The Russian foreign broadcaster “RT DE” presents itself in Germany as the voice of suppressed opinions. Communication scientists, on the other hand, warn of dangers.
Berlin – One of the “top articles” of the past few days concerns the actress Eva Herzig. She “didn’t want to let herself be bent” and refused the corona vaccination, now she is no longer allowed to shoot ARD “Styrian crime”. Other texts on this website also deal with the corona pandemic and vaccination (“… until the doctor comes”). It’s about “serious side effects” and whoever is liable for them, about “hundreds of deaths” and about the “doctor comedian” Eckart von Hirschhausen, who promotes vaccination and thus “fits well into the narrative of the German state media”.
What at first glance looks like any German-language news portal differs from other media offerings in this country through a very special view of things, through polemical texts in which (battle) terms such as “mainstream media”, “state-supporting parties” or ” Sovereignty of opinion ”. Not surprising, because the “RT” channel, which operates under the name “RT DE” (until 2020: “RT Deutsch”) in Germany, is anything but independent. It is rather a foreign broadcaster operated and financed by the Russian government – with the clear goal of political influence.
Science criticizes “RT DE”: Portal should improve the image of Russia and Putin
Christoph Neuberger, communication scientist at the Free University of Berlin, confirms this in an interview. The aim of the offer is “the destabilization of Western democracies by stirring up conflicts, by criticizing their political institutions and negative reports about the situation in these countries”. Often the news is wrong or distorted. “RT DE” wants to give the impression that its journalism is “to compensate for deficits in the domestic media because allegedly suppressed voices have their say. If you look at the situation of freedom of expression and freedom of the media in Russia and Germany, then this is a blatant reversal of the actual situation, ”said Neuberger.
The German-language offer has been available since 2014, distributed online, in channels such as Youtube and social networks such as Facebook. The German branch is based in Berlin. Founded in 2005 to improve Russia’s image abroad, as editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan once put it, “Russia Today” has long since started a journalistic attack on the West. According to observers, criticism of the situation in Russia under President Vladimir Putin should be countered with reports on political conflicts and grievances of all kinds in Western Europe and the USA.
Putin as a victim of western propaganda: contradictions in the reporting of “RT DE”
Unsurprisingly, for “RT” the Russian president is not the aggressor, but rather the victim of Western propaganda. The Malaysia Airlines plane was not shot down by a Russian missile, but by Ukrainian fighter jets. The annexation of Crimea by Russia in the same year was, according to the station’s terminology, nothing more than a “reintegration”.
The “RT DE” reporting on the “Lisa case” served as a strategy for uncovering alleged scandals that are hushed up by the “state media”. At the beginning of 2016, at the height of the refugee crisis, the then 13-year-old, daughter of German-Russian parents, untruthfully claimed to have been kidnapped and raped by three “southerners”. As a result, there were numerous demonstrations, to which, among others, the Berlin branch of Pegida, “Bärgida”, had called.
Russia’s foreign portal “RT DE” reaches a similar audience as other alternative media
Anyone who is fundamentally critical of refugee and European policy, for example, and currently of the federal government’s corona measures, will also find it on “RT”. The broadcaster used the “media disenchantment as a journalistic market niche”, stated the Tübingen media scientist Bernhard Pörksen at the start of the German program.
So an offer especially for AfD supporters and “lateral thinking”? He does not know any serious survey of the composition of the audience, according to the expert Neuberger. However, it can be assumed that “RT DE” has a similar audience to other so-called alternative media. Among them are “a particularly large number of media cynics who are very critical of the established media”. In fact, there was also a connection with the conspiracy mentality and the AfD voting preference. However: “These offers are regularly used by a maximum of four percent of the population. In the general population, however, ‘alternative media’ are rated as very untrustworthy. “
Purely online channel in Germany: Russia broadcaster “RT DE” violates the principle of distance from the state
Even “RT DE” itself admits that it has hardly any users from the political center. That probably has to do with the fact that the broadcaster’s offerings in Germany are distributed almost exclusively online. It can only be received in English via satellite and – depending on the local network operator – via digital cable.
The Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (MABB) would be responsible for the approval of a classic radio program from “RT DE”. A corresponding application has not yet been submitted, as a spokeswoman said at the request of our newspaper. Getting the license to broadcast is also likely to be difficult because, according to the State Media Treaty, “no broadcasting license can be granted if the constitutional principle of broadcasting remote from the state is violated, i.e. a state or parties can influence the program design or program content”.
Can “RT DE” still influence the result of the federal election on September 26th? Christoph Neuberger’s answer to this is brief: “I do not assume that.” (Rudolf Ogiermann)
Rubric picture: © Alexei Nikolsky / POOL SPUTNIK KRE
