Russia's "Firehose of Falsehood" Propaganda Model (RAND Corp 2016)

[Nevilledog]

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RAND Corporation
@RANDCorporation
Our experts call Russia's model for propaganda the "firehose of falsehood" because of two distinctive features:

1) high numbers of channels and messages
2) a shameless willingness to disseminate partial truths or outright fictions

rand.org
Russia's “Firehose of Falsehood” Propaganda Model
Russia's propaganda model is high-volume and multichannel, and it disseminates messages without regard for the truth. It is rapid, continuous, and repetitive, and it does not commit to consistency.
9:03 AM · Mar 17, 2022

Since its 2008 incursion into Georgia (if not before), there has been a remarkable evolution in Russia's approach to propaganda. This new approach was on full display during the country's 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula. It continues to be demonstrated in support of ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Syria and in pursuit of nefarious and long-term goals in Russia's “near abroad” and against NATO allies.

In some ways, the current Russian approach to propaganda builds on Soviet Cold War–era techniques, with an emphasis on obfuscation and on getting targets to act in the interests of the propagandist without realizing that they have done so.1 In other ways, it is completely new and driven by the characteristics of the contemporary information environment. Russia has taken advantage of technology and available media in ways that would have been inconceivable during the Cold War. Its tools and channels now include the Internet, social media, and the evolving landscape of professional and amateur journalism and media outlets.

Distinctive Features of the Contemporary Model for Russian Propaganda

High-volume and multichannel
Rapid, continuous, and repetitive
Lacks commitment to objective reality
Lacks commitment to consistency.
We characterize the contemporary Russian model for propaganda as “the firehose of falsehood” because of two of its distinctive features: high numbers of channels and messages and a shameless willingness to disseminate partial truths or outright fictions. In the words of one observer, “[N]ew Russian propaganda entertains, confuses and overwhelms the audience.”2

Contemporary Russian propaganda has at least two other distinctive features. It is also rapid, continuous, and repetitive, and it lacks commitment to consistency.

*snip*

[dalton99a]

1. Exhibit A: Donald Trump

[JHB]

3. Nah, Exhibit A is Movement Conservatives.

Particularly since 1990. They'd been pushing the Republicans that way since 1960, but Newt and Rush put them on a direct trajectory to Trump or someone like him.

[NewHendoLib]

2. US AM radio for decades

[PSPS]

4. This is what Steve Bannon promotes. He refers to it as "flooding the zone with shit."

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Steve Bannon's phrase (and action) is "Flood the zone with shit"

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/1/16/20991816/impeachment-trial-trump-bannon-misinformation

It was distilled almost perfectly by Steve Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News and chief strategist for Donald Trump. “The Democrats don’t matter,” Bannon reportedly said in 2018. “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”

[crickets]

6. K&R for visibility.

[uponit7771]

7. K&R, yeap ... State level message zone flooding and MAGAs are good at doing it here