Silencing Dissent in Russia: Putin’s Propaganda Machine (Trailer)

https://news.vice.com/video/silencing-dissent-in-russia-putins-propaganda-machine-trailer?utm_source=vicenewstwitter

On the streets and in the media, the Kremlin has tightened its grip on power. State-controlled television channels spin facts to bolster the government line, whipping up anti-Western sentiment and paranoia about internal enemies. Independent broadcasters are struggling to make themselves heard as the country grows more dangerous for journalists and popular figures who are critical of the authorities.


The “actress” has played roles in news clips in Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa.  She has played as a soldier’s mother and an anti-Maiden (pro-Russian) activist

Кудрин призвал власти России не вести информационную войну против граждан

http://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/news/2015/04/24/kudrin-prizval-vlasti-rossii-ne-vesti-informatsionnuyu-voinu-protiv-grazhdan

"Мы становимся свидетелями информационной войны. Когда война идет даже не за имидж страны, а против своих граждан - это приведет к деструктивным процессам в обществе", - подчеркнул он.

Former finance minister says Moscow wages information war against its own citizens

https://meduza.io/en/news/2015/04/24/former-finance-minister-says-moscow-wages-information-war-against-its-own-citizens

“We are witnessing an information war. When war is waged not even for the country’s image abroad but against its own citizens, it leads to destructive processes in society,” Kudrin said at a presentation of his organization’s new report on the mass media in Russia.

Russia’s president is trapped by his own strident anti-Western rhetoric

http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21648678-russias-president-trapped-his-own-strident-anti-western-rhetoric-how-vladimir-putin-tries

Against this background a resolution of the Ukrainian crisis and de-escalation of tensions with the West would push the focus back onto economic and social problems, lowering Mr Putin’s ratings, just as happened after Russia’s war in Georgia in 2008. A continuation of the war in Ukraine and the stand-off with the West will keep his ratings up for longer. But while this may benefit Mr Putin, it risks leaving Russia isolated and economically stagnant.

Russia’s budget cuts are a good guide to Mr Putin’s priorities. The upkeep of the Kremlin and spending on the army and security services take 40% of the entire budget. But spending on health care and infrastructure has been reduced twice as much as spending on defence. Among other winners in the budget are the state media which spew out hatred and aggression.

10 Putin memes that are probably illegal in Russia now

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-putin-memes-that-are-probably-illegal-now-2015-4?utm_content=buffer3be7b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

What Russians Really Think ~ FT

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/505bfd22-de2e-11e4-8d14-00144feab7de.html#slide0

Many in the west see Russia as aggressive and brainwashed. But its citizens have a different view

Inside the Kremlin’s hall of mirrors ~ Peter Pomerantsev

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/apr/09/kremlin-hall-of-mirrors-military-information-psychology

Fake news stories. Doctored photographs. Staged TV clips. Armies of paid trolls. Has Putin’s Russia developed a new kind of information warfare – fought in the ‘psychosphere’ rather than on the battlefield? Or is it all just a giant bluff?







ENLARGE

HBO to Netflix : Bring it On

http://www.fastcompany.com/3044284/bring-it-on?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tech-weekly-newsletter&position=2&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=04082015


Netflix is the ... one that could, in the opinion of some pundits, knock HBO off track. Plepler became CEO on January 1, 2013, and later that very month, Netflix’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, declared, "The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us." Since then, Netflix has launched original series such as House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, acquired the right to air five new Marvel series and Chelsea Handler’s next project, grown from 33 million to 57.4 million subscribers, and increased revenue from $3.6 billion to $5.5 billion, while boosting its stock price almost 400%. "Two to three years ago, the average user was watching almost 60 minutes of Netflix a day. Today, it’s nearly two hours," says Liam Boluk, a media strategy consultant at Redef. "Netflix is bigger than every single cable and premium-cable network in the U.S. No matter how well programmed, powerful, or profitable HBO is today, you can’t look at that scale and might and not feel the need to act soon."

HBO has not exactly been standing still over the past two years, adding more subscribers in 2014 than in any of its previous 30 years; its creative hot streak has continued with True Detective, Silicon Valley, Looking, and more; and it’s far more profitable than Netflix ($1.8 billion versus $403 million in 2014). Yet this good fortune hasn’t prevented Plepler from recognizing the potency of the threat that Netflix and its ilk present.

The Land of Magical Thinking: Inside Putin’s Russia ~ P. J. O'Rourke

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/land-magical-thinking-inside-putin’s-russia

Pomerantsev becomes a reality TV producer in a place where, as his title and subtitle indicate, there isn’t any reality. Or, at least, everyone wishes there weren’t.

Soviet stagnation led to perestroika, which led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, liberal euphoria, economic disaster, oligarchy, and the mafia state. How can you believe in anything when everything around you is changing so fast?

Pomerantsev, however, is all too believable in the bad news he brings us from Russia. His reporter’s straightforward and unlimited curiosity, his willingness to plow and harrow the widest fields for facts, and his exacting descriptive details give him credibility. Plus, what he tells us is so incredible. As reporters say, “You just can’t make these things up.”

