A panel discussion Deborah Haynes, Sky News; Jade McGlynn, Middlebury Institute; Václav Štětka, Loughborough University
As millions of people in the democratic world condemn the Russian military aggression towards Ukraine, that has now evolved into a prolonged war conflict with detrimental impact on hundreds of thousands of human lives and severe damages to the Ukrainian economy, the aggressor seems to maintain strong support for its “special military operation” inside Russia. Shall the Russian state-controlled media apparatus receive the credit for the Russian public’s overwhelming endorsement for president Putin? How do the Russians perceive the spread of misinformation, manipulation of the public opinion and total crackdown on the media? Should the Russian state controlled television RT be banned from Western media space or shall the public have free choice? Is there a case to transpose the military conflict in Ukraine to an Information War in Russia?