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УДК 32.019.5
РОЛЬ СМИ В РОССИЙСКОЙ И ЕВРОПЕЙСКОЙ ПОЛИТИКЕ (СИРИЙСКИЙ ВОПРОС)
© 2016
Черепанова Дарина Алексеевна, аспирант кафедры «Политические науки»
Поволжский институт управления имени П.А. Столыпина, филиал Российской академии народного хозяйства и государственной службы при Президенте РФ, Саратов (Россия)
Аннотация. Изучение возможностей средств массовой информации в формировании общественного мнения является одним из приоритетных направлений политической культуры сегодня. Особого внимания требуют технологические аспекты деятельности СМИ. Анализ методов и механизмов манипуляции, используемых СМИ, позволяет определить степень влияния информации при формировании имиджа события (конфликта). В статье анализируется вклад средств массовой информации в формирование общественного мнения в России и Европе. С целью продемонстрировать потенциал информационного влияния государств, представлены результаты исследования, основанного на анализе содержания публикаций по сирийскому вопросу в ведущих итальянских и российских СМИ. В работе описаны различия сформированного общественного мнения граждан России и Италии, что доказывает приоритет современной функции средств массовой информации при создании государственного имиджа. В период глобализации Российская Федерация демонстрирует обратную тенденцию к изоляции от мирового сообщества, а главным институтом, обеспечивающим лояльность населения зарубежных стран становятся средства массовой информации. Результаты данного исследования представляют оценку медиа-политики итальянского государства в рамках сирийского конфликта и указывают на имиджевые характеристики, которые требуют дальнейшего усиления.
Ключевые слова: общественное мнение, средства массовой информации, Сирийский конфликт, политический имидж государства, итальянские средства массовой информации, информационная война, внешняя политика
MASS MEDIA IN RUSSIAN AND EUROPEAN POLICIES (SYRIAN ISSUE)
© 2016
Cherepanova Darina Alekseevna, postgraduate student
The Stolypin Volga Region Institute of administration, the branch of Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Saratov (Russia)
Abstract. The author analyses the mass media's contribution to shaping of public opinion in Russia and Europe. To demonstrate the potential of the proposed framework, the article presents research results based on the content analyses of publications covering Syrian issue in Italian and Russian mass media. The paper demonstrates the difference of public opinions of Russian and European citizens on Syrian issue. It proves the priority of today's function of mass media to create images and shows manipulation techniques used from both European and Russian sides. The author considers that in times of world globalization the Russian Federation today demonstrates completely opposite tendency of isolation and the institution that provides population's loyalty of such a policy is media. Firstly, these results provide a theoretically-grounded assessment of media politics of the states within the Syrian conflict and, secondly, point at those features of media and government relations that need to be strengthened.
Keywords: public opinion, Mass Media, Syrian issue, political image of the state, Italian media, media war, foreign policy
Today we live in the globalized world with free movement of goods, capital, services, people, information, etc. The national borders lose their outlines. The whole world is in process of intensive integration except the huge part of the map called the Russian Federation. Why does Russia follow the isolation scenario again? This is a topic for another discussion deeply connected with problems of national identity [1, p. 109]. The aim of the article is to analyze how mass media promote this tendency. The study shows the level of Russian policy support among citizens inside of the country and the public opinion abroad.
Nowadays the media are achieving a new institutional status, gradually losing its former role of a simple informational tool [2, p. 5]. Due to the fact that the image in contemporary politics plays a crucial role, one of the foreground media functions today is informational broadcast and construction of political images [3, p. 139]. By promoting the formation of public opinion, the media covers facts with a certain "more correct" angle in the necessary ideological perspective" [4, p. 212]. A typical statement confirming this thesis is the statement of former US General Armed Forces John Shalikashvili: "We did not win as long as CNN did not report that we were winning".
Of course, there are different types of mass media. Professor Gianfranco Bettetini, for example, notes paradigm considering the media independent from authorities and its significant influence on the political systems [5]. Nevertheless, the foreign policy issues normally deal with mechanism where the state controls media more or less directly, and uses them to maintain power and influence on citizens. Thus, the scheme looks as follows: resources - public - attracting/rejecting - promoting or contributing to the political space for decision making process by the government. It's truly mentioned by Pierre Bourdieu, that the field of public policy is, first of all, the field of symbolic capital.
Symbolic capital is trust that power granted to those who received enough recognition to be in a position to inspire recognition" [6]. In a word, the availability of this capital allows to increase it.
Unfortunately, today this capital is used as the injection of negative emotions. Very often we hear the word "war" ("War in Syria", "War in Iraq", "fighting in Afghanistan", "civil war in the Ukraine") in the press and on TV. This is mainly coursed by promotion of different national interests in the global conflicts by using mass media resource. The fact that today's world is perceived as the world involved in the war, led to wars of information between national media of states with support of political leaders [7].
Proof of the real results of such media wars we can better see on the example of Russian and Western confrontation.
