Russia Today (RT) does not create or promote fake news, according to Anna Belkina, the broadcaster’s director of communications.
Instead, she said, speaking at the Westminster Media Forum conference on fake news in London, it is the subject of it.
Belkina added that RT takes a three-pronged view on how to tackle fake news. Firstly, it says that different opinions should not be treated as fake. “As a Russian, I may see the world slightly differently to that in the UK. But by calling anything that we disagree with as fake news we are muddying the waters”.
Secondly, one should be conscious of blind spots. She cited a debate between Macron and Le Pen in the recent French presidential election campaign after which RT was accused of spreading fake news.
The third is media diversity to foster credibility. “Mainstream media has presented a unified perspective for many years but it did not reflect people’s view of the world”.
