Description
Russian international media outlet Russia Today (RT) has been widely accused in the Western world of producing government propaganda and conspiracy theories. The Skripal affair that took place in the spring 2018 was not an exception. Both Russia's domestic and international media launched a media campaign to diminish the threat of the poisoning of the ex-double agent, divert attention to other issues and, most importantly, use the voices of presenters, journalists and guest speakers to put the blame on other political actors across the world. The whole Skripal affair, according to RT, has been presented as an act of russophobia of the western governments and intelligence. As the ensuing diplomatic crisis unfolded, RT itself became part of the story, with a new investigation launched by the British media regulator, Ofcom. RT’s conspiracy theories around the poisoning underwent development and delegation over time, evolving in response to both official accounts and alternative media reports. Based on the approach that perceives conspiracy theories as a populist power tool (Fenster, 2008) and using the Skripal affair as the case study, this paper will demonstrate how RT instrumentalises conspiracy theories to shield the Russian government from criticism for poisoning it’s ex-citizen and a few British nationals. The paper will set out a framework for understanding the interlinked evolution of conspiracy culture and transnational media populism in the contemporary global media environment and will demonstrate the particular dynamics of web 2.0 technologies and their contribution to media populism and conspiracy culture.
