\n Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced Tuesday the launch of a package of satellite news channels catering to Russia, much of it produced by Russian journalists forced to leave the country after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Svoboda Satellite project -- named after the Russian word for freedom -- \"is clearly not propaganda against propaganda\", RSF secretary general Christophe Deloire said at a Brussels event in the European Parliament inaugurating the launch.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"This is independent journalism -- exported from democracies, by mostly media in exile -- towards people living in countries with a despotic regime,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Deloire said the satellite package had the potential to reach 4.5 million households in Russia fitted with satellite dishes. He said broadcasts would be \"secure and reliable\".\n<\/p>\n
\n European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova welcomed the initiative as a challenge to disinformation campaigns both inside and outside Russia.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We've been failing in this information war. I'm not happy to say it,\" she said, pointing to \"aggressive communication\" strategies by Moscow that tailor disinformation to each country targeted.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Some are common, but many different narratives are just abusing the vulnerabilities of the society and historical tendencies and language proximity,\" she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Promotors of the Svoboda Satellite project said it will give a Russian-speaking audience, in Russia and in neighbouring countries, access to journalism \"able to speak about war crimes\" Russia is committing in Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n
\n Notably, and unlike media in Russia, they will be free of Russian domestic laws that require the war in Ukraine to be termed only a \"special military operation\" under threat of criminal punishment.\n<\/p>\n
\n The nine channels, among them ones produced by Radio Sakharov and Novaya Gazeta Europe, are to be hosted on the French-based Eutelsat network of Hotbird satellites.\n<\/p>\n
\n There are plans to later expand the offering to 25 channels, said RSF, which is financing the endeavour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced Tuesday the launch of a package of satellite news channels catering to Russia, much of it produced by Russian journalists forced to leave the country after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The Svoboda Satellite project -- named after the Russian word for freedom -- \"is clearly not propaganda against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-129202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n