Media censorship in Russia as in Mali reflects the tensions between States, but also the stakes surrounding credible and trustworthy information.
It may not be a coincidence. If Putin’s lock closes on independent voices in Russia and prevents access to international media like the BBC, the Malian junta is taking its cue from the Russian conception of information. In the Kremlin, we know, we don’t talk about war, but ” special military operation ” in the face of a Ukraine that should be ” denazify even though its president is Jewish.
In Bamako, the junta suspends RFI and France 24, which affect a third of the population, by accusing these two media of giving voice to presumed victims of abuses by the Malian army with the help of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner company. And to justify this decision, Colonel Maïga, the spokesman for the junta, compares the two French media to the radio des Milles Collines. Yes, you read correctly, RFI and France 24 compared to the emblematic station of the Rwandan genocide which gave the antenna lists of people to be executed, which called for the massacre of Tutsis reduced to the state of “cockroaches”.
Censorship doesn’t always pay
The bigger it is, the worse it goes. Because the stoppage of the two media is associated with an insult which aims to further deepen the break with France. But it is also free information that is targeted. ” It is an attack that targets all those who courageously continue to practice their profession as journalists in Mali. “says Reporters Without Borders. Censorship does not always pay: it even happens that it turns against its instigators.
During the time of the USSR, Pravda was so restricted in its official truths, so far removed from reality, that it deprived the Soviet regime of all credibility vis-à-vis the people. Today, Russia must do everything to prevent the lies of its propaganda from appearing in the eyes of the Russians. But she is still within reach of a sign of Marina Ovsiannikova, this Russian journalist who has just been fired from her channel for protesting against the war live.
How effective is censorship?
If it facilitates state lies, censorship is not very effective in the age of VPNs to access Facebook and encrypted messaging, where information is shared without restraint. In Russia, for example, the BBC is accessible on the dark web, via the Tor network.
On the Western side, the censorship of RT and Sputnik in the European Union, the United Kingdom or Canada is counterproductive. Admittedly, these media echoed pro-Russian propaganda. But isn’t it in our interest to have counter-information well stamped in the colors of Russia rather than scattered and difficult to identify accounts on social networks?
►Also read: In Mali, how to continue to listen to RFI and watch France 24?