Обложка книги Соломона Волкова The Magical Chorus. A History of Russian Culture From Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn («История русской культуры XX века. От Льва Толстого до Александра Солженицына». Copyrighted Material.

The Economist’s Tom Standage on digital strategy and the limits of a model based on advertising

http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/04/the-economists-tom-standage-on-digital-strategy-and-the-limits-of-a-model-based-on-advertising/

“The Economist has taken the view that advertising is nice, and we’ll certainly take money where we can get it, but we’re pretty much expecting it to go away.”

Putinist art: Russia cracks down on cultural freedom

http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_putinist_art_russia_cracks_down_on_cultural_freedom311580?utm_content=bufferfaaee&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

@TheEconomist Kal's Cartoon

The crackdown on rights and freedoms that accelerated with Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin is rapidly extending to the realm of arts and culture. In the past few years, contemporary art exhibits and film screenings have occasionally come under attack from obscure vigilantes who deemed them insulting to Russian “traditional values”. But more recently, government officials, abetted by top clergy and eagerly assisted by loyal artistic figures, have begun to wage aggressive campaigns against film and theatre productions.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article.php?id=360883

Social Network Analysis Reveals Full Scale of Kremlin's Twitter Bot Campaign

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/04/02/analyzing-kremlin-twitter-bots/

Kremlin’s Troll Army

All four groups were merged into a single data set, resulting in a total of 17,590 Twitter accounts. As with those producing the anti-Nemtsov tweets, the metadata confirmed that the vast majority were indeed bots. 93% showed no location on their profile, 96% had no time zone information and 97% had no Twitter favorites saved.  Also, despite having produced an average of 2,830 tweets, the accounts almost never interacted with other Twitter users through @replies or @mentions.

Odesa businessman compares Russians to Nazis on Russian TV

http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/04/04/odesa-businessman-compares-russians-to-nazis-on-russian-tv/

“No person in his right mind can deny Russian aggression,” he said. “Where do they (militants in the Donbas) get their tanks, where do they get the BUKs, where do they get their surface to air missiles?” he asked rhetorically, telling his Russian audience that “you can deny it till you’re blue in the face.”

Furthermore, he said the reaction of Ukrainians was similar to the reaction of Russians to the Nazi invasion. “During World War II, you (Russians) could not deny German aggression, you did not broadcast German radio, you did not treat the German point of view with respect. And so it is here (in Ukraine) where there is war,” he said.

Lunch with the FT: Matthew Weiner

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2ab92e0c-d85f-11e4-8a68-00144feab7de.html#axzz3WHARikmI

Over salad, soup and profiteroles in New York, the creator of hit TV drama ‘Mad Men’ talks about bringing the show to an end

Fe

Hackers Leak Messages 'Between Kremlin and France’s Front National'

http://www.newsweek.com/hackers-claim-leak-messages-between-kremlin-and-frances-front-national-319442

The head of the National Front’s list in Ile-de-France constituency, Aymeric Chauprade, was an observer at the Crimea referendum last March, although the party denied allegations that he had attended as the foreign policy advisor. Speaking of his decision to attend, Chauprade told Russian News Channel RT: “I think the referendum is legitimate. We are talking about long-term history. We are talking about the Russian people, about the territories of the former USSR.”

In February this year, Le Pen gave an interview to the Polish weekly Do Rzeczyin which she said that France should recognise Crimea as part of Russia.

http://www.economist.com/node/8031597

Sacked Russian media chief takes up keyboard in exile

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3021802/Sacked-Russian-media-chief-takes-keyboard-exile.html

Thankless Job? Try Fighting Graft in Ukraine

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-03-31/thankless-job-try-fighting-graft-in-ukraine

ALL ON A GOVERNMENT SALARY.

 PHOTOGRAPHER: BRENDAN HOFFMAN/GETTY IMAGES

Crimea's independent Tatar TV news channel silenced by 'red tape'

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/01/crimeas-independent-tatar-tv-news-channel-silenced-by-red-tape



Although ATR is not a 24-hour news channel, it has unflinchingly covered many of the problems that have arisen since Crimea joined Russia, including interruptions of utilities and food supplies, huge lines at the ferry crossing to Russia and the second-highest inflation rate in the world. In December, the United States and the European Union placed an economic embargo on Crimea.

EU newspaper’s April 1 joke fools Russian news agencies

https://meduza.io/en/lion/2015/04/01/eu-newspaper-s-april-1-joke-fools-russian-news-agencies

Russian news agencies RIA Novosti, Tass, RT, and Interfax published reports today that one of Mistral-class helicopter carriers built in France for Russia would be transferred to the European Union. The source for this information—an April Fools’ Day joke that Russian media mistook for real news—was the online newspaper EU Observer, which claimed to have learned of the transfer from Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief.

Putin Bootlickers Assemble in D.C. ~ The Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/31/report-from-the-belly-of-the-putin-apologetics-beast.html?via=desktop&source=twitter