Thanks Alex for interesting insights.

I have noticed that Russians are majorly into conspiracy theories - almost as mainstream. It's quite interesting.

I also realise that intelligent Russians have a very well developed "bullshit" detector from Soviet days, and realise that it's always a good idea to seek out an alternative perspective if something doesn't sound quite right.

All this makes for a public that can't be easily fooled, I think. Therefore I have a hard time believing that Russian media is as propagandistic as Western media would have us believe.

My take on it is that they simply refrain from serious criticism against Putin, and I think that this gap is filled to the brim on Russian internet, anyway.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the public genuninely seem to support Edinnaya Rossiya, in Russia. So either the media is representing public opinion, or possibly - media is leading public opinion...? No amount of media manipulation can make somebody feel positive about a bad situation though.

Also there is Novaya Gazeta, which IS critical.
And Russians can watch Euronews in Russian - definitely not pro-Russia/Putin.
There are lots of radio broadcasts in Russian that are critical against Putin, i.e BBC, RFE etc.

So I don't believe that Russian media can get away with bullshitting on any large scale, even if they wanted to.

That said, I have to laugh at the participation of a certain Johan Bäckman on Rossiya24, when Finland is discussed. They really should bring in somebody else. 25% of what he says is true, the rest is nonsense + I think Bäckman seriously believes Putin is God. He is not representative of Finland.

I took a university class that was essentially on media and propaganda: How to do it, and how to recognise it. A long time ago. At the time, it was said that Russian media was the freest on earth (early to mid 90s) because it received state money to fund it, but was not subject to any kind of steering regarding content, at all. It was a unique situation and must have been nice for the journalists.

I also know that Russia has a very well developed blogosphere of truly independent people.

The reports of Russian "troll factories" are disturbing, but it's definitely something the USA is already doing and I also believe that it's not impossible that the whole thing is made up as part of a propaganda war. I'd like to see some concrete evidence before I believe it.