Russia’s war on Ukraine U.S. government-funded reporting is now in the hands of the dysfunctional U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which in 2014, under its previous name, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), conducted a faulty poll in Russian-occupied Crimean and went into great lengths to report its misleading results.
USAGM Watch Commentary
In 2014, after Russia illegally occupied Crimea, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) agency, the federal agency in charge of the Voice of America (VOA), now renamed the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), conducted a faulty poll in the annexed Ukrainian territory without asking the Ukrainian government for permission.
Both the BBG and the Voice of America reported in 2014 that the Crimeans welcomed the Russian invasion. There was no mention in a BBG press release of any intimidation of the Ukrainian and Tatar inhabitants of Crimea and minimal mention of such concerns in VOA English-language reporting.
We wonder how the USAGM and VOA management will do this time under some of the same longtime executives, managers, and editors, who did not do anything in 2014 to challenge the faulty BBG poll conducted in Russian-occupied Crimea or to report on it objectively in Voice of America English News programs.
Here are some examples of the BBG, now USAGM, work, from 2014.
It is so incredible, it is hard to believe. Could it happen again? There is no guarantee that it will not.
According to Prof. Volodymyr Paniotto, a prominent Ukrainian sociologist and General Director of the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, conducting a U.S. government ordered poll in Crimea in 2014 by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which is now the U.S. Agency for Global Media, legitimized the annexation of the territory by Russia in addition to producing results that “may be questionable and need deeper methodological analysis.”
Some American experts were “shocked” by the IBB/BBG poll and the presentation of its results by the Agency and by the Voice of America.
SEE: 2014 BBG WATCH Commentary: U.S. BBG pays for faulty, favoring Kremlin propaganda poll in Russia-annexed Crimea
BBG – USAGM 2014
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Ukraine political attitudes split, Crimeans turning to Russian sources for news
June 3, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ukrainians’ political attitudes diverge by region despite the majority of the country turning to only a handful of top TV outlets for news, according to new survey results released today by the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The research shows Crimea as having a very different news market; in 2012, the top five news sources were Ukrainian, whereas now all five are Russia-based TV channels and social media.
People in the west, north, and center regions of Ukraine are more likely to hold a favorable view of the role played by U.S. in the crisis than those in the east, south, and Crimea. On the other hand, respondents in the east, south, and Crimea are more likely to see Russia as playing a mostly positive role. Support for economic reform, joining the EU, and NATO integration are similarly divided by region.
“The only consensus point across the country is that the vast majority of Ukrainians are opposed to foreign involvement in decisions about the country’s future,” said Neli Esipova, director of research, global migration and regional director for Gallup.
The crisis has taken a toll on the media environment in Ukraine, resulting in the cessation of broadcasts by some TV channels. However, these changes have not significantly affected Ukrainians’ sources for news.
“Only one in five Crimeans say the cessation of some Ukrainian TV channels in Crimea has changed their newsgathering habits, and only one in 10 Ukrainians outside Crimea say that the cessation in broadcasting of some Russian TV channels has changed their newsgathering habits,” said Sarah Glacel, senior audience research specialist at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
As in previous years, five Ukrainian television channels remain the top news sources for Ukrainians across ethnic groups and regions, with the exception of Crimea. Unlike the rest of Ukraine, the top sources for news in Crimea changed dramatically from 2012. All top sources in 2012 were Ukrainian, while in 2014 all five top sources were Russia-based, including social network Vkontakte.
The results of the survey, conducted April 21-29, 2014, showed that 83% of Crimeans felt that the results of the March 16 referendum on Crimea’s status likely reflected the views of most people there. This view is shared only by 30% in the rest of the country. Most Crimeans (74%) also responded that they believe that life would be better as part of Russia.
A research brief and presentation with further information about these findings can be found here, and a recording of the briefing will be added in the coming days. More information about the BBG’s media research series is available here.
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VOICE OF AMERICA 2014
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June 06, 2014 0:29 AM
Gallup Poll Shows Wide Political Split in Ukraine
WASHINGTON — A new Gallup poll shows a wide split in how Ukrainians and those living on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia, view the conflict in their country. Ukrainians as a whole tend to be divided by where they live and sometimes by whether they are ethnic Ukrainians or ethnic Russians.
There are daily armed clashes in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian insurgents looking to secede from Ukraine and the Kyiv government’s security forces. And there is relative peace, seemingly a world away, in western Ukraine.
A new Gallup poll shows just how wide the gulf is between western and eastern Ukraine. The president of Washington-based Freedom House, David Kramer, said the split within Ukraine is growing.
“What we’re seeing now is wider splits have come about as a result of Russian influence and Russian pressure… It is more divided now than it was before events starting in Crimea in March,” said Kramer.
Gallup interviewed 1,400 Ukrainians, and another 500 in Crimea in April, the month after Moscow took control of the Ukrainian territory. The survey was funded by the U.S. government’s Broadcasting Board of Governors, the parent agency of the Voice of America.
It showed substantially more support for the American role in the current crisis in western Ukraine, with sharply diminished views of the U.S. in the southern and eastern regions of the country, and almost none in Crimea.
Gallup pollster Neli Esipova said the split among Ukrainians is not surprising.
“In the last eight, nine years when we collect data in Ukraine, we see it all the time on most of the aspects of life actually. Any political situation we ask of the country, even economics in the country, the split between different regions and between different ethnic groups existed for years, and the government didn’t pay attention to it,” said Esipova.
