Global Media News

Russia's Gay Propaganda Law Affects the Gaming and Movie Industry

The LGBTQ community has been struggling for their independence and acceptance in Russia for a very long time. However, a bill that was passed on June 11th, 2013 and enforced on June 30th of that same year has only made it harder for the community. The law that was passed is called The Gay Propaganda Law, also known as "For the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating for a Denial of Traditional Family Values". According to  Rossiyng toskaya Gazeta, a Russian government based newspaper, Article 6.21 of the law states:

“Advocacy of non-traditional sexual relations among minors... expressed in the dissemination of information aimed at the formation of sub-adult non-traditional sexual attitudes…or… challenge guide interest in such relations…shall entail the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of four thousand to five thousand rubles…"

The Gay Propaganda Law greatly impacts the LGBTQ community. One way it affects the LGBTQ community is through the online gaming industry. EA, also called Electronic Arts has been hit hard with this gay propaganda law in Russia. The Sims 4, a game created by EA, has been around for 20 years. The guidelines for this game is that people 12 years or older can purchase the game.However, because of this ban, Russians who are less than 18 years of age cannot purchase this game anymore. Why is this? According to TheConversation, “The argument here is that the gay couplings in The Sims 4 are harmful to children and equates the game with violent titles, such as series Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty.” 

Another way in which the Gay Propaganda Law has affected the LGBTQ community is through the movie industry. Elton John, a musician, wrote the song “Rocketman”. The song was created into a movie and is based on Elton John’s life and how he became famous. In the movie, there are multiple homosexual scenes. Due to the law in Russia, the homosexual scenes have been cut out. This upset many Russians and Elton John especially. Elton John expresses his disappointment in an interview. This is what he had to say:

 

Kremlin-funded TV Network RT Registers Under U.S. Foreign Agent Registration Act

    One year after the 2016 United States Presidential Election, Kremlin-funded news outlet RT has registered under the Foreign Agent Registration Act following pressure from the U.S. government. A U.S. intelligence report from January 2017 reports that Sputnik and RT spread pro-Trump propaganda across their platforms during election time.

    The Foreign Agent Registration Act, or FARA, was implemented by the United States in 1938 in order to prevent the spread of Nazi propaganda. This act aims to allow American citizens to know whether the media they are being exposed to is being funded by a foreign source. An example of FARA being used for foreign agents can be seen through the registration of KBS America. KBS America was first registered with FARA in 2005 due to their ties to South Korea.

Above is KBS America's mission statement as shown on their official website.

    The addition of RT on the FARA raises questions over whether other countries around the globe will start requiring foreign news outlets to register with their own media. Some foreign media sources that are currently registered with FARA include Canada's CBC, Japan's NHK, and the China Daily.

    Russia’s media is highly controlled by their government as seen in the overwhelming amount of support for Putin in the upcoming March 2018 Russian election. In 2012, Russia began requiring any news outlets that were funded by foreign media to register as foreign agents. The Russian Foreign Agent Law was enacted following mass Putin protests throughout Russia.

    American news outlet Bloomberg covered the deputy speaker of the State Duma Pyotr Tolstory’s announcing of additional information on the Russian Foreign Agent Law. He states, “Media that fail to comply with demands to register as ‘foreign agents’ under the law will be banned from working in Russia.” Kremlin-funded media outlets aim to censor out any stories which could lower support for Putin in the upcoming 2018 Russian election.

    RT staff has been verbal about their resentment towards FARA, especially editor in chief Margarita Simonyan. Shown to the right is a screenshot of Simonyan’s tweet following RT’s FARA registration stating, “Forced to choose between a criminal case and registration, we chose the latter. And we congratulate American freedom of speech and all those who still believe in it." 

    Putin is not in favor of the registration as he does not believe RT poses a threat to freedom of speech. The News Tribune found that, “Putin has harshly criticized the U.S. demand regarding the RT channel as an attack on freedom of speech. He said Russia would retaliate.” Although Putin has passed legislation about Russian Foreign Agents, he continues to disapprove of the U.S. FARA.

Socialite Turned Journalist Is Challenging the Reign of Putin in Russia

    Commonly known as Russia's Paris Hilton, Ksenia Sobchak has announced her plans to run for President in the 2018 Russian election. Announcing her candidacy via a YouTube video, Sobchak is using both social media and television as a way to freely express her political views and ideas.

