Sputnik: The Outside Player Financed by Russia.

As we get closer to the french elections, I need to write about the foreign players who try and influence the national debate. Sputnik is a multimedia website, completely financed by Russia (available in both French (https://fr.sputniknews.com/) and English (https://sputniknews.com/).

Sputnik website available in French at fr.sputniknews.com

The name is a reference to the satellite sent in space by the Soviet Union in 1957, during the race for the conquest of space between USSR and the United States. According to Arte, a French television channel, "373 million euros were unlocked [in 2015] to finance the foreign content of Rossia Segodnia, the agency that controls Sputnik" (translated from French). Today, Sputnik has a Facebook page for France called "Sputnik France" with more than 270 000 likes, and their slogan is: "Nous dévoilons ce dont les autres ne parlent pas" ("We reveal what others don't talk about").  

Yesterday, C Politique, a political programme that airs every Sunday evening on France 5, broadcast a report about Sputnik. The team was the first to be allowed to investigate Sputnik's offices in Paris, as long as they kept their location secret. The report criticises how bias Sputnik is. It includes interviews such as one with Francoise Dauce, specialist in Russian media, who claims that Sputnik "contains elements of reporting that are similar to propaganda". Rudy Reichstad, founder of a blog called the Observatory of Conservationism, claims that "[Sputnik]'s aim is not to inform the population, their aim is to influence the political opinion of the public". After this report, Sputnik fired back at France 5 in two articles entitled "France 5 attacks Sputnik but mixes up its accusations" and "When France 5 doesn't verify its information".

In this article The Independent, Emmanuel Macron, leader of movement "En Marche" and French presidential candidate, is reported to be attacked by media controlled by Russia: "Mr Macron has been the target of false reports spread by state-controlled media, including Russia Today and Sputnik".

I want to emphasise two points. First, television acts as a regulator of information which I believe is necessary to our democracy. Sources from the external media are not regulated like television, and this freedom can become a way of having unbalanced arguments. This is even more true for the younger individuals. Reichstad says "The younger generation, which gets its information mainly on the Internet and don't necessarily distinguish true from false, is permeable to conspiracy". 

Sources:

http://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/russie/video-c-politique-a-enquete-sur-le-media-russe-sputnik-en-france_2093809.html

http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/rue89/rue89-medias/20150202.RUE7710/sputnik-l-arme-de-propagande-russe-arrive-en-france.html

http://info.arte.tv/fr/sputnik-la-propagande-russe-en-orbite
http://www.liberation.fr/france/2016/03/11/rudy-reichstadt-une-vision-du-monde-de-plus-en-plus-paranoiaque_1439154
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/emmanuel-macron-russia-le-pen-en-march-french-elections-cyber-attacks-fake-news-a7578011.html