The Study of Mass Media Coverage of Syrian Conflict
The research is aimed to overview the Syrian issue: how it had been developing simultaneously on the eyes of Russian and European citizens and what opinion and comments were provided in media on Russian participation in the conflict. The results of mass media actions are not obtained immediately. In terms of that fact the research took a period from the end of September (the time of Russian military force involvement into the Syrian conflict) until March 15 (announcement of Russian force leaving). The format of research is content analysis. Author has analyzed 277 Italian and 585 Russian publications in the national most popular newspapers ("Corriere della Sera", "La Stampa" and "Izvestia", "RiA Novosti") that demonstrate the media attitude to the issue.
1. Pre-history
Russian authorities have acknowledged the mistake called UN Security Council resolution №1973 of 17 March 2011 that permitted the military intervention of foreign states in civil war in Libya. In the end of 2011 it became obvious
who will become next president so media agreed upon their policy on Syrian issue. "Russia will not allow the United States to destroy the next state in the list under democracy purposes and will work on the UN Security Council bases" -mass media started to shape the Russian position [8].
Italian mass media meanwhile explained how in March 15, 2011, thousands of people came on demonstration on streets of Damascus and Aleppo against the totalitarian regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Alawite. The government tried to suppress the protests by force but without success. So civil war began and several months later the first "foreign fighters" support came, mainly to fight alongside with the rebels. The war, which became more and more violent every year, claimed the lives of more than 200 thousand Syrians. Nevertheless, Bashar al-Assad continued to fight with his own population.
Both Russian and Italian media considered the importance of Syrian issue. Sergey Lavrov announced: "It is not local, it is a global problem of world order reconstruction in the XXI century" [9].
2. Motives of Conflict Participation
The official position of Russian involvement in conflict was based on national security reasons. The Islamic state spreading over the Syrian territory threatens Russian borders as well by recruiting Russian population for conducting terrorist attacks. However, the anti-terrorism fight could be effective only if President Bashar al-Assad were in power. The prevention of interference in the internal affairs of Syria was the second reason. The Russian leader aimed to prevent NATO stepping on the Syrian territory. Finally, "Russia protects not Bashar Assad's regime - Russia protects existing international law, because if it is destroyed, the world will be in chaos"- explained Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov [9].
Meanwhile Italian media mostly used the American arguments against Russian military groups in Syria. "The target of Russia is not the Islamic State but rebel positions. Vladimir Putin's enemy number one is the opposition of Assad instead of terrorists". A lot of articles were describing Russian and Syrian government raids that risked lives of 129 thousand of civilians. Schools, hospitals and markets were under attacks. The Kremlin operations stimulated refugee flows in Europe as well. Mass media compared Putin's strategy in Syria with the one used in Chechnya, underlining increased number of civilian deaths. A lot of titles as "why we shouldn't believe/rely on Putin" were issued during September- October 2015. But after the Paris tragedy and Summit G20 in November the tone of publications changed to more neutral. Italian political elite (Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Renzi, leader of party "Forza Italia" Silvio Berlusconi, Foreign Affairs Minister Paolo Gentiloni) started to express their hopes on the Russian-American negotiations to deconflict the situation after meeting of leaders.
Some of European specialists have expressed opinion of economic interest of Russia in participation in the conflict as any conflict brings along contracts on arms procurement. Finally, Russian purpose was to place forces at naval base in Tartus, which can be maintained only with the Assad regime.
In general Italian media in the end of December approved Russian affords against Islamic state positions softened the rhetoric on Russian participation motives and started to use more often RT (former Russia Today) channel as a source of information along with BBC and CNN [10].
3. Russian-Turkish Conflict
Russian official explanation of Turkish actions was Ankara's ambitions in the Middle East. The media notes that President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan is rapidly losing the chances of a regional leadership due to Russian involvement into protection of Syrian population. The fact that the policy of the Turkish authorities, undermining the stability of neighbors, objectively created a common threat to Europe and Russia. The proof of this statement was attack on Russian plane in the skies over northern Latakia. In Russian media, Erdogan got image of unsuccessful politician, his
failures didn't sober him but embittered. The conflict with Russia shut down country's image according to press, and brought the large financial losses to it. The Turkish economy began to crumble due to Russian economic sanctions.
Italian media in their turn try to avoid any positioning in this conflict. According to the stable citation of Russian, American and Turkish leaders Italian press tries to let the conflict to be solved by its members. Only several interviews from some former authorities were showing irritation of Italian elites with Turkish unpredictable policy undermining Russian-American agreements [11].
4. Assessment of Results of Russian Participation in Conflict
Russian media, 15th March, 2016: "Tasks are accomplished". Vladimir Putin has ordered the withdrawal of the Russian group from Syria. This decision, as stated, was agreed with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. At the same time Russia's participation in the organization of the peace process should be intensified in Syria. "I hope that today's decision will be a good signal to all parties of the conflict. I hope that this decision significantly raises the confidence of all participants in the process", - said the president underlining peaceful intentions during all period of Russian assistance to the solution of the conflict.