    Sobchak has recently appeared on the independent channel TV Rain where she stated, “Over the past 17 years a whole new generation has grown up that wants to see a different Russia that is civilised and European." Pictured to the left is Sobchak at a news conference addressing her plans to run for president.

    Sobchak has been evolving from a reality TV star into a presidential candidate in recent years. In 2004, she hosted Dom-2, a reality show where contestants discuss relationships by a campfire. Her time on Dom-2 ended in 2012 when her political protests against Putin did not align with the show's reputation. Sobchak gained other reality TV experience from Who Does NOT Want To Be a Millionaire, Last Hero-6, Sweet Life of a Blonde, Myz-TV Awards, and Two Stars.

    Sobchak began her career on political television in 2010 through Freedom of Thought on state-run Channel 5. Originally airing in 2011, Sobchak Live is currently on TV Rain. In 2012, MTV Russia aired one episode of GosDep, meaning State Department, with Ksenia Sobchak. The “Where is Putin Leading Us?” episode features interviews from the head of the left front Sergei Udaltsov, head of the solidarity movement Ilya Yashin, and eco-activist Yevgeniya Chirikova. MTV Russia’s audience's lack of interest in politics caused the show to be cancelled.

    It seems as though Sobchak has been struggling to be taken seriously as a political candidate due to her past reality TV career and socialite reputation. Sobchak is attempting to use her experience on talk shows and round table style television to transition her career into a political one. She tends to leave TV shows if they do not share her same oppositional political views.

    In addition to TV, Sobchak uses western social media outlets such as YouTube and Instagram. She does not have a strong presence on Russian, government operated social media sites. On Sobchak’s official website, there are links to her YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and lastly Vkontakte. Sobchak has 33,071 followers on VK, which is a much smaller number in comparison to her 5 million Instagram followers.

    Instagram has become widespread in Russia and is challenging the traditional advertising landscape of the nation. On Sobchak’s Instagram account, she shares her upcoming appearances, political views, family, and lavish lifestyle with her 5 million plus followers. The 36-year-old is married to actor Maksim Vitorgan whom she has an infant child with.

    While 98 percent of Russians are aware of Ksenia Sobchak and her plans to run for President, most do not believe she is a serious candidate. Only 6 percent of Russians believe Sobchak will have a successful political career according to a survey by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center. Many people think that Sobchak's only real experience is through her political television career.

    Sobchak has been unofficially banned as a presenter on state TV since joining anti-Kremlin efforts back in 2012. Using social media allows her to promote herself outside of TV Rain. Publicizing her Presidential bid on YouTube lets Sobchak reach larger audiences without the threat of being filtered by pro-Kremlin media outlets. She proves that websites like YouTube can be a threat to nations with heavily government controlled media.

Pro-Kremlin News Stories Supporting Catalan Split from Spain

    In another attempt to change the political landscape of Europe, Russia has engaged their state-supported media in publishing news stories about crises in Spain. With a main goal of dividing European countries due to Russia’s anti-globalization approach, Russia has been sparking conversation about Catalonia by publishing news stories on the crisis in Russian, English and German.

    An ongoing issue in Spain is the potential succession of Catalonia from Spain. This region has its own parliament, police force, health and education systems that have helped Spain grow a great deal economically. Succession of Catalonia could hurt Spain and therefore bring instability throughout Europe and the EU.

    Pictured to the right are the results of the October 1^st Catalan referendum. It shows that the majority of the region did not vote and the second largest majority voted in favor of independence. The media’s coverage of this dispute could be a leading factor in the results of this vote. Even if the potential split from Spain hasn’t divided the country, it definitely has divided the countries media between stories supporting or against Catalan independence.

    Examples of these Russian new stories can be seen on Kremlin-controlled TV networks such as RT and Sputnik. RT has published 42 articles regarding the Catalonian crisis since late August of this year. Some of the titles of these stories are The European Union will respect the independence of Catalonia and State of siege: Catalan officials, including vice-minister of economy, arrested over referendum papers. Some of these news stories are shown in the image below.

    On Twitter, Voices of Europe (V_of_Europe) has been posting tweets sharing the same ideas as these pro-Kremlin news outlets regarding Catalonia. An example of these tweets are “Spain BOILS: EU REFUSES to act for Catalonia despite Spain ‘violating basic human rights.” El Pais, a Spanish news outlet, has published many stories about the Russian coverage of Catalonia such as Russian Meddling Machine Sets Sights on Catalonia and How Russian news networks are using Catalonia to destabilize Europe.

