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<H1><A title="The Kremlin’s Platform for ‘Useful Idiots’ in the West: An Overview of RT’s Editorial Strategy and Evidence of Impact" href="http://www.europeanvalues.net/rt/">The Kremlin’s Platform for ‘Useful Idiots’ in the West: An Overview of RT’s Editorial Strategy and Evidence of Impact</A></H1>
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<P>European Values Think-Tank presents a new Kremlin Watch Report, “The Kremlin’s Platform for ‘Useful Idiots’ in the West: An Overview of RT’s Editorial Strategy and Evidence of Impact”, authored by Monika Richter, Kremlin Watch Analyst. The Report is accompanied with an appendix document, the RT Guest List.</P>
<P><STRONG>Summary:</STRONG></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">This Report provides a detailed overview of the history, agenda, and evidence of impact of the Kremlin-funded international broadcasting network RT (Russia Today). In recent months, RT has come under increasing scrutiny for its role in the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign against the West. Unlike other agents of this campaign, which operate primarily behind the scenes and whose ties to the Kremlin are less overt, RT operates out in the open, pushing its pro-Kremlin agenda under the guise of ‘free speech’ and ‘alternative’ journalism aimed at counteracting the alleged bias of the mainstream media.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Thanks to this public visibility and its close ties to the Russian government, RT is seen as the official ‘face’ of the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign in Europe and the United States; consequently, it often receives disproportionate attention and blame within Western policy circles for its contribution to the Kremlin’s destabilisation efforts. At the same time, many people in Europe and the US, including politicians and other persons of influence, continue to exhibit troubling naïveté about RT’s political agenda, buying into the network’s marketing ploy that it is simply an outlet for independent voices marginalised by the mainstream Western press. These ‘useful idiots’ remain oblivious to RT’s intentions and boost its legitimacy by granting interviews on its shows and newscasts.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">This Report aims to resolve these conflicting realities, first, by identifying and describing the malignancies of RT’s editorial strategy, which unambiguously qualify the network as a Kremlin disinformation outfit, and second, by setting the record straight about the extent and nature of RT’s impact, which is frequently overstated to the detriment of sober analysis and apt strategic response.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Download it in <A href="http://www.europeanvalues.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Overview-of-RTs-Editorial-Strategy-and-Evidence-of-Impact-1.pdf">PDF</A> <A href="http://www.europeanvalues.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Overview-of-RTs-Editorial-Strategy-and-Evidence-of-Impact-1.pdf">http://www.europeanvalues.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Overview-of-RTs-Editorial-Strategy-and-Evidence-of-Impact-1.pdf</A></P></BODY></HTML>