Any criticism has completely disappeared from Russian news websites, including the one that used to be somewhat defiant, said Josef Pazderka, editor-in-chief of Aktuálně.cz and a former correspondent in Russia. Recently, little doubt about the Kremlin narrative has disappeared from the Internet media there. “On the contrary, it is emphasized that if someone does this, he is a traitor to the country,” commented Pazderka.
Josef Pazderka comments on Russian propaganda on news website | Video: Martin Krepindl, Jakub Zuzanek
According to him, events in Ukraine currently dominate Russia’s online news servers. The report also points to, among other things, the deepening militarization of society there and the heavy emphasis on Russia.
“For example, in the tab ‘In the world’, you have reports that people in the Kherson region asked Vladimir Putin to integrate them directly into the Russian Federation,” commented Pazderka on the website of the Ria Novosti news agency. “Each country is also following in its own footsteps in the world, but the frequency of news that directly concerns Russia, and they also see the world through such a prism, is simply incredible,” he added.
According to him, in many articles on Russian websites that focus on “traitors” of the current regime, journalists use a similar practice that was common in the Czechoslovak media during normalization.
“The enemy is not only outside, but they are now heavily targeting people who dare to criticize something else or who left Russia to protest the invasion of Ukraine,” Pazderka said. “And the more they need to discredit them, humiliate them and portray them as just abusing the profits of the Russian population and just making money off of them,” he added.
Watch the video at the beginning of the article, where Pazderka also gives specific examples of propaganda articles on Russian news websites or explains what a journalist’s job is like there.
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