The survey of Crimeans after the Russian takeover showed they are overwhelmingly happy to be part of Russia, with nearly three-quarters of those surveyed saying their life will improve as part of Russia rather than Ukraine.
“It is part of Russia now, and you saw that the support is huge for Russian government,” said Esipova.
Kramer thinks that as time passes, Crimeans may rethink their affinity for Russia.
“I would say let’s check in with people living in Crimea in a while and see whether life in fact has really gotten better. Russia‘s made all sorts of promises that will cost Russia lots of money: to boost salaries, to boost pensions. Russia right now economically is not really in a position to do that,” said Kramer.
The poll showed that Ukrainians are split evenly on whether they would be willing to endure a diminished standard of living for a year or two while the Kyiv government looks to fix its moribund economy.
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March 16, 2014 6:18 AM
Crimeans Vote on Joining Russia as Diplomatic Efforts Intensify
Diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the Ukraine crisis intensified on Sunday with a phone call between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
A statement from Russia’s foreign ministry said the two men had agreed on the need to push for constitutional reforms that would come “in a generally acceptable form and while taking into the account the interests of all regions of Ukraine.” No details of the type of reforms under discussion were divulged and officials in Washington have yet to comment on Sunday’s discussion.
Meanwhile, under grey skies and the occasional flurry of snow, voters in Crimea’s regional capital cast ballots Sunday in the controversial referendum on Crimean secession. The vote which took place across Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula offered to choices: break from Ukraine and join Russia, or revert to their status under a 1992 constitution, which gives considerable latitude to join Russia in the future.
Opponents of the vote see it as a sham, considering Russian and pro-Russian forces are in control now and the new local leadership, which came to power two weeks ago after armed men seized parliament, has already declared independence. The vote has been denounced by the Ukrainian government and its backers as illegal and a violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
But for many voters, especially the elderly, the idea of coming back under Moscow’s rule – as in Soviet days – is a dream come true.
An elderly woman turns emotional after she casts her ballot. “It’s been 23 years,” she says, “don’t make me cry”
At another polling station in Simferopol, Crimean parliament member Vladimir Klychnikov prepares to mark his ballot for joining Russia.
He says people have the opportunity to determine their future. He calls it “a celebration – a celebration of democracy.”
And, indeed, a fair amount of money has been spent in the run-up to the vote to present this as a festive pro-Russian occasion.
Entertainers from already-Russian republics took to the stage at a rally in the capital to cheer voters to the polls. Among the acts were dancers from Russia’s Tatarstan, a nod to Crimea’s Tatar community, whose leaders vowed to boycott the referendum as illegal.
Crimean businessman and ethnic Tatar Ervin Rustemovich is among those who spurn the idea of joining Russia.
He says people do not understand that Russia will not keep its promises, adding “Any sensible person understands that – nobody cares about us.”
Many people do care what is happening to Crimeans. But for those who want Crimea to stay clearly part of Ukraine, there does not appear much they can do.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials say Russia now has 22-thousand troops in Crimea in violation of an agreement that set the limit at 12,500. Officials in Kyiv say they will try and raise 20-thousand recruits for a new national guard force.
Acting defense minister Ihor Tenyukh told journalists on Sunday that the defense ministries in Kyiv and Moscow had declared a truce until March 21 during which time Russian forces would leave Ukrainian military facilities untouched according to Reuters.
END OF 2014 VOA NEWS REPORT | END OF 2014 VOA NEWS REPORT | END OF 2014 VOA NEWS REPORT
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On the Scene: Elizabeth Arrott in Crimea
March 17, 2014 2:54 PM
SIMFEROPOL — Pro-Russian Crimeans celebrated Monday, as the region formally broke with Ukraine and began seeking union with Russia.
Crimean lawmakers headed to Moscow to work out details, following the results of a referendum Sunday which officials said was pro-Russian by a landslide.
“Support of the first question of whether you are for joining Russia as a subject of the Russian Federation is comprised of 1,233,002 people, which corresponded to 96.77 percent,” said Mikhail Malyshev, head of the Crimean Referendum Commission.
The vote prompted Western sanctions against Russian officials considered responsible for what U.S. and European leaders call a violation of international law, raising tensions to levels reminiscent of the Cold War.
In the center of the Crimean capital, though, a party mood prevailed.
Joining pro-Moscow revelers were self-described Russian patriots who came to welcome Crimea into their federation.
“We are one nation, one brotherly nation” said one man, who gave his name as Pavel.
Across town in Shevchenko Park, the scene of previous, pro-Ukraine rallies, all was quiet, as those opposed to joining Russia kept an increasingly low profile.
The dominant narrative here has been that the new pro-Europe government in Kyiv is “fascist” and illegitimate.
Foreign monitors invited by Crimea’s pro-Russia parliament to oversee the vote echoed the latter sentiment, dismissing Kyiv’s criticism that the vote was held at the barrel of a gun.
“It is a little bit peculiar that the people who say that had a bit of street rioting and got into power like that,” said Frank Creyelman, Crimean election observer.
The change-over in Kyiv helped spark the crisis, but concerns about Russia’s intentions toward its neighbors have been long in the making.
Many are now watching what Moscow’s next step might be in other parts of Ukraine.
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