September 03, 2022

Russian News Has Gotten Wacky


Russian News Has Gotten Wacky
Fair and balanced? The Russian Life files.

Russia's press is in a bit of a crisis. Anyone caught spreading "misinformation" (regardless of how true that "misinformation" is) can face up to fifteen years in prison. Dissent is being quashed. And, in response, the established media, those that are well-known and run by the state, are filling the void.

Take, for instance, a smattering of articles encountered while on a recent research foray. It is news that's not generally fit to print here at Russian Life, but which is being churned out by daily for RIA Novosti, one of Russia's main media outlets, akin to CNN or BBC.

Back in the day, Russian ideology was obsessed with the "all-pervasive conspiracy theory of Western hostility." These articles noted above, and hundreds others like them, have taken this obsession to near-ridiculous levels. Every whiff of an argument to support this worldview can be used as ammunition, proof that the West is conniving to attack Russia, but that Russia is, at the same time, undoubtedly superior.

This should also serve as a bit of a warning: "fake news at work." It's so easy for a careless article written on a slow day to be picked up, made hysterical, and rebroadcast by the Kremlin's news machine as evidence for crumbling Western civilization. It's a reminder for readers to check sources and traverse the internet with caution and skepticism.

That's how you live in the age of disinformation. Hopefully more Russian journalists can learn how to.

You Might Also Like

Televised Bravery
  • March 15, 2022

Televised Bravery

A one-woman anti-war picket interrupts Russia's most important state news program to tell the country, "They are lying to you!"
The Not-too-Mighty Russian Armed Forces
  • July 24, 2022

The Not-too-Mighty Russian Armed Forces

It's been four months, and Ukraine is still standing. The front lines have hardly moved in ten weeks. Is this the Russian army everyone so feared?
Sci-fi Author, Meet Dystopia
  • June 14, 2022

Sci-fi Author, Meet Dystopia

A well-known science fiction author has been placed on the Kremlin's wanted list for protesting the war in Ukraine.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955