How to Sell Death and Destruction. Russian Media Coverage of Putin's War in Syria

This thesis examines the way the Russian media covered the war in Syria from the moment Russia officially joined the armed conflict in September 2015. The Russian government propaganda machine had to invoke all the tools in its possession to cover the Syrian war and come up with new tools catering for modern media demands. The officials had to make sure that only government-approved messages would reach the Russian public. An ambitious goal given the modern media diversity and openness.

An inability of most Russian citizens to obtain any kind of information other than available in the Russian language, as well as virtual destruction of independent media organisations in Russia created a perfect opportunity for the government to control all incoming information a Russian citizen could glean on the topic of the Syrian war. This thesis examines the reasoning behind getting into war in Syria (e.g., the repercussions of the war unleashed in Ukraine in 2014 and failing approval ratings and ambitions of president Putin) and the specific media coverage of the Syrian war.

After the war in Ukraine (2014), which became increasingly unpopular among Russian citizens, the Syrian war became a welcome distraction and a way to prove Russia's special place in the world, Russia's greatness. This thesis examines in depth the tools that were used by Russian media to sell the war in Syria to its citizens, as well as reiterate that Russia is one of the mightiest countries in the world in terms of military power and geopolitical influence. This research finds that exact tools used by this propaganda machine are universal and can be applied on any occasion the public needs to be persuaded to approve aggression.

The main finding of this research is: as chaotic as the media coverage of the Syrian war seemed to an untrained eye, it was, in fact, an incredibly structured, disciplined and ultimately successful propaganda programme, full of strict rules and policies media organisations and journalists had to follow to get the desired result. Not only Putin's ratings correlated with media wins in the coverage of the Syrian 'project,' but the public also itself felt patriotic and righteous in terms of Russia's participation in the Syrian war.