Seeing Red
Russian Propaganda and American News
Published on 21. July 2024
Book
Hardback
216 pages
978-0-19-769642-2 (ISBN)
Description
The U.S. media has been tainted with Russian disinformation, but the more significant threat is how the Right has embraced the Russian model of the news media as a vehicle for propaganda. This could not have happened without Donald Trump, who has been aided and abetted by politicians and news outlets that favor persuasion over information. From his inauguration onwards, Trump has shown allegiance to the Kremlin propaganda playbook-he consistently denies reality, amplifies lies, vilifies the free media, and broadcasts disinformation.
Seeing Red breaks new ground in investigating the scope of Russian disinformation, arguing that key politicians and media outlets in the United States have facilitated the dissemination of Russian propaganda. From the 2020 elections to the Capitol Insurrection to the war in Ukraine, Sarah Oates and Gordon Neil Ramsay examine the penetration of key Kremlin strategic narratives that attempt to project Russian power, blame NATO for Russian aggression, and attack democracy via the U.S. news. Despite knowledge of the risk and resourceful work on tracking down Russian propaganda in the United States, the problem of foreign disinformation continues to this day. As Oates and Ramsay argue, this is in part due to exploitation of the American tradition of free speech and the open nature of the U.S. media system. Yet, the much more dangerous menace lies not in how foreign governments attempt to manipulate the media, but in how our media system has been compromised by domestic actors who follow an authoritarian playbook and promote anti-democratic narratives. When it is hard to tell the difference between what the Russians are saying about the Democrats and how Fox News is covering Joe Biden, it is time to realize that some American outlets have crossed the line from news to propaganda.
Seeing Red breaks new ground in investigating the scope of Russian disinformation, arguing that key politicians and media outlets in the United States have facilitated the dissemination of Russian propaganda. From the 2020 elections to the Capitol Insurrection to the war in Ukraine, Sarah Oates and Gordon Neil Ramsay examine the penetration of key Kremlin strategic narratives that attempt to project Russian power, blame NATO for Russian aggression, and attack democracy via the U.S. news. Despite knowledge of the risk and resourceful work on tracking down Russian propaganda in the United States, the problem of foreign disinformation continues to this day. As Oates and Ramsay argue, this is in part due to exploitation of the American tradition of free speech and the open nature of the U.S. media system. Yet, the much more dangerous menace lies not in how foreign governments attempt to manipulate the media, but in how our media system has been compromised by domestic actors who follow an authoritarian playbook and promote anti-democratic narratives. When it is hard to tell the difference between what the Russians are saying about the Democrats and how Fox News is covering Joe Biden, it is time to realize that some American outlets have crossed the line from news to propaganda.
Reviews / Votes
Oates and Ramsay deliver a damning, evidence-based diagnosis of both the virus of Russian propaganda, and the catastrophically weakened immune system that allowed it to infect America's media and politics - an invaluable guide for those who want to solve the problem, rather than wallow in it. * Samuel Greene, Professor of Russian Politics, King's College London * Oates and Ramsay show, in meticulous detail, how Russian intelligence services and hackers have exploited the weaknesses of U.S. media outlets and social network sites to spread Kremlin propaganda and disinformation, often abetted by the demagoguery and malevolence of certain U.S. politicians. Despite the pernicious impact of Russia's interference on U.S. and West European elections over the past decade, effective measures to prevent such interference remain elusive. This book will help journalists, government officials, and concerned citizens understand the alarming scale of the problem and the steps that need to be taken to safeguard American democracy against Kremlin intrusions. * Mark Kramer, Director of the Cold War Studies Project at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University * Overall, Seeing Red's value is in describing several important ways in which U.S. democracy is vulnerable to unverified partisan messaging. * Anton Shirikov, The Russian Review * In this excellently researched and written book, the authors offer timely insight into how Russian "strategic narratives" infiltrate and spread in an American information sphere increasingly dominated and divided by walled gardens of politically homogeneous content. More specifically, they trace how pro-Putin propaganda about the US as a failed democracy and NATO-controlled neo-Nazis in Ukraine intersected with Trump's conspiracies regarding election rigging; a biased, liberal, "fake" media; and a reticence toward US military intervention on foreign soil to create a volatile, propaganda-driven echo chamber that continues to threaten American democratic institutions-most important among them a free and independent press. * M. S. Gorham, CHOICE * [A] groundbreaking analysis...an essential primer on the spread of foreign propaganda in American political discourse. * The Foreign Service Journal *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
970 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-769642-2 (9780197696422)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
08/2024
Oxford University Press Inc
€28.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
E-Book
05/2024
OUP eBook
€20.49
Available for download
E-Book
05/2024
OUP eBook
€20.49
Available for download
Persons
Sarah Oates is Associate Dean for Research and Professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park. As a political scientist, her work focuses on how the media can support or subvert democracy in places as diverse as Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Dr. Oates has published many books, articles, chapters, and papers on various topics, including how the internet can challenge dictatorship, how election coverage varies in different countries, and how national media systems cover terrorism in distinctive ways. A former journalist, she has lived and taught in the United States, Scotland, and Russia.
Gordon Neil Ramsay is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Akureyri, Iceland. His work has covered political communication and disinformation, as well as media regulation and the effects of the decline of local journalism in democratic societies. He has worked in U.K. think tanks producing
research on media legislation and regulation plurality, and co-founded the Centre for the Study of Media, Communication and Power at King's College London. His recent publications have covered the media's role in elections, the effects of market concentration and economic pressures on local news performance, and the increasing vulnerability of news media to targeted disinformation.
Gordon Neil Ramsay is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Akureyri, Iceland. His work has covered political communication and disinformation, as well as media regulation and the effects of the decline of local journalism in democratic societies. He has worked in U.K. think tanks producing
research on media legislation and regulation plurality, and co-founded the Centre for the Study of Media, Communication and Power at King's College London. His recent publications have covered the media's role in elections, the effects of market concentration and economic pressures on local news performance, and the increasing vulnerability of news media to targeted disinformation.
Author
Associate Dean for Research and ProfessorAssociate Dean for Research and Professor, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park
Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social SciencesAssociate Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Akureyri, Iceland
Content
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: American News in the 21st Century
Chapter 3: Strategic Narratives: What do the Russians Want?
Chapter 4: U.S. 2020 Presidential Campaign Narratives and Russian Propaganda
Chapter 5: Curating Chaos: Election Fraud Claims and the Capitol Insurrection
Chapter 6: Russian Strategic Narratives and the War in Ukraine: From Neo-Nazis to NATO
Chapter 7: Conclusions
References
Index
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: American News in the 21st Century
Chapter 3: Strategic Narratives: What do the Russians Want?
Chapter 4: U.S. 2020 Presidential Campaign Narratives and Russian Propaganda
Chapter 5: Curating Chaos: Election Fraud Claims and the Capitol Insurrection
Chapter 6: Russian Strategic Narratives and the War in Ukraine: From Neo-Nazis to NATO
Chapter 7: Conclusions
References
Index