As opinion polls show, Russian propaganda is not effective in improving Russia’s image abroad. The situation is dramatically different inside Russia, where most popular media outlets seem to operate based on the concept of ‘truthiness’: preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true rather than the concepts or facts known to be true.
According to Stephen Colbert ‘truthiness is tearing apart’ the United States since at least 2005. In Russia, state-sponsored truthiness has actually had a unifying and uplifting effect. What often is missed from the debates on Russian disinformation or propaganda is that the state narrative promoted by state-controlled media does not simply shape, but often feeds off already existing public sentiment.
Enduring support
State narrative does not come from scratch, but is likely to be embedded in already present sentiments among the Russian public, which distinguishes itself from the west and would like to again see Russia as a great power. These sentiments, described in more detail below, are also the drivers of the specific narratives Russian media shape. By doing so, Russian media ensure the enduring support of the government’s actions that may seem controversial to an outside viewer. Thus, as an outcome and in a sort of a cyclical motion, Russia’s media techniques (or propaganda) reinforce these sentiments making them even stronger at the same time justifying the government’s actions.