    These Russian news outlets are advising that Catalonia should split from the Spain in hopes of other European nations following. It appears that mostly pro-Putin and Kremlin funded news outlets are publishing these stories about Catalonia that are promoting European independence. Many other news outlets see that the main reason Russian news outlets are covering this story because Russia is in favor of independence and have frequently been attempting to disrupt the economy and politics of other European nations.

Russian Marketing Group Uses Twitter Bots to Disrupt 2017 German Election

    Russia is no stranger to meddling in the elections of other nations. One aim of Russian government-funded media is to change the political discourse around the globe. These actions can be seen by Russian advertising on U.S. social media during the 2016 election.

    Recently, a group of Russians posing as a marketing group have been using Twitter bots to disrupt the 2017 German election. BuzzFeed News investigated this group of 30 members whose use of Twitter bots help to promote hashtags supporting the Alternative for Germany party (AfD). Headed by Frauke Petry, the AfD is a far-right political party that supports nationalism, populism and is heavily anti-immigration.

    This groups use of bots draws up many questions about their ties to the Russian government and the AfD. It's not clear whether the group is actually a marketing or political group. Alexander, who answered to BuzzFeed reporter Jenny, denied any ties to a political party. On the popular Russian social networking site, VK, Alexander told Jenny how his team uses Twitter bots to boost AfD related tweets in exchange for money. For pro-AfD posts, Alexander charges 15,000 euros and 2,000 euros for retweets. Below is a retweet of an official AfD post the day of the election by one of Alexander's bots.

    When these pro-AfD posts and retweets generated by Twitter bots get a lot of attention, these posts trend and in turn spark political conversation on Twitter. Another source that discovered the use of Russian Twitter bots to interfere with the German election is The Digital Forensics Research Lab. This organization found that these bots were spreading "false claims about election fraud in the final hours of the (German) campaign." This organization monitors bot activity and is located in Washington, D.C. 

    Germans are becoming more aware of Russian attempts to disrupt both German politics and media. Handelsblatt Global, an “English-language edition of Germany's leading business and financial daily,” mentions in an article about the relationship between Russians and Germans, “Following a high-profile but failed attempt by Russian propaganda to spread fake news in Germany last year and suspicions that Russia interfered in the recent American and French elections, Germans appear to be growing more vigilant about Russian disinformation." Russian involvement in the political discourse of other countries aiming to change the political landscape of Europe is becoming more apparent to European citizens.

    Russian government seeks to improve the image of Russia amongst the German population, which has a low opinion of Russian culture. German organization Körber also revealed in a survey that “60 percent of Russians see similarities between Russian and German values, only 11 percent of Germans do.” This recent Russian involvement in the affairs of other countries can add to new tensions between the Russian and German people.

TV Rain: The Only Independent News Channel in a Kremlin-Controlled Media?

    In a country where media is heavily regulated by its government, there aren’t many independent media news outlets available to Russian citizens. The most common source of news for Russians is television, where the people are fed with Kremlin filtered news.

    In order to better understand Russian television, included in a Broadband TV News article are the total number of television channels in the country. "A total of 2,370 TV channels were identified as operating and accessible in Russia and/or having licenses to broadcast in the country, according to a new report of the European Audiovisual Observatory." 

    However, in an era of fake and state controlled news, one TV channel remains independent. Known as the "optimistic channel," TV Rain is a smaller scale news channel that touches on subjects the other major networks do not attempt to touch on. 

    “Nobody needs counter-propaganda,” said Mikhail Zygar, the editor-in-chief of the channel. “Our goal is not to fight anything, our goal is just to give people who don’t have real information the thing they don’t have.”

    An example of TV Rain's coverage can be seen in an article titled, “What games are behind Putin's decisions, the ‘swelling’ Sobyaninskaya Moscow, and the growing rebellion of migrants,” translated from TV Rain’s official website. This channel dives into criticisms about Putin and governments practices, which is practically unheard of in the region. TV Rain emphasizes content over form and is often described as looking like student run television. The channel is produced differently than other major news channels that broadcast from huge studios with live audiences.

    Natalia Sindeeva, founder and general director of TV Rain, has been praised for her work with the channel and “has twice won the ‘Russia’s media manager’ award for her work on radio (2004) and in television (2011).”

    In an article written by The Guardian, a British news outlet, it discusses the issues TV Rain faces when trying to interview government officials. One of the popular segments on the channel is Hard Day’s Night. Hosted by Tikhon Dzyadko, Hard Day’s Night is one of the only political round table interview shows in Russia. Dzyadko and other journalists discuss the nations pressing political issues. Less and less political officials have been appearing on the show due to the reputation of the independent news channel and potential backlash they would receive from their superiors.

