State media use conspiracy theories to justify government policies – research

January 20, BPN. State media use conspiracy theories to legitimize government decisions that “obviously limit human rights,” Belarusian media analysts said in a research paper.

Conspiracies are a means of disinformation, said doctor of philology Iryna Sidorskaja, head of research: “It takes away our agency, telling us: ‘Everything is not what it seems. You are just cogs and can’t do anything.’”

The research focused on articles published on the SB. Belarus Segodnya, Belarus 1, ONT and STV websites from January 1 to December 31, 2021.

Sidorskaja said their basic conspiracy theory was that Belarus was “surrounded by enemies” who “declared a ‘hybrid war,’ ‘economic genocide’ and ‘real terror’ against it.”

“Therefore, ‘true patriots’ must rally even more around the leader,” she summed up the message.

She noted that journalists themselves are not the only source of conspiracy ideas, as they often quote top officials voicing them.