MEMO 98 – Media Monitoring Findings, Final Summary Report 2 Dr. Susanne Spahn - Thüringen – eine Region mit starken Bindungen zu Russland 47 Alan Posener - Wenn die AfD klingt wie die antiimperialistischen Linken, Welt 73 Boris Schumatsky - Ein Schweizer ist Putins fleißigster Internetkrieger, Die Welt 78 Boris Schumatsky – The Epoch Times 83 Democracy Digest - Ways to neutralize Russia’s disinformation (at least partially) 93 Henk Van Ess & Jane Lytvynenko - This Russian Hacker Says His Twitter Bots Are Spreading 97 Messages To Help Germany’s Far Right Party In The Election, Buzzfeed Henk Van Ess - Anleitung: Tipps um Fake Tweets zu entlarven, ZDF 102 Konstantin von Hammerstein, Roman Höfner and Marcel Rosenbach - March of the Trolls: 120 Right-Wing Activists Take Aim at German Election, Spiegel Online Nikolai Klimeniouk – Einmal Speck und Diesel, FAZ 127 Nikolai Klimeniouk - Eine Minderheit, die keine sein will, Welt 128 GERMANY Parliamentary Elections | 24 September 2017 Media Monitoring Findings FINAL Summary Report (8 July - 22 September 2017) 24 November 2017 MEMO 98 Martinengova 8, 811 02 Bratislava, Slovakia | www.memo98.sk, [email protected], +421 903 581 591 2 MEMO 98 1. INTRODUCTION MEMO 98, in cooperation with Internews Ukraine, monitored five Russian-speaking channels and three other outlets prior to the 24 September 2017 parliamentary elections in Germany.1 The monitoring was carried out in three different periods between 8 July and 22 September 2017. The methodology included quantitative and qualitative analysis developed by MEMO 98 that conducted similar projects in more than 50 countries over the course oF twenty years since 1998. Given its comprehensive and content-oriented approach, the methodology was specially designed to provide in-depth Feedback on pluralism in media reporting, including coverage of chosen subjects and topics. The main goal was to evaluate the level oF diversity in the news coverage of local and international topics, and whether the monitored media outlets provide their viewers with Fair and impartial inFormation. The monitoring primarily Focused on the inFormation concerning Germany, notably its political subjects, as well as the context in which the other Germany-related topics were presented ahead oF the elections. As such, the outcome oF the monitoring is a detailed analysis of the quality of the monitored media reporting. This is the final summary report, covering the data gathered throughout all three monitoring periods From July to September 2017.2 1 Based on criteria such as media ownership, coverage, impact and the outreach within the cable networks in Germany, the Following media were included into the monitoring broadcast media (available also in German cable networks): major domestic Russian channels - 1st Channel, NTV; media For Russian-speaking audience abroad or speciFically For Germany - RTR Planeta, Euronews – Russian edition, RTVD; and Russian originated media providing inFormation in German language - RT Deutsch website, RT YouTube channel (selected sections), Sputnik Deutschland (radio). 2 Three monitoring periods included two weeks in July (8-21 July), two weeks in August (5-18 August) and three weeks in September (1-22 September). MEMO 98 Martinengova 8, 811 02 Bratislava, Slovakia | www.memo98.sk, [email protected], +421 903 581 591 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • Instead of serving as a facilitator of discussion on public policy issues, some media outlets openly demonstrated bias following the Kremlin narrative and strongly criticizing the German authorities. • The Russian media operating in German language, radio Sputnik Deutschland and RT website, presented a number of international and local political events in a biased way, often with only a certain range of views, thus depriving their viewers of receiving impartial, fair and comprehensive coverage. There was a discernable difference between RT Deutsch website and its official YouTube channel, with the latter presenting stories in a more neutral manner. • Both Russian media operating in German language (RT Deutsch and Sputnik Deutschland) focused on German authorities and showed them in a highly negative manner. By contrast, the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) was presented in a more positive and neutral manner (in Sputnik). • By comparison, when referring to Russian authorities, Sputnik Deutschland showed different approach - President Putin and the Russian government were presented in an exclusively positive and neutral manner. • Noteworthy, the RTVD channel which is accessible in the German cable networks, provided its viewers with a different coverage of the political events and presented German authorities mostly in a neutral way. Two parties, namely the Left and the Greens, were presented in