The Kremlin and the News: Why are Broadcast and Cable Ignoring Putin's 2020 Campaign?

It39s easy to be criticalamp160 After all who can argue with Trump39s statement that good relations with Russia would make the world a better placeamp160 Maybe his approach could have worked for his predecessorsamp160 Take Franklin Roosevelt he sent a letter to Japan39s emperor Hirohito on December 6 1941 avowing that the two countries shouldn39t threaten each other as they tried to negotiate peace in the Pacificamp160 FDR could have followed up with a telegram on December 7 telling Hirohito he was ignoring quotthat Pearl Harbor thingquot and still wanted to talkamp160In the moral ethical and political sinkhole that has swallowed the Oval Office the ludicrousness of Trump joking with Putin about the Russian attack on American democracy is only surpassed by his irresponsibility as commanderinchiefamp160 To be sure with investigations into his finances obstruction of justice constitutional conflicts of interest and Russia far from over Trump39s priority is clear Selfpreservation supersedes all duties such as protecting the nation39s security that come with the president39s jobamp160amp160But whatever its success in frustrating his inquisitors the l39amp233tat c39est moi presidency has a fatal flaw It can39t control the fallout from events abroad where Russian political warfare is targeting other democraciesamp160 For Americans understanding the threat is vitally importantamp160 From Britain to the Baltic states leaders are speaking out about Putin39s attack on European democracyamp160 They recognize the dangeramp160 It39s news thereamp160 The question is will it be hereWhen it comes to broadcast and cable television the leading news sources for most Americans the answer is quotwho knowsquotamp160 Russia39s political warfare in Europe from subverting Britain39s Brexit vote to attacking the European Union39s parliamentary elections is the runup to its offensive in 2020amp160 Sadly Americans are learning little from broadcast and cable news where producers roll more video of kitties coaxed from culverts than Putin39s covert political campaignFor media executives who presumably still recognize their outlets are licensed to serve the public interest coverage should be a top priorityamp160 The reason is obvious to anyone who thinks about journalism39s crucial roleamp160 Broadcast and cable news didn39t face the criticism heaped on social media for its negligence in enabling Moscow39s subversion of the last electionamp160 Their performance may not have won any prizes but to their credit journalists did their postmortems on 2016 including mea culpas for underweighting attention to Russia39s roleamp160Which makes the fact that the country39s most watched news media are ignoring European events more than strangeamp160 For one thing there39s no lack of alarmsamp160 Russia spends 12 billion a year on proKremlin media to interfere in elections the EU39s Vice President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said last December and the EU39s latest official view doesn39t mince wordsamp160 quotRussia39s hybrid waramp8230gained notoriety as a global challenge during the Brexit referendum and the United States presidential election The EUamp8230is stepping up efforts to tackle online disinformation ahead of the May European electionsquotamp160amp160A recent study by SafeGuard Cyber an American cybersecurity firm looked at Russia39s European attacks this month to define the scope of the threatamp160 Drawing on Moscow39s cyberMO and the company39s 500000strong database of Russian social media accounts the study identified 6700 Russianrelated trolls and bots at work across the continentamp160 The researchers concluded that 240 million people half of all Europeans are likely to see some form of Russianpromoted disinformation before the EU parliamentary elections next weekamp160They discovered something elseamp160 Unlike the American election in 2016 when Moscow seeded social media with Russianauthored political disinformation in Europe today Putin39s cyber operatives instead are replaying local extremist and divisive viewsamp160 The change obviously makes detecting Russian fingerprints harderamp160 But Moscow39s exploitation of homegrown content isn39t just a challenge for cybersecurity specialistsamp160 It39s a major problem for the newsamp160For professional journalists the questions for 2020 are obviousamp160 How do you sort through the effects of Russia39s cyber echo chamberamp160 What are the real issues and divisions in the country versus the picture Moscow is trying to createamp160 Like their cooperation with Europe39s political fringes are Russian cyber operatives working with extremist American groupsamp160 How do you cover stories from the far right and left that may well be nothing more than Russian clickbaitWhile leading newspapers the New York Times the Washington Post and the Financial Times for example have reported well on Russia39s political attacks in Europe broadcast and cable outlets have notamp160 Fortunately the networks can still correct courseamp160 A different editorial decision obviously is the first stepamp160 A dedicated investment that produces daily features including analysis of the Russian effort can provide what viewers need to know to assess stories they will see and read as Moscow executes its 2020 plansBut the broadcast and cable networks need to do more than report on Putin39s political attackamp160 If Moscow39s offensive unfolds as expected broadcast and cable will be in its bullseyeamp160 Their role in carrying bogus stories in 2020 won39t be easy to overlookamp160 The growing damage to Facebook Twitter Google and other social media brands because of their selfserving halfmeasures after 2016 should be a lesson ignoring their vulnerability or boosting lobbying budgets to soothe Washington after the dust settles won39t do the trickamp160The good news is from broadcast standardssetting to pooled reporting the news business knows how to work together when the public interest demandsamp160 An industrywide partnership that includes a fusion center to vet suspicious stories identify their sources and share the information among the news networks to help neutralize Russia39s cyber tactics represents that kind of effortamp160 Europe39s thinking provides a head start the idea there a panEuropean rapid alert system to spot and shut down disinformation is worth a close lookamp160Moscow is preparing to attack American democracy once againamp160 The fact the US government is lagging badly in its response isn39t an excuse to keep the news business from informing its audience as well as protecting itselfamp160 At a minimum American voters need to know what Putin has in storeamp160 It39s every bit as important as Trump39s latest mindless tweet endless opinionating about his mendacity or the scuffles among the twodozen Democrats who want his jobamp160Will broadcast and cable deliver the newsamp160 It39s the least they can doClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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The Kremlin and the News: Why are Broadcast and Cable Ignoring Putin's 2020 Campaign?

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Kent M. Harrington

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The Kremlin and the News: Why are Broadcast and Cable Ignoring Putin's 2020 Campaign?

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