After watching the Russian Ambassador on RTÉ’s Six One News just now, I thought I’d share these highlights from the Handbook of Russian Information Warfare.
RTÉ Six One interview with Russia’s Ambassador to Ireland Yuriy Filatov | Live updates: https://t.co/65zqcDbQ9X pic.twitter.com/1y7QfJUkh7
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 25, 2022
It makes for sobering reading (and will be somewhat familiar to consumers of domestic politics)…
‘A study of information dominance published in an authoritative Russian military source lists the main principles of media campaigns as follows:
“The primary methods of manipulating information used by the mass media in the interests of information-psychological confrontation objectives are: Direct lies for the purpose of disinformation both of the domestic population and foreign societies; Concealing critically important information; Burying valuable information in a mass of information dross; Simplification, confirmation and repetition (inculcation); Terminological substitution: use of concepts and terms whose meaning is unclear or has undergone qualitative change, which makes it harder to form a true picture of events; Introducing taboos on specific forms of information or categories of news; Image recognition: known politicians or celebrities can take part in political actions to order, thus exerting influence on the world view of their followers; Providing negative information, which is more readily accepted by the audience than positive.”
(Yu. Kuleshov et al., “Информационно-психологическое противоборство в современных условиях: теория и практика” : Information-Psychological Warfare In Modern Conditions, 2014.)
Sadly familiar on the domestic political front too…
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
