A Russian defeat - media crushes Russias “truth”

What appeared to be a perfect timing for the attack, media being occupied with the Olympics in Beijing, ended up as a fatal mistake for the Russians. They had prepared the story about genocide and aggression well, but miscalculated some basic news criteria. The Norwegian professor Sigurd Allern mentions polarization, conflict, relevance, possibility to identify culturally with the matter, and how important and powerful the countries involved are. And as such this conflict fulfils all criteria’s for news coverage.

The old rhetoric from the cold war was revitalized, and it was very easy for the readers / viewers to get a hold of the story and identify with the old conflict lines. It was after some time evident that there was good-guys and the traditional Russian bad-guys. The US president spoke clearly about all traditional western values, and was supported by European leaders. There was drama! BBC and CNN was our eyes on the ground and told the story about David being crushed by Goliath, and the US marshal on his way to rescue. Beijing Olympics were completely abandoned in this context. It just could not compete, so the media ran Georgia vs Russia as top story for now 10 days with analysis, background, live coverage, victim reports and interviews. All parties, the Georgian president with his emotional messages tailor-made for media on English, Pres Bush’s threats, Merkels visit to Medvedev in Sochi, and Sarkozy’s negotiations with the Russians all contributed to create the biggest LIVE drama in Media possibly on line with the Invasion in Iraq. (Or maybe even bigger). We had constant and very fast development through the entire conflict. Words like "cyber war" increased the tension and the feeling of something entirely ”new” in warfare. It also helped that Russian soldiers uploaded videos from their cell-phones to Youtube showing them looting baracks and shops in Gori.

The Russian propaganda machine had no chance withstanding this massive coverage where action on ground contradicted all the Russians was saying. The ”humanitarian” rescue operation was contradicted by the excessive damage the Russians inflicted on Georgia ”LIVE”. ”The Genocide” was effectively revealed as a lie by Human Rights Watch after 6 days, when they entered South Ossetia. That being the only thing giving legitimacy for the Russian attack, the whole charade fell apart. The last message from Churkin was that he accused media of being wrong. Something usually regarded as a major mistake. Another important point is that Russian media does not reach outside Russia to the western world, and is known to be limited in trustworthiness due to governmental control. An example of the Russian media coverage is the internet newspaper Echo Moskvy, which today reports from their defence sources that...

“Georgians, Ukrainian nationalists and Chechen bandits have set up an armed group outside of Gori. This group plans to enter Gori in Russian uniforms to shoot and humiliate the local population. This is going to be videotaped and distributed to the world to show the world what kind of barbarians Russians are”.

(Echo Moskvy http://www.echo.msk.ru/news/534641-echo.html)

Now why would they write something hillarious like that? Simple. The videos showing Russian soldiers looting Gori has already been showed to the western world..the soldiers have uploaded them to You tube and tapes from surveillance cameras have been showed on TV ( TV2 among others), so when the videos finally show up in Russia, the explanation is already clear: This is Georgians and Ukrainian nationalist trying to make the Russians look bad.

At this moment it seems like the big looser in the conflict, despite the obvious military victory, is Russia. Through it’s savage attack and persistant destruction of Georgian infrastructure even after the ceasefire deal was signed they probably scared Poland to make a quick decision to host the US missile shield, contributed to unite the ex-soviet republics even more (which the manifestation I Tbilisi by the Baltics, Ukraine and Polands presidents showed). It also has pushed Ukrain to seek cooperation with US on their missile defence, worry the whole of Europe, and deteriorated relations with EU. They face possible eviction from G8, and there is serious questions about the SOCHI 2014 Olympics. Another leverage from US is economical sanctions, which can be catastrophal for Russia according to commentators on CNN. This leads up to isolation and of course no WTO deal. The Russians got an international attention around Abkhazia and S-Ossetia, with EU and US clearly stating that Georgian integrity is not up for debate.
The Georgians has lost many troops and civilians, but managed to get a long sought attention around Abkhazia and S-Ossetia. Get international support for their territorial integrity. They have a destroyed infrastructure which EU and US have committed to rebuild very fast. Georgia also today got a rather sensational reassurances from Angela Merkel ( CNN / BBC) that Georgia WILL be a NATO member. Sensational because Angela Merkel was the one that brought Russias protests to the NATO countries (NRK)

The Russians have been revealed by the media as the real aggressor, and has lost the legitimacy they though they had given the operation - much thanks to the media coverage from particulary CNN and BBC World. One can argue that this are western media, but the Russian actions on the ground verified by independent organizations has contradicted their statements, and as such contributed to further undermine their credibility. In this conflict media has played a very active and important role reporting from a very tough, unpredictable and dangerous situation on the ground. Many have been killed, and we have seen journalists being shot at in cars (Turkish TV reporters), targeted actively by Russian fighter planes ( BBC Worlds reporters), and shot during reporting ( Georgian reporter). All documented on video, and shown in news reports. And as we all know: The politicians listens to what the media says – they create the opinion. As victim the Georgian President Saakashvili has played an important role. In spite of emotional and erratic behaviour, ha has in a strange way managed to communicate the essence of the conflict in a clear and understandable manner. It’s easy to be sympathetic to this man fighting for freedom, democracy and his small country against the destructive aggressor. He manage to hold the wolrd leaders responsible for his own mistakes; a too direct interpretations of diffuse political intentions and support. And he has been a master in this game. Saakashvili might be finished as president after this, but one should admire his efforts and success in communicating and maneuvering in this extreme situation.

How this conflict will evolve from here is difficult to predict. The Russians have accomplished little else but damaging their reputation and another country severely. And the damage increases for every day Russian forces stay in Georgia with news coverage showing looting and destruction of infrastructure. It doesn't seem to be perceived that way by the Russian leaders, and I would be surpriced if they pull out their forces tomorrow, as promised by Medvedev.