Russian Newspapers Are Warning People About Disinformation On State TV
“News programs on TV will often present distorted and falsified information.”
Late last month Yakutsk Vechernyy, a small newspaper in Siberia, added a disclaimer to its TV listings. "Be careful!" it read. "News programs on TV will often present distorted and falsified information. Most frequently this is seen on NTV and TV Rossiya."
Yakutsk Vechernyy was the target of an NTV report in March that claimed the paper is a puppet of the U.S. State Department, due to the fact that it received loans from foreign banks years ago.
The Washington Post recently described NTV as "something of a clearinghouse for dirt on perceived enemies of the Kremlin, combining the political sensibilities of Pravda with the sensationalism of the New York Post."
NTV is owned by the media arm of Kremlin gas monopoly Gazprom.
European External Action Service
Yakutsk Vechernyy published the disclaimer in response to the attack, and now other independent papers in Russia are publishing it as well. "This is a story about journalistic solidarity," Valeriy Bezpyatykh, editor of Gorodskie Vesti, a weekly paper in the town of Revda, told BuzzFeed News.
He said he expects at least 20 papers to publish the disclaimer this week, up from the five or six last week.
"The reaction has already surpassed all our expectations," Bezpyatykh said.
Valeriy Bezpyatykh / Via facebook.com
The campaign is spreading on social media in Russia, with many expressing support for the papers. This woman in Moscow said the Siberian paper made "a brave, risky and honest move."
"Nice to read that there are some respectable journalists left in Russian somewhere," wrote another woman who shared her post.
The campaign also spawned a mascot in the form of Pinocchio delivering a report for NTV.
Bezpyatykh said the disclaimers have led to serious debate among Russian journalists, with some supporting the campaign and others questioning the tactics.
"They say, firstly, there are thousands of journalists who work for NTV and we cannot blame all of them for a violation of journalistic standards and rules," he said.