While Western media are filled with grim images of life in areas of Aleppo under siege by Russian-backed Syrian government forces, Russian news reports tell a very different story.
News outlets such as CNN and the BBC prominently reported a United Nations special envoy’s observation last week that rebel-held parts of the besieged city could be “completely destroyed in two months” by Russian and Syrian bombardment.
On that same night, state-owned broadcasters in Russia glossed over the envoy’s remarks. Instead, they aired stories about the mortars Syrian rebels fired at an expensive hotel where Russian journalists were staying.
As Russia’s air campaign in Syria enters its second year, the portrayal of Aleppo has become a key weapon in the Kremlin’s public information armory as it looks to retain domestic support for a military intervention that is generating widespread condemnation abroad.
The Kremlin-controlled TV channels that are the primary source of news for most Russians barely mention the destruction inflicted by the jets their government is flying over rebel-held areas of the city. The less-extreme damage in areas controlled by President Bashar Assad and purported links between Western governments and Islamic extremists noticeably dominate the newscasts.
“Russian media is very selective in what they show,” said Ulrich Schmid, a professor of Russian culture at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland. “The main message the Russian media is trying to get across to audiences is that Russia is the only nation fighting Islamic State effectively.”
From the start of Russia’s bombing missions in Syria, Western and Russian media have reported the assault through different lenses. Russian reports say Moscow’s air strikes are launched to wipe out extremists. Western coverage, by contrast, gives time and space to claims Russia backs Assad to advance its own geopolitical agenda.