“The government media cannot deceive audiences because people know when they are being lied to, but I think that it is a great failure of the dictatorship despite all their propaganda investment,” states Alvaro Navarro, director of Articulo 66.
Three Russian journalists who hold relevant positions in the Sputnik News Agency are visiting Nicaragua to dedicate several days to training official journalists from different media outlets in communication.
Daniel Edmundo Ortega Murillo, son of dictators Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, was in charge of welcoming the Russian journalists from his position as media coordinator of the Communication and Citizenship Council.
“We are sure that with the joint work we are carrying out, we are strengthening abilities and cooperation in communication. Always committed to the permanent struggle for truth and communication that contributes to our people’s well-being, progress, stability, and defense,” Daniel Edmundo Ortega said.
One of the Russian visitors is Daria Yurieva, head of Sputnik’s Latin American department, said that in this meeting they will share important aspects of journalism through talks.
“My colleagues and I come from Moscow to share experiences with you, and I am sure that you will provide us with knowledge of the region, and I hope these talks will also be useful and interesting for you,” she said.
Russian thanks “position of Nicaragua”
Another of the Russian journalists is Denis Lukyanov, senior editor for social networks of Sputnik’s Latin American Department, who emphasized that it is a pleasure and honor to be in Nicaragua.
“This country that supports us mostly focused on political issues. But as a Russian citizen, we Russians are very grateful for the position of Nicaragua, which supports us and is our great friend and great ally, and has demonstrated it with concrete facts,” expressed Lukyanov, who explained that one of the classes that will be addressed at the meeting, is on fake news.
For his part, Victor Ternovsky, a correspondent for Sputnik Mundo, shared that in the course, they will share a vision of how social networks and digital media should be seen nowadays.
“Furthermore, we will find out which are the most effective tools to promote content in different media, and we will also talk about audiovisual materials, such as infographics, videos, and other types of content in the form of templates,” Ternovsky said.
For his part, Alvaro Navarro, director of the independent media outlet Articulo 66, noted that since it came to power in 2007, the dictatorship started with the model of concentrating in its power the largest number of media, investing millions of dollars, all to try to control public opinion.
Propaganda machinery is not functioning to the dictatorship
“The problem for the dictatorship is that this process did not quite work out for them. Simply because, in principle, they have attempted to do it by lying blatantly, manipulating the country’s reality, and, in addition, using all the power that the state allows them to launch themselves against citizens and commit all kinds of abuses, which we already know in terms of human rights violations and concentration of power, of corruption, influence peddling, etc.,” says Navarro.
The independent journalist believes that audiences are intelligent enough to know when a media is telling the truth, when they are manipulating, and telling half-truths and half-lies. That is, to assess whether the message they receive is consistent with the truth.
“If there are Russians or Chinese training, they will teach more manipulation techniques, of lies and some things that may have to do with technology. But they won’t teach them to gain credibility or make them have a larger audience. They can teach them technological tools to reach more public, but in communication and journalism, the important thing is the message you provided to your audience as media or journalists,” said Navarro.
He added that users and consumers of news “know perfectly well when the truth is being told, when information is being hidden from them. That is the success of independent media. We are obliged to work and do our job with principles and values, putting the truth first and with the facts ultimately speaking for themselves. I believe this is the dictatorship’s great failure, despite all their investment in propaganda.”
Source : Havana Times