    TV Rain came under fire when they posted an online survey on Twitter asking whether Leningrad should’ve been surrendered to the Nazis during WWII to save the lives taken during the siege. Since it is very uncommon and taboo to mention war efforts in Russia, almost every major cable provider country dropped TV Rain.

    In addition to being dropped by these TV providers, Russian parliament passed laws banning advertising on cable channels, causing more trouble for TV Rain.

    In order to earn revenue, the channel set up a subscription service for viewers starting at 1,000 roubles per year. The channel came up with the marketing slogan “There are 1,000 reasons not to believe in independent television, but just 1,000 roubles will get it for you.” Presently, the channel has 60,000 subscribers with costs of 4,800 roubles per year. Muscovites make up almost 40 percent of total subscribers.

    Despite frequent attempts to be shut down by the government and other far-right groups, TV Rain continues to broadcast “sensitive” news topics. For a short time, the channel got evicted from their studio in the Red October area of Moscow and had to be produced out of the co-owner’s apartment.

The Kremlin Uses Facebook Events Tool to Organize Anti-Immigration Rallies in the Western United States

    Russia is well known for its strong governmental regulations on media. Russian journalists risk their lives in attempting to expose any kind of corruption in sensitive topics including the nation's political dynamics. Russian media is constantly criticized by other countries with less regulated media systems. It is challenging to find any Russian media sources criticizing their own country because, "laws allow the authorities to block websites without explanation, require popular bloggers to register with the mass media regulator Roskomnadzor and demand that internet companies give the authorities access to users' information." Common punishment for not abiding by these rules is prison time. Recent attempts to shift political attitudes have shown the governments desire to not only persuade their own peoples perspectives, but that of other nations around the globe.

    The Kremlin, headed by Vladimir Putin, has recently attempted more fake news stories in efforts to persuade American political opinion. The Daily Beast discovered that the 2016 Facebook event "Citizens before refugees" (pictured on the left) was hosted by "SecuredBorders," a Russian backed U.S. anti-immigration community. The page followed by 133,000 members was soon taken down by the social media platform. Following the three hour long event planned to be hosted at the City Council Chambers, Breitbart, a far-right news network, posted a great number of stories bashing the refugee population of Twin Falls including “Twin Falls Rape Special Report: Why Are the Refugees Moving In?” This was a false story denied by Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs. Other Russian influenced pro-Trump outlets such as InfoWars and WorldNetDaily also published stories calling for action to change the areas legislation to deny refugee citizens.

    Earlier this week, it was revealed by Facebook that Russia used fake identities and thousands of ads, seen by 23-70 million people, in attempt to shape U.S. political views before and after the 2016 election. This is an example of how Russian lawmakers used social media to interfere in the political discourse of other countries. However, the government controlled Russian news media outlet Sputnik, “Russia has repeatedly denied accusations that it interfered in the vote.” 

    Several different U.S. media outlets detailed the January 2017 FBI intelligence report claiming that “Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election.” Russian news outlets Sputnik and RT are under fire for serving as a "platform for Kremlin messaging to Russian and international audiences." Both of these outlets operate on U.S. soil and could have some interference shown in the above Facebook events. This report also touches on the idea that new regulations need to be put in place for media propaganda used by Russia on other nations.

Ukraine's "Ministry of Truth" set to regulate it's country's media

    According to an article in The Guardian, " Ukraine has a new government ministry". Parliament came to a vote that would create a ministry of information policy. This move is the beginning of an information war against Russia. The decision to form this ministry of information was led by Yuriy Stets, who is the head of the information security department of the national guard. Ukraine is a Democratic state and the internet there is free, while the press is partly free. 

    According to Ukraine BBC profile, "Ukraine gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and has since veered between seeking closer integration with Western Europe and reconciliation with Russia, which supplies most of the country's energy". Basically Ukraine media is definitely liberal than Russia however they were trying to rebuild relations with Russia but issues within the media caused frictions between the two countries. 

    Russia and Ukraine have been waging a propaganda war against each other. Russia is highly censored and wants to control the media in Ukraine. In response to this war popular Russian TV show serials have been banned, in which Ukrainians approve. Also Ukraine did not welcome the idea that the government  should oversee the information sphere.

