30.0 | and Chinese media to portray the ongoing war in Ukraine to Russian citizens. |
| 1:34.0 | The investigation utilized thousands of leaked emails from correspondence |
... |
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