Today I was asked why Ukraine is winning the information war against Russia. The reasons are many.
1. Ukraine has a free and competitive media market. Yes, there are oligarchs, but they also compete with one another: pluralism. In Russia, the Kovalchuk (Putin) TV controls all.
1. Ukraine has a free and competitive media market. Yes, there are oligarchs, but they also compete with one another: pluralism. In Russia, the Kovalchuk (Putin) TV controls all.
2. Because of the freedom of speech and media, it is easy to figure out the truth in Ukraine. In Russia, it may cost you 15 years in prison.
3. The Ukrainian media freedom has greatly improved Ukrainian journalism, while Russian journalism has deteriorated since NTV was stolen.
3. The Ukrainian media freedom has greatly improved Ukrainian journalism, while Russian journalism has deteriorated since NTV was stolen.
4. The Kremlin has enjoyed keeping foreign correspondents under their thumb. Reuters even cooperates with TASS. If anybody tells the truth, he or she is being expelled (Luke Harding, Guardian, and Sarah Rainsford, BBC). Others self-censor or just listen to Kremlin propaganda.
5. With its increasing repression, the Kremlin has tried to isolate foreign journalists as in Soviet days. They get ever less input from high, from low and from intellectuals, becoming ever more dependent on substandard official information.
6. Previously, Ukraine never had a chance. Only a few stringers resided in Kyiv, but their bosses resided in Moscow and knew the big picture (=Moscow is always right, or at least more important). On the odd occasion, they went to Kyiv for 3 days and saw the Moscow spokespeople.
7. Now everything has changed. All serious media organizations understood something was going to happen and sent several senior journalists to Ukraine - Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Mariupol. Suddenly everything changed. They knew little but learnt fast because they heard the truth.
8. The Western journalists in Ukraine quickly figured out that they knew more than their isolated colleagues in Moscow and they were more senior so they took command. Suddenly, the more credible Ukrainian story took over because Ukraine is a free country unlike Russia.
9. One important reason for the victory of the Ukrainian view is not only truth and pluralism, but also that so many Ukrainians have learned English in the last few years so that Western journalists can interview intelligent Ukrainians of varied views in English.
10. I have spent many years in both Moscow and Kyiv. Even in Soviet times, Moscow had the great perspective. No longer. Kyiv used to be surprisingly parochial. No longer. Kyiv has widened its horizons. Kyiv is international and cosmopolitan, while Moscow has become parochial.
11. An obvious suggestion is that the international news organizations should rethink their policy in the region whenever Putin's war of aggression is over. If Ukraine remains free, international media should abandon moscow and move to Kyiv, where free media rules.
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