THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE RUSSIAN INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING IN EUROPE AND USA

Abstract

The article concerns the effectiveness of the Russian foreign broadcasting in Europe and the United States in 2008-2016. The author analyzes the information campaigns around the South Ossetian conflict (2008) and the Ukrainian crisis (2014-2016); in particular the activities of Russia directed to protect its own interests in the information space. The tools of this activity are Russian channels and Internet resources aimed at foreign audiences. The effectiveness of these instruments depends on compliance with the targets set in such documents as the Concept of Foreign Policy and Information Security Doctrine. To assess the effectiveness of the channels the author employs such indicators as citedness and impact on public opinion, reflected in the opinion polls and surveys. The comparative study of the two information campaigns shows that the Russian international broadcasting could fulfill the tasks set by the government just partially, in particular, to make the Russian point of view more accessible to foreign audiences. However, it failed to meet the challenge of improving the country's image on the world stage, and at the same time did not provide an objective perception of Russia's foreign policy Disadvantages of the information campaign can be explained by the fact that the Russian international broadcasting was targeted at a specific audience, initially skeptical to the Western media, and did not try to extend it tapping new methods of information and cultural influence. According to the author, the effectiveness of international broadcasting can be improved by a more careful research of socio-cultural characteristics of the western audience and further adaptation of the Russian cultural code.