Iranian, Chinese and Russian Overt Media on Coronavirus

Post by Rachel Chernaskey

March 9, 2020

As the coronavirus has spread throughout the world, so too has the disinformation and misinformation surrounding the epidemic. Iran, China and Russia have attempted to influence the discourse about coronavirus through their respective state-sponsored media outlets since the start of the outbreak, albeit through varying frames and narratives.

One narrative all three countries highlight is the notion that the United States is weaponizing the crisis for political gain and thus worsening its spread globally. While all three countries’ state-sponsored outlets pushed explicitly anti-U.S. sentiments, Iran and Russia appeared to push far more conspiratorial content than China. In the disinformation ecosystem, each country’s state-sponsored media played off the others to promote shared preferred narratives.

All three countries’ state-sponsored media outlets also published related social media content. For example, Iran’s PressTV posted a video blaming U.S. sanctions for Iran’s struggle to fight coronavirus on Twitter, Russia’s RT asked Twitter “who isn’t going to be surprised if it ever gets revealed that #coronavirus is a bioweapon?,” Sputnik News posted on Facebook criticizing the U.S. health-care system and China’s Global Times’s Twitter account criticized Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for “using the #COVID19 to stigmatize China and Wuhan” after Pompeo referred to coronavirus as “Wuhan virus.”   

Here are some of the other distinct narratives one can observe in each country’s state-sponsored media. 

Iran

Iran’s PressTV has pushed some of the most outlandish conspiracy theories about the coronavirus, including theories that the virus is a bioweapon, the U.S. and/or Israel have “exploited the global coronavirus epidemic to create and spread a deadlier strain of the virus” to use as a bioweapon against Iran, and the Trump administration “unleashed” the virus for leverage against China and that “reports suggest that there are components of the virus that are related to HIV” indicating the virus might be a man-made weapon. These theories go hand-in-hand with PressTV’s typical propaganda narratives, which are regularly anti-U.S. and anti-Israel.

PressTV also pushes the theme that Iran and China are superior to the U.S. in battling the coronavirus, both logistically and morally. PressTV heralds Iran’s response to the coronavirus in spite of U.S. sanctions in stories, while criticizing the U.S.’s management capabilities in others. Other narratives suggest the U.S. is lacking in its response:

• Claims the U.S. system is insufficient and unprepared
  • In addition to criticisms about the U.S.’s  response to the coronavirus itself, one PressTV article uses the opportunity to criticize “Big Pharma” and question the efficacy of vaccines, suggesting the vaccine meant to protect against the annual flu is a money-grabbing fraud
• Claims the U.S. is using the coronavirus for political leverage
• Allegations the U.S.’s global aid response has been inadequate 
  • One article touts China’s response to the H1N1 flu virus in 2009 as evidence that China is superior to the U.S. in dealing with global outbreaks like coronavirus
• Criticisms that U.S. sanctions are hurting Iran’s ability to contain and battle the virus internally
• Criticisms of the Trump administration’s response to coronavirus and playing up political infighting over President Trump’s coronavirus response

Russia

While Iranian state media appears to act as a larger content creator of coronavirus disinformation, Russian state-sponsored media amplifies these Iranian conspiracy theories, including the IRGC’s suggestions that the virus is a U.S. bioweapon. 

Other narratives promoted on Russia’s RT and Sputnik News include: 

• The suggestion that coronavirus represents America’s worst global injustices, laid out in this bizarre op-ed which sarcastically discusses “why coronavirus should be the next US president”
• Claims the U.S. is weaponizing the virus against Iran (“medical terrorism”), China and, domestically, against  President Trump
  • Stories claim the U.S. is politicizing global assistance and offering little help, contributing to further spread of the virus
• Panic over the stability of the U.S. financial markets
  • These stories tend to amplify panic over U.S. financial stability by capitalizing phrases in headlines, like “WORST WEEK”
  • One RT op-ed suggests the coronavirus’s impact on financial markets might bring about the re-invention of communism and end the global capitalist system
  • Financial themes of market collapse and economic instability have been a traditional avenue of Soviet subversion via active measures campaigns during the Cold War. We should expect a large uptick in this form of messaging from Russia based on today’s major market setback. 
• Mocking the U.S. for concerns over Russian disinformation spread about coronavirus, while simultaneously denying claims of Russian meddling in U.S. elections
• Criticism of Western media coverage 

China

China publishes the most content related to the coronavirus, but strikes a distinctly different tone than Iranian and Russian state media. Coronavirus content narratives pushed by the Chinese state-run media include: 

• Western values/democracy is an insufficient system to battle coronavirus
• China is a victim of Western rhetoric and unfair media coverage
  • Chinese media blames the U.S. and the West for conspiracy theories and other unfair, anti-China narratives amid the outbreak of the coronavirus
• Discrimination/racism
  • Inequality is used as a wedge issue to criticize the West and the U.S.’s response to the current situation and a potential pandemic
  • One Global Times op-ed suggests that structural inequality within the U.S. health-care system would prioritize certain patient groups over others
  • Other articles claim “anti-China” and discriminatory sentiments against Asians have been amplified by fear-mongering Western media outlets in the wake of the coronavirus’s spread
• Trump is an incapable leader
  • Global Times coverage of the U.S.’s response to coronavirus oftentimes criticizes President Trump directly, portraying Trump as irrational and irresponsible
• U.S. politicization of the virus as a means to gain leverage in the trade war and make American economic gains 
  • Articles question the assistance the U.S. has offered in the wake of the virus’s spread and suggest the U.S. has withheld funding and other assistance
• Amplifying Chinese resilience in ongoing tensions with the U.S.
  • The Global Times paints China as open to further negotiations/trade discussions with the U.S. and portrays the U.S. as more hesitant, suggesting the further politicization of the virus by the West
  • Praises countries that put aside tensions to assist, while criticizing the U.S. response to the virus
  • Coverage of the virus’s impact on Chinese telecom company Huawei intersects with coverage portraying the company as victimized by the U.S. in trade