Propaganda on television
Mass media in the hands of the Kremlin
In the heat of the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, Vladimir Lenin was asked which propaganda tools would be the most important for the new Soviet government. He replied that, in his opinion, the potential of film was just beginning to manifest itself and that this medium would probably become more important than any other. For the technology available at the time, he may have been right, but the role of film has since been taken over by television and social media on the Internet. And Vladimir Putin has understood this very well. After grouping almost all Russian television channels under the control of the Kremlin, the talk shows on these channels in particular have undergone a thorough metamorphosis.
In Russia, television remains the most important mass medium. For example, opinion polls by the famous Levada Center repeatedly confirm that it is the primary source of information for many people in Russia, with the two main sources being the state-owned channels Первый Канал [Pervy kanal] or Channel 1 and Россия 1 [Rossiia-1] or Russia 1. Both channels broadcast daily talk shows - albeit more of abusive ones - in which, in the most vile language and with empty, exaggerated drama, all of Vladimir Putin's policies are praised and opponents of his policies are crushed. These talk shows are broadcast daily from early morning until midnight on Channel 1 and Russia 1, alternating with news broadcasts. Together, talk shows and news programmes form a continuum – a phenomenon that Anna Grigorievna Khachkaeva (1965), a researcher at the Moscow School of Economics, described as follows: «While policymakers and straight news programmemes set the agenda, talk shows provide emotional support [...] They simply support the atmosphere that exists and warm it up».
Anna Grigorievna Khachkaeva
A non-exclusive relationship with the truth
Since 2014, the main topic discussed on talk shows is everything that happens in Ukraine – or does not happen, because spreading lies is also a key mission of these programmes. Vladimir Putin has launched a new interpretation of this. He says that they do not spread lies, but that they have «a non-exclusive relationship with the truth».
Since February 2022, Russian television has significantly increased the number of political talk shows. In March, the three political programmes Время покажет [Vremia pokazjet] or Time Will Tell, Большая игра [Bolshaya igra] or The Big Game, and Антифейк [AntiFeyk] or Anti-Fake News broadcast 190 episodes about the events in Ukraine. In other words, in 2022, three talk shows on one channel (Channel 1) were broadcast four times as much as all talk shows on both TV channels (Channel 1 and Russia 1) combined in 2014.
Time Will Tell - Channel 1
Time Will Tell is the main daytime political talk show on Channel 1, which premiered on September 15, 2014 because, after the annexation of Crimea and the start of the war in Ukrainian Donbas, the ratings of political programmes on other channels - such as the talk shows Поединок [Poyedinok] or The Duel on Russia 1 and Новые русские сенсации [Novyye russkiye sensatsii] or New Russian Sensations on NTV - began to rise sharply.
The programme discusses current news and events. Experts, politicians, political scientists, journalists and business people take part in the discussion held in the programme's studio. American journalist and former employee of The Moscow Times Michael Bohm often takes part in the show. In October 2017, the then presenter Artyom Grigoryevich Sheinin (°1966) attacked him and grabbed him by the throat. The attack was cut from the broadcast by the TV channel. In 2022, it was decided that the programme's participants should no longer include guests who oppose Russia's official position.
Artyom Grigoryevich Sheinin
Since June 20, 2017, messages sent to the programme's account by users of the social network Twitter have been broadcast every few minutes. The following month, the newspaper Vedomosti revealed that the channel used automated bots that were presented as viewers on the social media.
On March 1, 2022, it was reported that the country's media were trying to show photos and videos from Ukraine that contradicted the official reports of the invasion. On Time Will Tell, experts and authorities discussed allegations that hundreds of Russian soldiers had been killed, indicating that such information could no longer be hidden from the public.
Host Anatoly Aleksandrovich Kuzichev (°1969) understood what Ukraine was actually trying to do. On April 14, 2022, he explained: «We are trying to act within the logic of a special operation, but they are trying to shift it to a full-fledged war». Well, really, Tolyan, how do they come up with it?
Anatoly Aleksandrovich Kuzichev
60 Minutes - Russia 1
On February 24, 2022, the talk show 60 Minutes on Russia 1 went into war mode, focusing only on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The broadcasts were doubled in length, replacing entertainment programmes and non-political talk shows. For the first time in history, 60 Minutes was also broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays.
The programme is hosted by Olga Vladimirovna Skabeeva (°1984) together with her husband Yevgeny Georgievich Popov (°1978).
