How would you evaluate the international news coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine?

Evaluating journalism and avoiding misinformation, disinformation and propaganda? Here is one good tool. It's called CRAAP (easy to remember, because of . . . well . . . you know). It stands for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose.

Currency: Is this a recent article?

Relevance: Is the article relevant? It is useful? Does it fill your information need?

Authority: Who is the author? Has the author written other articles on the same or similar topic?

Accuracy: Can the content be verified by multiple sources? Is it factual? Are you aware of and do you understand the sources biases?

Purpose: Does this article provoke an emotional response? The intent of a valid news sources is to inform.

Concerned about misinformation, disinformation and propaganda?

I've used the AP's fact checker service before at https://apnews.com/hub/ap-fact-check.

I've also played around with AllSides a little (https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news), but not enough to be able to vouch for it.

If you are specifically concerned with Russia's disinformation campaign against Ukraine, you are not alone. Here are a couple of interesting reads:

Russian embassy in Canada weaponizes social media to fuel support for Ukraine invasion.

https://theconversation.com/russian-embassy-in-canada-weaponizes-social-media-to-fuel-support-for-ukraine-invasion-180109

China Joins Forces with Russia in Global Disinformation Campaign.

https://www.newsweek.com/china-joins-forces-russia-global-disinformation-campaign-opinion-1697259

The People Who Believe Russia’s Disinformation.

https://slate.com/technology/2022/04/russia-disinformation-china-africa-latin-america.html

sensationalism considering there was no where near the coverage during the sieges of Aleppo, Homs, or Hama in Syria. We keep getting bombarded with sob stories of Ukrainian plight, yet the plight of other people around the world gets ignored due to the fact that they are neither white nor Christian. Yes. Media sensationalism at its worst.

Absolutely terrible, at least as far as the mainstream and social media coverage. Any dissenting opinions are quickly silenced and/or banned. When push comes to shove, the west's vaunted free press falls in lockstep with what the government tells them. Obviously this has happened before, but never so absolutely and widespread.

Now that said, there are still sources available. First-hand accounts from more open platforms like Telegram. JT itself actually allows for way more dissenting points of view in comments than most sites I have been on, which I have to commend them for. With VPNs it is possible to get around the bans on media the government has banned and still see what they are saying (which is important to do even if you don't agree with a word they say).

Obviously Russian sources aren't close to unbiased either, but it is insane to think that they are the only ones employing propaganda. It is always advisable to get as wide a variety of sources as possible in conflicts like this, especially when almost all media you consume is affiliated with one side or the other.

Absolute propaganda and misinformation in the western (and hence Japanese) mainstream media. I don't rely on them for international news anymore, instead opting for outlets and independent journalists not taken hostage by western governments. The main problem is that you're not allowed to disagree in public. We are witnessing a madness not seen since the days of McCarthyism.

I used to think Fox News was terrible and outright racist (I still do), but I've now realized CNN, NBC, BBC, ABC (anything ending in BC in fact) are just as bad, dressed up in wokeness. As George Galloway would say, two cheeks of the same ass.

How would you evaluate the international news coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine?

Certainly a 100% different angle from when the west was/is doing the invading.

It’s perfect this time. During Cold War and behind the Iron curtain I had the full dose of Russian propaganda and only very much limited access to Western world news or media to get the whole picture. Now it’s much better, living in a free country and having access to both contradicting propagandas equally, makes it so easy now to form the right opinion and get the whole picture. The truth itself of course isn’t revealed from both both sides while the war is still in its hot and active phase. That surely has longer to wait until it’s all ended and the aftermath can begin.

Quite good. The correspondents from BBC, CNN, etc. are on the ground, including in gun battles and talking directly to the victims and soldiers, combing through the ruins.

yet the plight of other people around the world gets ignored due to the fact that they are neither white nor Christian.

We must live on different planets. Until this year, "international news" was 80% about Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, China, Hong Kong, Somalia, Pakistan, etc. Mostly brown and Muslim.

Ukraine is notable in that for once in a very long while, the central story involves a nation of white people. Russia's 2014 invasion was vastly underreported in favour of coverage from the Middle East, as I recall.

did you mean your "style" coverage?

one sided propaganda to be short.

unbalanced,many hoaxes included.

one side/american/view only.

Wretched beyond belief, pure unfiltered propaganda straight from the western governments the media serves.

The main problem is that you're not allowed to disagree in public. We are witnessing a madness not seen since the days of McCarthyism.

It's frightening stuff, tiki torch parades at midnight.

I used to think Fox News was terrible and outright racist (I still do), but I've now realized CNN, NBC, BBC, ABC (anything ending in BC in fact) are just as bad, dressed up in wokeness.

The Guardian is the worst, hypocrites and liars all. The liberal establishment cheering for World War 3, authoritarian McCarthyite fakers pretending to be moderates, supporting the war criminal Blair. A plague on them.

How would you evaluate the international news coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine?

Fair and balanced.

Lots of argumentation here. True evaluation while both sides pump the propaganda is almost impossible. Unless you're on the ground. And, about 'on the ground'? Two days after Russia bombarded a city less than 20 kilometres from Kyiv, a good friend of mine, a 34 year-old woman who was trying to leave was killed. I DON'T NEED the international media. I need a dead Putin.

Sorry.

When the mainstream western media are less accurate than Russian state news you know you have a problem. The tone and word choice is totally different to any other coverage of a war zone.

There are a couple of Indian news stations that give fairly honest and unbiased coverage of events but BBC, CNN, etc...... Goebbels would have been proud.

@Mr Kipling

Can you recommend some of those news stations? I’m always keen to add some independent news sources to my rotation.

Both the Covid-19 coverage and now Ukraine have been real eye-openers about what the West really is.

I use some Indian news sources, Al Jazeera, and Chinese agencies as a nice counterbalance to the sickenly corrupt and compromised Western MSM. The whole Western reportage has been insanely biased and downright hysterical. It's amazing to see so-called liberals now demanding WW3 and probable nuclear armageddon because of their 'feels'.

I hope more and more investigations be done by not only related countries but also other less related ones. Even small pieces of reality occurring Ukraine will be reveal the fact people there are facing, if accumulated. Also, we need to keep paying attention to the information updated everyday to know what the facts are.

I know it's obvious, but it really depends on the source. In Japanese media, for example, NHK's coverage, while mostly taken from other sources, is not bad, although it gets cut off for the Shouhei Ohtani hour. When they go live in newscasters in the region it is good, too. But if they bring in celebs or professionals to throw in their two cents, the quality usually goes out the window. If it's shows like "Mr. Sunday" or "Ikegami" then it goes beyond horrible and becomes absurd, with "tarento" and people barely a step above them, like Ikegami, clearly having just finished reading a bit of "history" on Wikipedia before the show begins and then talking about Japan, or interviewing people in Ukraine that "lived in Japan for a year" and asking them how it compares there now to Japan, etc.

BBC is the best,lots of news come from a wire service,like Japantoday,they do not have any foreign correspondent,just the internet

Ukraine claim they found sarin in Sumy,kind of skeptical,when they trying too goat the US,it can really backfire,when you do not understand American thinking Google Sarin Ukrinform

When the mainstream western media are less accurate than Russian state news you know you have a problem.

When that happens then we will have a problem. Fortunately it hasn't happened.

@Mr Kipling Can you recommend some of those news stations? I’m always keen to add some independent news sources to my rotation.

Questions such as these are usually met with a deafening silence. Right-wingers love to complain about the news, but when asked where they source their information they are oddly reluctant to share.

What they really mean to say is, 'My news is bad, so yours must be too. My news is politically motivated, so yours must be too'.