Information War During The 2008 South Ossetian War - August 17 Through September

August 17 Through September

On August 17 The New York Times reported that while Russian authorities "have given Western journalists little or no access" to areas under its control, "Russian journalists are allowed to move around freely." On August 21 the paper reported that a clip of a Fox News Channel live interview with a 12 year old girl and her aunt was shown repeatedly on Russian television news. The article claimed a Russian news anchor had introduced the clip as evidence the US would use "any means available" for a disinformation campaign against Russia, and the man who dubbed the Fox anchor's voice into Russian "not only exaggerates the anchor’s tone, but even coughs and groans loudly when blames Mr. Saakashvili for causing the conflict — something that did not happen in the original." The Russian Mission to the UN published transcript of the interview quoted Sergei Ivanov in detail:

For everyone in the United States who was here and for everyone in the United States who has been watching this story and has watched the developments since Friday, can you tell me why Russian tanks, troops, warplanes are in, have been in Georgia?
"That is a very easy question. First of all, good afternoon and thanks for the opportunity to be with you. I have an impression that the American public thinks or intends to think that Russia attacked Georgia."
That what we have heard from the President of Georgia, in his words…
"Yes, exactly. Thanks for prompting me on that. A big Russian bear attacked a small peaceful Georgia. In fact, the situation is and was vice-versa. It was a big Georgia which attacked a small and tiny breakaway Republic of South Ossetia."

The New York Times article resumed the discussion thus:

"A big Russian bear attacked a small, peaceful Georgia,” said Mr. Ivanov, a deputy prime minister, before seeking to undo the damage. “In fact, the situation is and was vice versa. It was a big Georgia which attacked a small and tiny breakaway republic of South Ossetia."

Der Spiegel reported that Lev Gudkov, director of the Levada Center, claimed that "On TV there is hardly any free reporting — instead you see a lot of very aggressive propaganda." He claimed summarily it was reminiscent of the worst of times in the Soviet era.

Russia Today TV reported that Europe’s largest magazine, Der Spiegel, was accused by one of its staff members, Pavel Kassin, of propaganda and taking a pro-American stance. Kassin said he sent 29 pictures showing the devastation left by the Georgian military in South Ossetia to the magazine’s Hamburg headquarters, but was shocked to find that none of them appeared in the issue released the following Monday. Kassin had been working there for 18 years and has never before had any problems getting his photographs published. "Could it be that the most liberal, democratic and independent magazine has gone down the road of ideological one-sided propaganda?" he said. "In my view this is one of the rare cases when Spiegel has taken a pro-American one-sided stance." According to Kassin the photos were rejected on political reasons. The decision is considered to be influenced by the ousting in February 2008 of the editor-in-chief Stefan Aust, who had worked for many years in Der Spiegel, and his replacement with Georg Mascolo who had been leading the Washington subdivision of the magazine.