Russian media summarizes: "More than 2 thousand terrorists were killed. The main road of hydrocarbons delivery from Syria to Turkey was blocked, aviation aerospace forces destroyed 209 objects of oil production and refining. In total, with the support of the Russian aviation, the 400 settlements and more than 10 thousand square kilometers of territory were liberated. The Syrian leader thanked Vladimir Putin for assistance in a large-scale military and humanitarian assistance to the population. Assad noted the professionalism, courage and heroism of soldiers and officers of the Russian Armed Forces.
From that moment the Russian political consultants one by one started to speak about the successfully completed plan of Putin. "This action of Russia shows that all participants in the Syrian crisis must move along the path, which Russia's actions have paved in Syria", - said an expert of the Middle East Alexander Ignatenko in the interview to newspaper "Vzglad" [12].
The Italian media reaction was: "After leading the military escalation Vladimir Putin now wants to lead the des-calation. Yesterday the Russian president took everyone by surprise when he announced the beginning of the withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria and called the mission "carried out in the whole". A "timing master" prepared this news while in Geneva began the new round of peace talks". La Stampa comments: "The Tsar" becomes the director of negotiations".
Obviously the media reacts ironically on this news. They are not ready to assess Russian results in conflict yet. Moreover, as mentioned, Russian decision was surprising for European authorities as well and it takes time to decide on the united reaction. Meanwhile media is waiting official position it reacts on news skeptically in advance.
Summary of the Study
As we see European media as well as American are constructing the image of "external threat" called Russia. That's what the US Army commander in Europe, Lt. Gen. Frederick Ben Hodges says about Russia: "Russia is a "real threat" urging NATO to stay united. The alliance is not interested in a "fair fight with anyone" and wants to have overmatch in all systems». All the examples show that such aggressive speech strategies, cited by European media, contribute to formation of the "image of aggressor country" that would annex other people's territory. In this regard, Russia is perceived as a country that always invades sovereign nations.
In its turn Russian media from its pages answers the question "who manipulates the Arabic revolutions" straight-ly pointing at the USA. "Their purpose is implementation of certain geopolitical plans in foreign policy" - says RIA Novosti.
"This plan is called "Great Middle East" and was created at the times of C. Rice and George W. Bush. According to it the west coast of Saudi Arabia - Mecca and Medina -becomes an independent state like Vatican. Saudi Arabia itself as a sovereign state disappears. Iraq shatters into pieces. The southern state with its center in Basra is put together with Saudi and Iranian oil-bearing areas. Center is cut off from the sea of the Sunni. Syria, in accordance with these ideas, is plunged into anarchy. All this is to create "Great Middle East", which results with replacement of all the fallen regimes by American controlled forces" - the media explain Russian population.
As we see, the pictures of the conflict given by European and Russian mass media are completely different. The common thing is technologies used in image creation. Having held content analysis, usage of exploitation of patriotic ideas and cultural aspects has been noticed. The unity of the cultural bases allows to perceive subtle nuances of messages, interpret complex political texts and hidden images. Italian media used it describing human rights neglected by Russian leader. The comparison of Syrian operations with war in Chechnya is an example of "halo effect" that is supposed to draw in people's minds a picture of cruelty, tyranny, innocent blood.
Among other core technologies positively influencing the image are: friendly information about the event, default, improvements of positive comments of journalists, placing information on the top of the strip, friendly User Comments (online newspapers) and others [13, p. 133].
CONCLUSION
The relationships between media and politics can be very close. It is true that political power has often tried to control media. And it is also true that mass media can shape public opinion of any conflict in completely different ways [14, p. 30]. Analyzing Syrian issue in Russia the author has faced sequentially formed public opinion of military involvement support, aimed to protect national security. Hard economic situation, long distance from Russian borders of the dangerous Islamic state didn't change Russian attitude to conflict. The reason is absolute support of policy of the Russian leader by most part of the population. The stable customization of opinion for confrontation with the USA in patriotic motives and raising feelings of national importance in solutions of global problems are emotional features of the crowd targeted by media strategies.
On the other hand, analyses of Italian mass media has shown less unanimous news content caused by different mass media resources. Sometimes the absence of positioning and full citation of Russian, American or Turkish opinions were noticed. More than that the Italian leaders were changing the attitude to Russian policy from negative to neutral. The key moment was the G20 Summit after the meeting of Obama and Putin. The feature factor of Italian authority's statements is their similar attitude and hopes for Russian-Western dialogue, but anyhow the expressions were restrained. Despite of this fact public opinion of Bashar Assad's future is contrast to the Russian one and formulated in details.
Though, this study is exclusively focused on the official media pictures performed for national public opinions, the author takes into account access of European citizens to alternative sources of information both national (il Giornale) and Russian (RT channel). In contrast, objectively Russian population has fewer opportunities to reach European media position without state's filer. Thus, the author dares to suppose that Russian population becomes nationally turned and aggressively oriented to the world.
This fact proves once again that media needs policy and policy must use media, but the two systems have their own objectives and needs, which sometimes do not coincide at all [15]. That's why it is so important to have free mass media. Population of countries should consider different opinions and certainly have more access to alternative sources of information. Otherwise the uncontrolled power based on manipulation techniques can bring countries into fatal crisis.
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