    Now this media war between Russia and Ukraine have gone on for a long time and Russia has had problems with other countries where the media is free. Even if Russia allows some media from other countries a lot of the media is restricted and it causes problems. Ukraine is strict when it comes to certain media but in no way will it ban or change the media to tailor to their citizens. Media is a powerful tool and if used in the right way can make a country like Ukraine great.

    

Google Overshadowing Other Manufacturers

Its' difficult for smaller companies to shine when large scale companies get all of the shine. Google has pushed its competing rivals buttons such as Yandex. Yandex is a Russian Internet company which operates the largest search engine in Russia with about 60% market share in that country. According to bbc.com, Yandex alleges that its rival, Google has an unfair advantage because it insists device-makers set Google as the default search setting if they want to pre-install its Play store. 

 

Googles restrictions are conflict with the way Yandex markets its company. The amount of shares on android phones are affected because of  Google services. "Google's rivals have claimed Android is used as a way to give Google's other services an unfair competitive advantage". (bbc.com) 

 

Although Yandex has filed an antitrust complaint against Google,  the search engine has yet to respond. Google will most likely make an account that their rival search engines can be downloaded to android phones as long as their services aren't pre-downloaded. 

 

It's agreeable that Google is one of the largest most used search engines. With such reliable and safe services, Google attracts millions of servers worldwide. Of course others countries would like their citizens to use there soft- ware hence that challenge of competing against Google. Other internet companies have complained about the unfair benefits that Google has. The "take-it-or-leave-it" rule where manufacturers can either install all of Googles complete serve including google maps, gmail, google play, or reject cellular service all together. 

"We believe that user-centric services, such as search, maps, email, etc., should be unbundled from the Android OS. It is essential to return to a level playing field where competition is over quality of products and services rather than bundling and pre-installation."

 

Android is by a long way the most popular mobile device in Russia. Googles restriction of  apps and other services are pushing away customers from local smart phone vendors in Russia. "Google has been under investigation for years in Europe regarding its approach to desktop search -- something that Yandex's CEO has publicity backed. The European Commission also recently voted to push forward with legislation that could see Google (and other search providers) forced to unbundle its search engine from its other services.Google wants there search engine to be the main search engine or nothing at all. 

 

 

Russia Offers War Song Ringtones for Upcoming Holiday

Russia has announced to the public about the availability of patriotic war song ringtones for free download in the hope of boosting morale for Victory Day. The "Horray for Victory" campaign is a propaganda strategy leading up to May 9, which was proposed in order to boost the patriotic spirit and the economy in Russia during its current recession.

It started Monday as Russia marked an official holiday known as "Defender of the Fatherland Day" honoring the country's military power. The organizing committee of the campaign announced that cell phone users will be able to text the number 1945 and at no additional cost, citizens can acquire one of the five memorable melodies of the five war song choices. The songs "Dark is the Knight", Farwell of Slavianka", "Victory Day", "Katyusha", and "Blue Scarf" were all made to keep the pride alive in Russia during World War II.

According to Russia News:

The Russian government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported that visitors to the May 9 organizing committee's website will be able to listen to wartime news reports by the Soviet Information Bureau, the news agency set up in 1941, and "get acquainted with archival photographs and newsreels of the Great Patriotic War, vote for the best victory song, [and] watch [their] favorite movies about the war."

The Russian government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported that visitors to the May 9 organizing committee's website will be able to listen to wartime news reports by the Soviet Information Bureau, the news agency set up in 1941, "get acquainted with archival photographs and newsreels of the Great Patriotic War, vote for the best Victory song, [and] watch [their] favorite movies about the war." - See more at: http://www.russianews.net/index.php/sid/230519427#sthash.jfU3JcUQ.dpuf

The Russian government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported that visitors to the May 9 organizing committee's website will be able to listen to wartime news reports by the Soviet Information Bureau, the news agency set up in 1941, "get acquainted with archival photographs and newsreels of the Great Patriotic War, vote for the best Victory song, [and] watch [their] favorite movies about the war." - See more at: http://www.russianews.net/index.php/sid/230519427#sthash.jfU3JcUQ.dpuf

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Victory Day. The holiday was created in regards to the victory of the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany in the Second World War (otherwise known at the Great Patriotic War). May 9 is a day where the russian people exhibit their pride in their military strength. One person that is most prideful about Russia's armed forces is President Vladimir Putin.

In remark to the the upcoming celebration of the 70th anniversary, Putin stated (via business insider):

"No one should have the illusion that they can gain military superiority over Russia, put any kind of pressure on it. We will always have an adequate answer for any such adventures."