MH17 amps up 'he said, she said' in Russian and Ukrainian media
The information war between Russia and Ukraine took on an even more high-stakes game of "he said, she said" today, with rumors and unsubstantiated claims circulating about the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine.
The media war between the neighboring countries has been going on for months, with Russian media labeling the protesters on Kiev's Maidan Square as fascists. Russia's annexation of Crimea and the Ukrainian government's battle against separatists only exacerbated the cross-border media battle.
US officials are eying Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine as responsible for yesterday's plane crash. However, many media groups in Russia are continuing to toe the Kremlin line.
In Russia, media organizations have followed President Vladimir Putin's lead in blaming Ukraine for the deadly attack on the Boeing 777. A piece from Russian newspaper Kommersant聽聽saying, 鈥淒onetsk Republic authorities and Ukrainian authorities blame each other for hitting the plane."
There have also been outlandish claims, including that Ukrainian forces shot down the plane because they thought it belonged to Mr. Putin. According to several Russian-language news sources, rebel commander and Russian citizen Igor Girkin (who goes by the nom de guerre Strelkov) alleged that several of the bodies found at the crash site聽聽for several days, implying that Ukraine was trying to create a set-up and blame Russia.聽
English-language Kremlin-backed news channel RT repeated claims that the target was Putin鈥檚 airplane. Sarah Firth, a correspondent for RT, publicly 聽telling The Guardian, 鈥淲hen this story broke that was the moment I knew I had to go.鈥澛燬he worked for RT for five years.聽
Not all Russian media were quick to point fingers. In a piece for Russian website Znak, Andrey Kozenko writes about the people have of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Mr. Kozenko implored readers to reflect on the language used by Russian media to describe events like this crash. He writes:
鈥淚t is not just a crime, it is a split of different civilizations. And we are not on the side of normal people. Now we鈥檒l be taken differently in the world. Yes, we didn鈥檛 shoot the plane and we are not armed. But normal people are on one side and we are on the other, together with our armed clowns鈥�. Now let us live with it.鈥�
And Ukraine says ... the opposite
Ukrainian news media, on the other hand, have placed blame on Russian separatists and the Kremlin. After months of conflict between the two nations, some commentators are now using blatantly exasperated tones in their coverage of the crash.
Oleh Tyahnybok, leader of the far-right Ukrainian party Svoboda, penned an opinion piece on website Ukrainian Pravda titled聽鈥�.鈥�
Mr. Tyahnybok calls for the implementation of martial law, and places blame squarely on Putin's shoulders, writing: 鈥淭his [downing of the plane] is just one of many crimes committed by Russian terrorists during the military aggression of Russia against Ukraine that has already lasted more than five months.鈥澛�
Channel 5, a popular Ukrainian TV network owned by current President Petro Poroshenko,聽聽on its website that highlights the blame game approach of both Russian and Ukrainian media:
鈥淭he first headlines of leading media came out with direct hints that the cause of the tragedy is found in Moscow. Russian terrorists quickly started erasing proof that they shot the airliner. The entire propaganda machine of the Kremlin has already tried to shift the blame of the tragedy on Ukraine.鈥�
Meanwhile, many Ukrainian commentators are spending time questioning the allegations made in Russian media.
鈥淲hat is the reason that Ukraine would want to shoot down a plane over its territory? 鈥� I don鈥檛 understand how we can take seriously Putin鈥檚 proclamations and his team and his marionettes" in eastern Ukraine, Ukranian blogger Karlo Volokh said in an聽.
Translations from the Russian by Olga Podolskaya. Translations from Ukrainian by Lydia Tomkiw.
