Media organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has announced the launch of a suite of satellite news channels dedicated to Russia, many of them created by Russian journalists forced to flee the country after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, AFP reports.
The satellite project - "Svoboda" - "is clearly not propaganda against propaganda," RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire said at an event at the European Parliament in Brussels to launch it.
"This is independent journalism - exported from democratic countries, mostly by censored media - to people living in countries with despotic regimes," he said.
Deloire said the satellite package had the potential to reach 4.5 million households in Russia equipped with satellite dishes. He said the broadcasts would be "secure and reliable".
European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova welcomed the initiative as a challenge to disinformation campaigns both inside and outside Russia.
"We have failed in this information war. I am not happy to say it," she said, pointing to Moscow's "aggressive communication" strategies that adapt disinformation to each country it targets.
"Some of them are common, but a lot of different narratives just abuse the vulnerability of society and historical trends and language proximity," she said.
Promoters of the Svoboda Satellite project said it would give Russian-speaking audiences in Russia and neighboring countries access to journalism "capable of speaking about the war crimes" Russia is committing in Ukraine.
Remarkably, unlike the media in Russia, they will be free from Russia's domestic laws that require the war in Ukraine to be referred to only as a "special military operation" under threat of criminal liability.
The nine channels, including those produced by Radio Sakharov and Novaya Gazeta Europe, will be deployed on Eutelsat's France-based Hotbird network of satellites.
The offering is planned to expand to 25 channels later, said RSF, which is financing the venture. / BGNES
