Suvi Hurri
Nina wrote earlier this week about Russia and commentators asked for current PR trends In Russia. I tried to answer this demand and drilled into newspapers. I found an illustrative example of black PR, one of the issues Nina wrote about.
In the end of October EUobserver.com published an article which claims that Russian state-owned news agency Ria Novosti is trying to white-wash the image of Joseph Stalin. EUobserver is a Belgian non-profit organization concentrated on EU issues. The article says that Ria Novosti has a new public relations campaign, and one of the goals is to improve the image of Russia abroad. This sounds innocent, but there may be dubious agendas.
According to EUobserver, Ria Novosti has a partner, a consultancy called RJI Companies. This agency has recruited other PR firms in this campaign. Here is one part of the conversation between RJI Companies and a major PR firm from Brussels:
PR firm: Do you want us to say that Stalin was not such a bad guy?
RJI: Well, I know it will be difficult.
PR firm: So, you want history to be rewritten?
RJI: Yes, in a way.
Ria Novosti says the claims EUobserver made are “utter rubbish” and denies launching any new projects on Russia's image. Co-operation with RJI Companies is focused on events abroad and the distribution of the Arabic-language edition of the Moscow News weekly, Ria Novosti objects.
If the claims are true, it verifies that the golden era of propaganda has a heavy legacy. If not, we have to ask who benefits of these accusations. If this case is only a bullet in the Russian media war, why would PR professionals from Brussels pull the trigger?
Some Russian journalists are assured that the restoration campaign of Stalin’s image exists and is being executed. Journalists’ opinion is based on for example recent school books with positive expressions of Stalin and statements politicians have made about him in the near past.
In my opinion this kind of image restoration campaign would be dangerous. Obvious attempts to change strong public opinion can create counter reaction and discussion which would only raise Stalin’s crimes on the table over and over again. In that case the campaign would work against itself. If something, campaign could harm Russia’s image because other countries lose their faith on Russia’s ethics.
For me it is also difficult to understand where this need to alter Stalin’s image originates? Valery Shiriaev, the deputy editor of Moscow-based paper Novaya Gazeta explains that it is important for the psychological health of the old Russian elite because otherwise they see themselves as cannibals.
Every country and every generation has their burdens. Russians should just carry theirs and eventually start to focus more on present and future.
EUobserver’s article: New pro-Russia campaign comes to EU capital
Ria Novosti’s answer: Ria-Novosti hits out against claims that it launced a PR campaign to improve Stalin's image
