Supporting Investigative Skills, Debunking Disinformation

Independent media across the Eastern Partnership regions have addressed the threats Russia-fuelled propaganda pose in their countries with targeted projects debunking disinformation and advancing reporters’ investigative skills.

IWPR’s project Amplify, Verify, Engage: Information for Democratisation and Good Governance in Eurasia (AVE) provided three platforms in the region with investigative reporting grants. These supported independent media and democratic growth in their respective countries.

Over a period of five months, Georgia’s Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), Moldova’s Media Birlii and Ukraine’s Gwara Media researched and mapped disinformation actors. As part of this they investigated financing schemes behind targeted fake news campaigns and explored the impact of disinformation as the primary driver of instability in the region.

Focusing on Ukraine’s eastern region of Kharkiv, Gwara Media’s analytical project aimed at identifying Russian actors and producing fact-checking materials with reference to specific towns and cities. The project team utilised their existing resources and open-source intelligence (OSINT) expertise to create unique material, including five articles, and original research identifying Russian forces.

“It was an important [process] because it was related to Russian propaganda and Russian military in the Kharkiv region, and it channeled readers’ attention from the frustration caused by a horrible situation, the occupation, to the possible identification [of occupying forces] and raised relevant discussions in the society,” explained Yuliana Topolnik, GWARA Media’s factcheck editor.

The project succeeded despite serious challenges, including power outages caused by Russian missile attacks which disrupted the team’s workflow.

In Georgia, IDFI’s team delved into the historical roots of anti-Western propaganda, working with students of the university of Georgia’s faculties of journalism and social sciences.

“Russia’s modern information operations and methods are a legacy of the Soviet Union,” said Anton Vatcharadze, IDFI’s lead on memory and disinformation. “The very term ‘disinformation’ is from the dictionary of the USSR’s State Security Committee, the KGB, and it means the deliberate distortion of information and its subsequent dissemination.”

The project trained students in critically approaching and investigating these deeper roots, he continued, adding, “Not only the messages but often even the methods are identical.

“The difference lies in the modern techniques the Kremlin uses in its disinformation and influence-spreading operations, including social media, the use of fake accounts and inauthentic networks, botnets, and more.”

The project also increased awareness among the general public thanks to the extensive media coverage it received.

Russian propaganda methods are common across the Eastern Partnership area and Moldova remains particularly vulnerable.

Media Birlii undertook an investigative project that delved into the creation of media by pro-Russian politicians in Moldova’s autonomous region of Gagauzia. Based in the administrative centre of Comrat, the team produced a multimedia publication and an investigative report which highlighted the influence of Russian narratives on local politics.

The relevance of this project was particularly acute given Moldova’s security concerns amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and Russia’s perceived threat to the nation.

“Many politicians have become more careful with their [pro]Russian statements and connections... This is especially true in Gagauzia in the context of the campaign to elect the new governor. There are fewer statements by politicians about Russia,” Vitali Gaidarji, Media Birlii’s executive director, explained. “The team gained good experience, and we started writing more investigative material on corruption issues. Two journalists from our team then joined a [larger] investigative journalism initiative, which is certainly the result and experience gained from the project.”

Participants stated that the grants allowed them to fine-tune their OSINT and network analysis skills, adding that the process encouraged journalists’ greater literacy in critical areas while the products contributed to increase public awareness.