Foreign interferenceAre Journalists Ready for Foreign Interference in 2020?
Last month, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released volume two of its investigation into Russian interference, which details an extensive campaign that aims to sow division and undermine American democracy via social media. One of Russia’s key strategies is to target journalists. As the report describes, “Information warfare, at its core, is a struggle over information and truth. A free and open press — a defining attribute of democratic society — is a principal strategic target for Russian disinformation.” By targeting journalists and news outlets in democratic countries, authoritarians weaken a key pillar of democratic societies.
Last month, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released volume two of its investigation into Russian interference, which details an extensive campaign that aims to sow division and undermine American democracy via social media. One of Russia’s key strategies is to target journalists. As the report describes, “Information warfare, at its core, is a struggle over information and truth. A free and open press — a defining attribute of democratic society — is a principal strategic target for Russian disinformation.”
By targeting journalists and news outlets in democratic countries, authoritarians weaken a key pillar of democratic societies. Ahead of the 2016 election, the Russian government and its proxies used a variety of tactics to target the U.S. news media, from directly contacting journalists to solicit coverage of stolen material to impersonating local news outlets. And Russia isn’t the only actor targeting news outlets. Other authoritarian regimes, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, have adopted similar tactics. With the 2020 U.S. election fast approaching, journalists may be exposed to a new wave of attacks seeking to undermine their credibility, distract their audiences, and weaponize their work.
Authoritarian governments and their relevant proxies use three primary tactics to attack news outlets: impersonating journalists and the outlets themselves to launder credibility; hacking and harassing reporters to inhibit or distract from negative coverage of the authoritarian regime; and engaging with journalists to solicit coverage of false or divisive narratives.
Impersonation and Mimicry
In the months leading up to the 2016 election, the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) infamously sought to impersonate U.S. news outlets to trick citizens into trusting inauthentic content. It was not the first time the IRA employed such tactics. In 2014, on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the IRA attempted to incite panic by spreading fake stories of a chemical plant disaster in Louisiana using websites that mimicked local news sources and counterfeit images of CNN reporting. The campaign sparked fear among citizens who were unsure how to respond to the news until local officials declared it a hoax. It was the first of several IRA operations that tested the group’s ability to generate viral stories and spread hysteria.
