Truth Is Not Hostile, Beware

Michael Hedges November 28, 2016 - Follow on Twitter

Truth is truth. The earth is round and orbits the sun. A few people hold a divergent point of view, which is wholly respected when argued with reason, however flawed. And those opinions are now readily accessible, thanks, in part, to the digital dividend. Truth has become paralyzed by disruption feeding on fears and insecurities.

Fake news, hate speech and propaganda reached into the chambers of the European Parliament (EuroParl) this past week for a debate and vote on a committee report seeking to fight it all. The non-binding resolution passed; 304 MEPs for it, 179 against, 208 abstaining. EuroParl will now ask the European Commission to bulk-up that 11 person task force on strategic communications and put a bit of money into media literacy initiatives.

"Hostile propaganda against the EU and its member states seeks to distort the truth, provoke doubt, divide the EU and its North American partners, paralyse the decision-making process, discredit the EU institutions and incite fear and uncertainty among EU citizens,” said the report, authored by Polish MEP Anna Fotyga, noted Deutsche Welle (November 23). “This report, in the course of its preparation, was also a target of hostile propaganda.”

The vote result separated MEPs into several camps; those fearful of the propaganda noise coming from the Russian Federation and so-called Islamic State, those unwilling to equate the two, those who fear assaults on media freedom and those unwilling to ruffle Mother Russia. The usual Eurosceptics voted against, except those from Eastern and Central Europe with less adoration for Vladimir Putin. To know propaganda is to feel its fog.

“Russian propaganda works even in this institution,” said Romanian MEP Victor Bostinaru during the debate. “ISIS propaganda and Russian propaganda are obviously different… but the goals are equally toxic and say, deadly for the European project. For those wondering whether or not Russian propaganda is real, I invite them to read the famous "La France Russe” by Nicolas Henin and listen to the German secret service assessment about the risk that elections in Germany are affected by Russian intervention. Written by French journalist Nicolas Henin, who was held hostage by ISIS in Syria for nearly a year, “La France Russe” explores the cozy relationship between French and Russian spy agencies and was published this year.

“Today we have fake sites, bots, trolls; things that regenerate themselves, reinforcing opinions with certain algorithms and we have to learn to deal with them,” German chancellor Angela Merkel told the Bundestag (parliament) (AFP November 24). “We have regulations that allow for our press freedom, including the requirement for due diligence from journalists. Today we have many that experience a media that is based on very different foundations and is much less regulated.”

“We should not underestimate what is happening,” warned Chancellor Merkel. German, Belgian and Dutch MEPs generally favored the resolution, along with MEPs from eastern Member States. UK MEPs were tepidly favorable.

French, Italian and Greek MEPs, generally, took a different path. Italian MEPs voted predictably, many by not voting. “Some people don’t understand that Russia must be an important partner and not an enemy,” said MEP Lorenzo Fontana, who represents the right-wing Northern League (Lega Nord), quoted by La Repubblica (November 23). “But now the world is changing, despite this European Union, fortunately.”

The response from the Russian Federation was predictably outraged. “We hope that the resolution will not entail practical steps on curbing the work of the Russian media,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. “If this document is applied and implemented to curb the activities of the Russian media on EU member states’ territories, then we will of course take measures in response.”

State-funded multi-lingual television channels branded as RT (formerly Russia Today), the Sputnik radio and news agency and more informal outcropping of trolls and hackers have, at once, irritated Western governments and media outlets to the delight of extremists. UK media regulator OFCOM has sanctioned RT for “materially misleading” content. In Lithuania media regulator LRTK suspended distribution of Russian-language RTR Planeta three times this year for “inciting war, conflict and hatred.”

“The EU has been lecturing Russia and touting freedom of speech as one of its core principles, but hypocritically dismissed it as an unnecessary luxury once their narrative was challenged,” harped RT’s editorial chief Margarita Simonyan after the EuroParl vote. Ms Simonyan’s tweet-blast on hearing the result of the US presidential election - "Today I want to ride around Moscow with an American flag in the window, if I can find a flag” - has been referenced often to illustrate official Russian joy at new possibilities from Donald Trump. RT “actively promoted Mr. Trump’s candidacy,” noted The Economist (November 10).

By a far larger margin one day after the fake news vote MEPs moved forward a resolution to temporarily freeze the EU accession process for Turkey. Not pleased at all, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to allow passage of mostly Syrian refugees into the EU. “If you go any further, these border gates will be opened,” he said, quoted by the Telegraph (UK) (November 25). President Erdogan continues to purge media outlets and workers following last summer’s abortive coup, numbers reaching into the thousands, claiming ties to “terrorist organizations.” Critical news media in Turkey has functionally disappeared.

“We’re told that we have now entered the ‘post-truth era’ where presentation can override facts, and where it can be hard to separate truth from conjecture,” warned BBC general director Tony Hall at a recent London media conference. “But the real truth is, it has never been more important to be able to separate facts from opinion, prediction from certainty.”

See also in ftm Knowledge

The Campaign Is On - Elections and Media

Elections campaigns are big media events. Candidates and issues are presented, analyzed and criticized in broadcast and print. Media is now more of a participant in elections than ever. This ftm Knowledge file reports on news coverage, advertising, endorsements and their effect on democracy at work. 63 pages. PDF (December 2012)

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