This edited volume, featuring accomplished scholars, is about the information wars in the Baltic states, a battle that pits Russia against the West with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as sites of contention for great power politics. Chapters address responses from titular populations, local Russian speakers, national governments, activists, journalists, and NATO, as well as the impact of Russian foreign policy on media.
Author(s): Janis Chakars, Indra Ekmanis
Series: The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 313
City: Cham
Praise for Information Wars in the Baltic States
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Tables
Chapter 1: Introduction
References
Part I: The Weight of History
Chapter 2: Echoes of the Past: Media and History in the Baltic Battlespace
A Pattern of Political Instrumentalization
Continuity and Change in the Baltic Information Wars
References
Chapter 3: Russian Disinformation: The Forest Brothers, Baltic Resistance, and NATO
Disinformation Campaigns
The Forest Brothers
Resistance or Collaboration?
What Does Disinformation Do Anyway?
References
Part II: The Weight of Ethnicity
Chapter 4: Making Sense of Public Media in Times of Geo-Political Crisis: Latvian Public Media and their Ethno-Linguistic Majority and Minority Audiences
Method
Results
Media Use
Media-Related Perceptions: Public Media Ideals
Skepticism toward Media: “They all Lie”
Latvian-Speaking Audiences
Russian-Speaking Audiences
Conclusions
References
Chapter 5: Building Bridges: Estonian- and Russian-Speaking TV Audiences and the Value of Estonian Public Service Broadcasting, 2010–2020
Position of Broadcasting
Trustworthiness of Media Institutions
Importance and Trustworthiness of News Sources
Position of Public Broadcasting
Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: Building or Banning? Russian-Language TV in Latvia
Russian-Language Television in Latvia from the Late Soviet Period to EU Accession: Reviving the State and Nation
Post-Accession to Crimea: Media and Integration—Or the Failure Thereof
Crisis in Ukraine: Strengthening Content on LTV, but Not Enough for a New Channel in Russian
From Crimea to COVID-19: The Information War Heats Up
Conclusion
References
Part III: The Digital Challenges
Chapter 7: Bots, Trolls, Elves, and the Information War in Lithuania: Theoretical Considerations and Practical Problems
Information War in Lithuania
Mechanics of Influence: Rise of the Bots
Influence as a Theoretical Consideration and the Internet
Interpersonal Influence and Group Influence
Structural Factors
Network Structure
Threaded Structure
Influence Meets Structure
Conclusion
References
Chapter 8: Robotrolling in the Baltic States
Robotrolling Reports
Methodology
Robotrolling, 2017–2020
Pandemic Bot Activity
Conclusions
References
Part IV: The Responses
Chapter 9: Disinformation Analysis and Citizen Activism in the “Post-Truth” Era: The Case of DebunkEU.org
The Case of DebunkEU.org: AI, Elves, and Analysts Against Trolls
Cheap Disinformation and Expensive Debunking
Conclusion
References
Chapter 10: The Perils of Defense in an Information War: Media, Minorities, and the Threat Next Door
Television Bans and Parliamentary Debate
Government as the Voice of Authority
The Disconnect Between Government, Media, and People
Conclusion
References
Chapter 11: NATO’s Response to Information Warfare Threats
Development of NATO StratCom
Improving Strategic Communication Capabilities
Overview of Centre Operations
Robotrolling and Inauthentic Activity
Social Media Manipulation
Geotargeting and Elections
Camouflage for the Digital Domain: A Force Protection Framework for Armed Forces
Responding to Cognitive Security Challenges
Russia’s Footprint in the Nordic-Baltic Information Environment
Virtual Russian World in the Baltics
Hybrid Threats in the Baltic Information Environment
Conclusions
References
Part V: The Complications
Chapter 12: “Let Them Flee to Sweden: There, Everyone Looks at Them More Politely”: Gay Propaganda and LGBT Rights in the Baltic States
Methods
A Brief Note on Terminology
What Constitutes “Gay Propaganda”?
LGBT Rights in Comparison
Men in Women’s Police Uniforms: Latvia
The Referendum That Didn’t Happen: LGBT Rights and the Far Right in Estonia
The Right to Be Seen: LGBT Visibility in Lithuania
Trolls and Disinformation: Foreign Influence on the Baltic States
Conclusion
References
Chapter 13: The Best of Enemies: Identity, Recursion, and the Convergence of Kremlin and Estonian Strategic Narratives in the Global Populist Discourse
Theory and Praxis
Social Identity Theory and Fluid Identity in Information Operations
The Role of Strategic Narratives
Collusion or Coincidence? A Theory of Uncoordinated Convergence
The Data
Russian Strategic Narratives
A Taxonomy of EKRE Strategic Narratives
The Politics of Purity
The Rhetoric of Threat and Rescue
The Politics of Misogyny
The Costs of Cheap Talk
The Drivers of Convergence
References
Part VI: Epilogue
Chapter 14: Epilogue: Baltic Journalists Respond to Disinformation
Fact-Checking Is Not the Only Solution
Addressing Russian-Speaking Minorities and Fighting Kremlin Narratives
Media Education
References
Index