a favorable and positive manner. • There was a significant increase in the elections-related reporting in the last monitoring period, particularly on the official YouTube channel of RT Deutsch. On the other side, such difference was not noticed in the coverage of the major Russian broadcasters (perhaps except NTV). • The monitored German speaking Russian sources focused their attention on the topic Elections in Germany. Other presented topics were Terrorist attacks in Europe, G20 disturbances (riots and clashes) followed by German-Russian relations and EU. • The monitoring also revealed that the main Russian channels continued to serve as instruments of propaganda, diverting attention from important domestic issues and challenges to the foreign affairs or non- substantial domestic events. • The findings showed that Russian broadcasters 1st Channel, RTR Planeta, NTV devoted significant attention to the foreign affairs – in total it was MEMO 98 Martinengova 8, 811 02 Bratislava, Slovakia | www.memo98.sk, [email protected], +421 903 581 591 4 MEMO 98 between 41 and 45 per cent of the coverage. By comparison, the Russian political topics and issues received considerably smaller coverage – 14 per cent, with economical, education or social issues getting only some 4, 2 and 1 per cent respectively. • The main topics on the three main channels were topics such as Russian patriotism, International relations, Russian-US relations, Conflict in Syria and North-Korean crisis. The topic Elections in Germany was not amongst the top 10 most presented - it accounted as the ninth only if including the Euronews channel. • When speaking about the topics within the Germany-related stories, quite naturally, the Elections in Germany was the most presented topic. It was covered on the space comparable with three other topics - G20 political aspects, G20 disturbances and International relations. The next followed topic was Migrants to Europe. • German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the most presented subject on the three main Russian channels and Euronews (Russian edition). She received manly negative coverage in July and August and was portrayed in a more positive way closer to elections. • When it comes to the coverage of contesting parties on the Russian main broadcasters, the SDP received the biggest coverage which was in total comparable with the aggregated coverage of three other contestants – the AfD, the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP). MEMO 98 Martinengova 8, 811 02 Bratislava, Slovakia | www.memo98.sk, [email protected], +421 903 581 591 3. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS 3.1. FOREIGN-ORIENTED RUSSIAN SOURCES [RT Deutsch web/RT Deutsch YouTube, Sputnik Deutschland, RTVD] In the course of the three monitored periods, the monitoring oF German speaking outlets revealed quite visible diFFerences in their coverage and portrayal oF German elections. While Sputnik and RT Deutsch were clearly biased against Angela Merkel, RTVD showed a balanced approach when covering the different political subjects. All of these outlets gradually focused their attention on the Elections in Germany which became the most presented topic. Other presented topics were Terrorists attacks in Europe, G20 disturbances, German-Russian relations, EU and G20 political aspects (the latter was the second most presented on RT website). RT Deutsch web devoted the bulk oF its coverage to German authorities, including the law-enForcement bodies. The most presented subject was the German government, the German police, Followed by Chancellor Merkel. All the subjects were overwhelmingly portrayed in a neutral and negative manner (partially diFFerent was the coverage oF the police). As For the contestants, Four parties received comparable coverage SDP, CDU, FDP and AfD, both in terms oF time and tone. In RT Deutsch YouTube channel Four most covered subjects were the CDU, the Left, the SPD and the FDP which were portrayed generally in a balanced manner. By contrast, the German government in general and Angela Merkel in particular received critical coverage. Radio Sputnik Deutschland offered its listeners an openly biased coverage of political events and shaped the narrative alongside the Kremlin official policy. The German authorities were almost exclusively presented in negative and neutral way. The criticism was targeted at the German government, the police as well as Chancellor Merkel. USA became the third most covered subject and similar to the portray oF German authorities, it was also under criticism. By comparison, the Russian authorities received only positive and neutral coverage. Interestingly, the AfD was the only German subject to receive a rather positive coverage. RTVD devoted most of its political coverage to the Left in an overwhelmingly