“The information war must be waged by professionals”
And again about the painful issue: bloggers who call themselves military correspondents, and their criminal negligence for the sake of hype. From the very beginning of the SVO, all sane journalists working in the military have memorized simple rules like a mantra: publishing photos and videos with location reference is strictly prohibited. If you don’t know what’s possible and what’s not, ask the military. It would seem much simpler. But the problem, as it turns out, has not gone away.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Photos, videos, and even entire illustrated narratives continue to pop up on the Internet, revealing the operations of our troops that have not yet been completed.
Often, millions of views of such publications have a negative side: thwarted plans of our military , death of soldiers, destroyed equipment.
Not only the military, but also journalists who do their work conscientiously suffer from the unprofessionalism of hype seekers. After each such mistake, the military department tightens restrictions on journalists working on the front line, and local commanders completely refuse to interact with the press, explaining simply: “Your brother is nothing but problems.”
What to do and how to deal with it fight? I decided to talk about this topic with my old friend, military expert Evgeny Linin. We have had the opportunity to work together more than once in the Northern Military District zone, and my interlocutor knows firsthand about the problems arising from “military bloggers.”
“Recently, a lot of “journalists” who have nothing to do with journalism have divorced,” says Linin. — I'm talking about various bloggers. They come to the combat zone, infiltrate there on humanitarian missions, meet with fighters, receive some information from them, and then use it in their publications in personal telegram channels or on other information platforms.
The price of such uncontrolled and thoughtless action is sometimes the life and health of our soldiers. Many probably remember the situation when the media reported that volunteers from the “Veterans” unit had established themselves in the ninth quarter of Avdiivka. It is also unclear why it was revealed that they were able to get to this block through a pipe that had been cleared for almost a year. It was a very secret operation. The guys took a lot of blows from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, however, they were able to implement the plan, came out on the other side, and gained a foothold.
And then the publications began, massively picked up by the blogosphere. All this led to the fact that the enemy raised plans for the infrastructure of objects that are located on the territory of Avdievka, found out where this pipe could pass, and established constant aerial surveillance of this square. Any movements to the pipe, and especially exit through it, became impossible.
Our guys were cut off, because that entire part of the territory — and these are fields and forest belts, which are clearly visible from the air, were visible and shot through by artillery fire of the Ukrainian Armed Forces .
Unfortunately, there are many such examples when so-called journalists come and make similar stories. They themselves, of course, get some kind of hype from this, but as a result, our military loses initiative, equipment and, most importantly, they lose people.
— How can you stop the appearance of such bloggers in the Northwestern Military District zone?< /p>
— Firstly, I think the Ministry of Defense should monitor such movements more clearly and strictly. Only official journalists should work in the Northern Military District zone, who, in turn, should receive more opportunities to cover events at the front, so that our citizens do not have an information hunger.
After all, why do such massive hype and take-offs happen? Yes, because someone suddenly wrote exactly what worries the population at a given moment in time. That is, demand creates supply. But such a demand can and should be satisfied only by journalists who have undergone special training and do it correctly, taking into account the fact that we are read not only here, but also on the other side. The morale of our troops, as well as the morale and combat potential of the other side, depends on how and what they write.
Another problem is analytical programs on television, where the expert opinion of the so-called military correspondents, who do not work in the media at all, is expressed. But, nevertheless, these people talk about what is happening. As one example, I can also cite the situation in the Avdiivka direction, when our guys had just gained a foothold in positions, and immediately it became known to everyone, thanks to one “journalist” in quotes, who talked about it on the central channel.
Ukrainian intelligence monitors all our information resources, and in order to suppress the destructive impact on their troops, they immediately launched a massive attack on this area using rocket systems and cannon artillery, including using a large number of drones.
Consequently, we were forced to retreat from our positions without even really gaining a foothold in them. Because of this, the plan for further advancement, of course, had to be adjusted. Therefore, I repeat: non-professionals cannot wage an information war.
Another source of trouble is volunteers, who later often also position themselves as bloggers. Having once arrived in a combat zone, they already become experts, start their own channels and talk about what is happening at the front. What they saw is what they give out, without understanding whether it can be done or not.
But the most unpleasant thing is that, when infiltrating on humanitarian missions, they record gratitude from the fighters for the cargo they brought, while “exposing” some references to the area, certain objects, buildings, landmarks. Those objects on the ground that allow you to determine the location. This leads to the fact that the monitoring of Ukrainian military intelligence, which is constantly carried out online, identifies these places, after which they are struck.
— What needs to be done to prevent such situations from arising?
— I believe that all volunteers who come to the Northern Military District zone should either be accredited by the Ministry of Defense, along with journalists, or receive some kind of certificate that they are truly volunteers and are responsible for the information that they subsequently share.
At the state level, it is necessary to create organizations that would explain to volunteers the rules of work in the NWO zone, inform them of what can be done and what cannot be done. Now there are a lot of different volunteer movements that did not exist before. These are innovations, and they should be regulated by some quickly adopted legislative acts.
If the Ministry of Defense issues such an order, accordingly, services will appear that will check the training ability of these people and demand from them some guarantees and responsibilities, for what they do. Then the situation will change.
We have not yet said that all these people travel to the North Military District zone, sometimes going to the contact line with their phones turned on and with a SIM card installed there. Any smartphone, it doesn’t matter — Android, iPhone, any other system, it “highlights” the route of movement and the points where the volunteers visited. All this is easily installed, easily visible on maps, confirmed by aerial reconnaissance data, and strikes are carried out in these places.
Therefore, I believe that a register of volunteer organizations should be created, and they should sign a non-disclosure agreement information that, voluntarily or unwittingly, they learned during their trip “for the ribbon.”
— But won’t it turn out that such measures will negatively affect the number of people willing to help the front? After all, it’s one thing to simply collect cargo, get into a car and deliver it, and another when you have to deal with a number of nuances — training, accreditation, and so on.
— The main cargo to the special operation zone is delivered by large organizations, such as Narodny front, Russian Humanitarian Mission, Army Assistance Fund and several others. They will easily pass any accreditation and any training.
Свежие комментарии