"Planned campaign": how the media published the same materials about the coverage of vaccination by RT TV channels

In early November, materials appeared in a number of media outlets with almost identical accusations against RT - that the TV channel allegedly spreads false information about vaccination against COVID-19. 

So, on November 9, Meduza * published a "study" in which it stated that foreign-language, and especially German, RT units allegedly actively disseminate unscientific information about the coronavirus, as well as skeptical information about the need for vaccination.

In particular, the authors of the material accused RT DE of publishing news about an event held in the German city of Reutlingen called the "Conference of Pathologists", the participants of which discussed the possible side effects of vaccines.

The material about the conference was also published by Bavarian Radio.

According to Meduza, most of the German media ignored the fact that the conference was being held.

In addition, the publication criticized the French and German versions of the RT website for publishing a statement by French tennis player Jeremy Chardy that he is suspending performances due to complications after the COVID-19 vaccination.

• © RT

The publication also criticized the publication of RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, who repeatedly stressed the importance of vaccination to protect the lives of citizens and fight coronavirus infection.

Speaking about the alleged tendency of foreign versions of RT websites to publish materials critical of vaccination, the publication cites as an example coverage of individual events, and also refers to unnamed journalists and statements taken out of context by speakers.

Earlier, on November 5, a similar material was published by Novaya Gazeta, which stated that RT was allegedly "fueling fears of vaccination against coronavirus in Germany."

The authors of the material stated that the YouTube channel RT DE was blocked at the end of September, allegedly due to violations in relation to false information about COVID-19. 

In particular, the newspaper cites the Alliance for the Defense of Democracy, which is listed as an undesirable organization in Russia, which claims that before RT DE was removed from YouTube, of the ten most popular videos published since March, nine contained critical information about vaccines.

In this case, as an example, the news is given, covering cases of complications recorded in Europe after vaccination, and not calling for the refusal of vaccination.

The newspaper also cites a statement by the authors of the Alliance for the Defense of Democracy study, claiming that there is "a direct link" between the surge in anti-vaccination sentiment and the growing popularity of RT in Germany.

No proofs are given.

Almost the same material directed against RT was published on the Navalny LIVE YouTube channel on November 8.

On the record, Lyubov Sobol, a colleague of Alexei Navalny, also states that the international network RT "has become one of the main distributors of anti-Axis ideas in Russia and the world."

At the same time, Sobol, in particular, cites the example of an interview with Margarita Simonyan with NBC News, where the editor-in-chief of RT emphasizes that the purpose of the channel is to inform the audience.

Nikita Danyuk, Deputy Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the RUDN University, a member of the Public Chamber of Russia, stressed that the published materials represent a planned information campaign against the TV channel.

“Yes, this is definitely a planned information campaign.

Firstly, against RT, and secondly, against the state policy on vaccination in general.

They are trying to convict us that we are allegedly trying to mislead the Western audience in the context of vaccines, ”the expert noted.

According to him, the action is, in particular, an attempt to make the Russian side guilty of the fact that in some European countries most of the population refuses to be vaccinated.

“Here you also need to understand that the very work of the RT channel in these countries is subject to constant attacks from all kinds of bodies.

And I do not exclude that this informational wave is needed in order to prepare public opinion.

In order, for example, to declare that it is necessary to ban the broadcasting of RT, ”the expert said.

At the same time, RT chief editor Margarita Simonyan received a request in which the media were interested in the details of blocking the RT DE channel on YouTube.

At the end of September, Simonyan already noted that the video hosting, explaining the reason for blocking the channel, "found fault" with only four materials published there by RT DE.

Among them were comments from doctors on measures to combat the coronavirus, including the use of masks in public places, as well as material on the vaccine debate in Greece.

Russian diplomats called the blocking of German-language projects RT "an act of unprecedented information aggression" by YouTube, committed "with the obvious connivance (if not at the insistence) of the German side."

The goal, in the opinion of the Russian Foreign Ministry, is "to drown out sources of information that do not fit into a comfortable media background for the German officialdom."

* Media recognized as a foreign agent by the decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 04/23/2021.