Monitoring and analysis of the Russian information space: August 2020
Monitoring and analysis of the Russian information space as exemplified by the articles published by ria.ru, rbr.ru and russian.rt.com between 3 and 30 August 2020.
Below are presented the partial results of the monitoring conducted by the Center for Propaganda and Disinformation Analysis as a part of the “Monitoring and analysis of the Russian information space” project and implemented during the period of 3 August 2020 to 28 February 2021.
Source: Own elaboration, Center for Propaganda and Disinformation Analysis
Quantitative analysis:
Monitored media outlets: ria.ru, rbc.ru, russian.rt.com
Subject area: Poland, European Union, United Kingdom, Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia)
Time frame: 3-30 August 2020
Total number of news published on ria.ru, rbr.ru and russian.rt.com: 27039, namely 19057 news from ria.ru (from 4468 to 5405 news per week), 3152 news from rbr.ru (from 771 to 812 news per week) and 4830 news from russian.rt.com (from 1146 to 1290 news per week).
Total number of news about Poland, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) in the monitored media: 1760, namely 875 news from ria.ru, 457 news from rbc.ru and 428 news from russian.rt.com. The news about Poland, the EU, the UK and Baltic states accounted for 4,6% of all the news published on ria.ru, 14,5% on rbc.ru and 8,9% – on russian.rt.com. This news together accounted for 6,5% of all the news published in the monitored websites in August 2020. This was the month with the highest percentage of news related to the analysed topics of all the news published during the conducted media monitoring.
Total number of the monitored news: 1760, including 527 news on Poland (which accounts for 1,9% of all the news published in the monitored media in August 2020), 475 news on the European Union (1,8%), 402 news on Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) (1,5%) and 356 news on the United Kingdom (1,3%).
Source: Own elaboration, Center for Propaganda and Disinformation Analysis
Qualitative analysis:
The dominant topic of the monitoring on Poland during the first part of the study was the situation in Belarus after the presidential elections in August 2020. Numerous statements of the Belarusian president A. Lukashenko and Belarusian officials quoted by the Russian media referred to, among others, the alleged role of Poland and Baltic states in inciting the Belarusian protests. Later on, A. Lukashenko suggested that NATO was increasing its military presence in Poland and Lithuania and Poland itself was planning to take over the Grodno Region.
Other topics related to Poland widely discussed in the Russian media:
Poland was still being portrayed, according to conventional schemes, as a Rusophobic country that unjustifiably considers Russia a threat, is supported by the U.S. and NATO, and for its own political interests sabotages “purely economic” projects such as Nord Stream 2. The image of Poland is negatively shaped in the Russian online media.
The monitoring and analysis was conducted by: Adam Błonowski, Bartosz Gralicki
Project coordinator and editorial supervision: Marta Kowalska
Graphic layout and editorial supervision: Katarzyna Rogala
READ THE FULL REPORT: This article is part of the “Monitoring and analysis of the Russian information space: the image of Poland, NATO, European Union, United Kingdom, Baltic states and Belarus in the Russian online media outlets”.
See related:
- Monitoring and analysis of the Russian information space between 31 August and 27 September 2020
- Monitoring and analysis of the Russian information space between 28 September and 1 November 2020
- Monitoring and analysis of the Russian information space between 2-29 November 2020
- Monitoring and analysis of the Russian information space between 30 November 2020 and 3 January 2021
- Monitoring and analysis of the Russian information space between 4-31 January 2021
- Monitoring and analysis of the Russian information space between 1-21 February 2021
- Monitoring and analysis of the Russian information space between 31 August 2020 and 14 February 2021
The publication is part of the report: “Monitoring and analysis of the Russian information space”. The project was carried out in cooperation of the Center for Propaganda and Disinformation Analysis (CAPD) and Open Information Partnership (OIP). The publication solely reflects the authors’ opinions and should not be equated with the official position of the Open Information Partnership. The publication serves as contribution to the public debate.