Olga Vladimirovna Skabeeva
Skabeeva has become one of the most prominent figures on Russian state television, thanks to her years of reiterating Kremlin-backed positions on current events and contemporary social issues. She is also known for her impulsive and accusatory behaviour
She loudly voices her opinion about the Russian army’s battle on Ukrainian territory, fabricates statements about Western leaders and, among other things, spreads fake news that the Ukrainian army was responsible for the massacre of hundreds of civilians in Butcha. She regularly calls for an escalation of Russian attacks and urges Moscow to «demilitarize the entire NATO». In a report on gay marriage in France and the United Kingdom, Skabeeva said that 40 percent of children raised by same-sex couples «suffer from sexually transmitted diseases». Her husband Yevgeny Popov left no doubt on March 30, 2022 about who he considers a «good American»: «It is time to call on the people of the United States to overthrow the regime prematurely and make our partner Donald Trump president again».
Yevgeny Georgievich Popov
The broadcast of April 14, 2022 must have come as a shock to the loyal visitors of this website. The Russian flagship Moskva had just been sunk by the Ukrainian army in the Black Sea. One of the guests that evening was film director Vladimir Bortko. The man who in 2005 had made a wonderful plea against state propaganda and against corruption, hypocrisy and deceit with his TV series The Master and Margarita, appeared to have made a 180° turn and in this broadcast competed with Skabeeva in foul-mouthed talk and fanatical nationalistic patriotism as you can see in the video below.
Bortko was reprimanded by Skabeeva for forgetting that the war in Ukraine was a «special military operation».
An Evening with Vladimir Solovyov - Russia 1
Vladimir Rudolfovich Solovyov (°1963) has been the presenter of the television program An Evening with Vladimir Solovyov on Russia 1 since 2012.
Vladimir Rudolfovich Solovyov
In terms of insults and fake news, Solovyov is no less than Olga Skabeeva. In June 2017, he called the participants in an anti-corruption demonstration in Moscow «the eternal two percent shit». He also said that Adolf Hitler was «a brave man compared to opposition leader Alexei Navalny». When discussing the possibility of a Third World War and a nuclear war, the editor-in-chief of the foreign-oriented Russian state channel Russia Today, Margarita Simonovna Simonyan (°1980), said in his programme: «Personally, I think the most realistic way is the path of the Third World War. Knowing our leader, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, I know that we will never give up... We will all die one day». Solovyov added: «But we will go to heaven, while they will just croak». On August 18, 2022, he suggested to attack Berlin, Paris, London and Brussels with missiles. In late November 2022, Solovyov suggested that Russia should attack Norway, since NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is Norwegian. Solovyov has repeatedly called on Russia to escalate the war with nuclear strikes.
Margarita Simonovna Simonyan
Novaya Gazeta's analysis of Solovyov's career casts doubt on his real current deep commitment to the values and interests of the Putin regime. At the beginning of his career, Solovyov was a respected independent journalist. In 2013, for example, he rejected the idea of annexing Crimea, warning that it could lead to an unjustified war and calling the peninsula legally part of Ukraine. But that didn’t last long, because just a year later, after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, he declared: «Crimea and Sevastopol are finally part of Russia again. Historical justice has been done».
In April 2022, President Vladimir Putin wanted to support his vassal. He ordered the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to stage an assassination attempt on Vladimir Solovyov by «Ukrainian Nazis». Among other things, they had to leave a note «with an illegible signature» in their hideout. On April 27, 2022, the FSB did so meticulously – very meticulously. They staged a search of the apartment of the alleged conspirators and then released a video of the raid. On it were the «found evidence»: a green wig, three Sims video game boxes, a Nazi-style T-shirt, a portrait of Adolf Hitler, Ukrainian passports and… a note that read: «Timoche. Thank you for your invaluable support… Kill to live, live to kill». And, literally as instructed, the note was signed «Подпись Нераздорчива» or, in English: «Unreadable Signature».
«Unreadable Signature»
Soloviev has a lot of influence on the accreditation of journalists in Russia. After all, he is the chairman of the Union of Russian Journalists. On February 5, 2024, he showed that his influence extends beyond Russia. He declared that the Union would accept the membership of the conservative American journalist Tucker Carlson (born 1969), on condition that he «would endorse the ethical charter of the Union». Carlson was the host of An Evening with Tucker Carlson on Fox News until April 2023, but was forced to leave the network when Fox was ordered to pay 700 million dollars in damages over the fake news that Carlson had spread about vote-counting machines during the 2020 U.S. presidential election, of which Carlson had claimed that they had skewed the results against Donald Trump.
Tucker Carlson
The Фонд борьбы с коррупцией (ФБК) [Fond borby s korroeptsijej (FBK)] or the Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF) discovered that Solovyov owns several properties in the European Union, including a villa on Lake Como in Italy. In January 2019, the ACF discovered a second villa of Solvyov on Lake Como, a house in the mountains and another on the coast. In July 2019, the ACF discovered that Solovyov even has permanent residence status in Italy. The next day, Alexei Navalny, the founder of the ACF, was arrested. In February 2022, due to the recognition of the ACF as an extremist organization in Russia, the Russian government agency Roskomnadzor demanded that several media outlets remove their publications about the ACF investigations, including those containing information about Solovyov’s Italian properties.