“Propaganda on Russian Television: Talk Shows, News, and Aggressive Rhetoric”

This is just a small part of the aggressive messages in the televised debates in Russia, which the German public-law media ARD has selected: “Ukraine must be destroyed as a nation”, “Either we win, or no one in the world will be left alive” , “Zelensky should be beheaded, and anyone who supports Ukraine should be killed”.

And in a talk show from the end of April, there was talk about how Russia could impose its domination over the world after winning a nuclear war.

Television remains the most important media in Russia. According to sociological studies, over 60% of the country’s population is informed about political topics by television. Most television stations are fully or partially financed by the government, including the three most watched – Rossiya 1, Pervyj Kanal and NTV.

Talk shows are an important part of the propaganda machine

Political talk shows and news dominate the programming. Magdalena Kalzeis, a professor of Russian linguistics and specialized didactics at the University of Innsbruck, points out that these shows are cheap to produce, offer an entertainment element, and could easily reach people with a less pronounced interest in politics.

In February 2022, political talk shows and news on Pervyj Kanal took up about 11 hours of air time per day. Russian talk shows reach up to 25% of the audience, and sometimes more, we learn more from the publication in ARD. For comparison: in Germany, talk shows on the first and second public television occupy between 2 and 3 percent of the program. The most watched of them since the beginning of the year attracted 14.2% of the viewing audience.

The advantage of talk shows is that you can say anything. “It makes the atmosphere incredibly heated,” Kalzeis points out. An example of this is the behavior of the host of “Time Will Tell”, who insulted one of his “pro-Ukrainian” guests, calling him a “fascist louse”. He ordered the latter kicked out of the studio after he said the Red Army had “disgraced” from Ukraine in 1941.

Any dissenting opinion is a crime

Julia Smirnova, a senior researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue Germany (ISD), adds to the picture: “With the adoption of the law against so-called fake news or against the discrediting of the Russian army, in fact any opinion or narrative about the war deviating from the official line , become a criminal offence.”

ARD recalls that shortly after the start of the war against Ukraine, the State Duma voted a law providing for a sentence of up to 15 years for spreading “fake news” about the army.

Foreign guests bring a sense of legitimacy

As of February 2022, there were still several non-state television stations in Russia. Including “Rain”, which could only be viewed via the Internet. In 2021, she was declared a “foreign agent”. Due to the war and increasing pressure and threats against non-state media, Dozhd was forced to stop broadcasting from Russia in March 2022.

The regime in the Kremlin is concerned about strengthening the myth of Russia as a superpower. And the situation in the West is presented much more dramatically because of the sanctions, Smirnova also commented. “In a talk show, it was claimed that in Britain they were starving and would eat squirrels, but they would continue to supply weapons to Ukraine. So there are really a lot of absurd stories being circulated that must be remembered by the audience,” she explains.

Foreign participants are regularly invited to Russian talk shows. Frequent guests, for example, are Tucker Carlson from the USA and the German MP from “Alternative for Germany” Steffen Kotré. Their role is to lend credence to the Russian narrative and possibly spread the viewpoints they have heard. “Their views are in most cases very close to Russian propaganda,” points out Yulia Smirnova from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue Germany.

Propaganda still provides a high rating

Smirnova emphasizes how dangerous war rhetoric is, especially on talk shows that spread open threats of nuclear war. “The constant repetition is intended to make people believe that Russia is going to use nuclear weapons like nothing,” she explains.

However, it is difficult to assess how successful talk shows are as an element of Kremlin propaganda. In this regard, Smirnova told ARD: “Political talk shows are not among the most popular programs on Russian television at the moment. But in general, the repressive system, together with propaganda, ensures a high approval rating for Putin, as well as a reluctance to protest the war .”

By: Carla Reveland (ARD) | Pascal Sigelkov (ARD)