Stephen Hutchings - Origins of 'Russia Today' the Kremlin's Hard-Edged Soft Power Propaganda Channel

Russian propaganda is at its heart nihilistic. Its effects can be highly  corrosive, and it does not necessarily try to convince you of its point  of view. Rather it seeks to engender division, conflict and in some  circumstances apathy and inaction. Russia Today has been at the  forefront of the Russian propaganda effort for more than a decade. This  conversation seeks to unpack the intent behind the channel, how it  works, and how it seeks to sow division amongst Russia's perceived  enemies. Russia Today is Soft Power with a very Hard Edge to it. Stephen Hutchings is Professor of Russian Studies at the University of  Manchester. Stephen was formerly Professor of Cultural Studies and  Russian at the University of Surrey and Associate Professor of Russian  at the University of Rochester, New York. He is President of the British  Association for Slavonic and East European Studies and was a member of  the RAE 2008 subpanel for Russian and Slavonic Languages and Cultures.  He is on the editorial boards of several journals, including the Russian  Journal of Communication, ArtMargins, and Russian Studies in  Literature.