A Nation Must Think Before it Acts
Foreign State-Sponsored Coverage of the American Press During the 2020 Election
A nation must think before it acts.
Russia, China, and Iran and their corresponding state-backed media outlets are all known to push state-driven narratives critical of the U.S. However, the extent to which each country’s state-backed media discusses the American press in coverage differs.
Russia, Iran and China all covered the start of the Biden administration in varying tones. These countries’ state media’s benign coverage of Biden thus far should not be seen as overwhelming favorability toward Biden, but rather a period of assessment as each of these regimes determines how to respond and message regarding the new administration.
In the wake of the riots and violent storming of the U.S. capitol in Washington, D.C., on January 6, foreign state-sponsored media outlets from Russia, Iran and China took the opportunity to criticize the U.S. in coverage and, in the case of Russia and China, vilify Big Tech’s response to the day’s events.
As China increases control over its own information space at home and seeks to further cement its influence abroad, disinformation may play an increasingly larger role in the information war.
Ultimately, disinformation narratives are like Mad Libs–conspiratorial templates where the bogus claims stay the same but the characters and issues change. We know who the most prolific disinformation peddlers are and what they are going to say, let’s prepare to counter them now before they even say it.
Election Day has come and gone, but Americans still face a barrage of mis- and disinformation aimed at discrediting the 2020 election and its legitimacy.
With Election Day tomorrow, coverage of mail-in voting from state-backed outlets has only increased, aiming to denigrate trust in American institutions as well as the electoral process as a whole.
The lead-up to Election Day in 2020 has had many twists and turns. Throughout the past year, however, we’ve seen a steady drumbeat of disinformation from foreign actors who continue to try and interfere in U.S. elections, their goals evident through the themes and narratives they promote on their state-backed media outlets.
Preferences for one candidate or the other in 2020 have been critical to understanding any foreign interference efforts in the lead-up to November—and for understanding potential influence efforts post-Election Day.
The first U.S. 2020 presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden was filled with shouting, interruption and general on-stage chaos. RT and Sputnik News took the opportunity to highlight it as such.