Global Audiences Turn to VOA for Coverage on Russia’s War on Ukraine – USAGM

Global Audiences Turn to VOA for Coverage on Russia’s War on Ukraine

March 5, 2022

Washington, D.C. — As the Russian invasion of Ukraine got underway at the end of February, audiences in Eastern Europe and around the world turned to Voice of America television, radio, websites and social media sites for factual, on-the-ground reporting.

The response from VOA’s audience has been extraordinary. Since the beginning of the invasion on February 23, VOA Russian reports nearly 17 million video views on social platforms, a 159% increase from the previous period, while VOA Ukrainian reports 5.7 million video views, an increase of 87%. VOA Russian garnered more than one million engagement actions across its social media platforms in that time. Traffic to both websites has soared, with VOA Russian’s site growing 146% and VOA Ukrainian’s site increasing 94% since the invasion.

Shortly after VOA Russian set a one-day traffic record across all platforms on February 24, Russian regulators announced their intention to block VOA and other independent news outlets. As a result, not only did the use of circumvention tools suddenly soar in Russia in recent days, but golosameriki.com set another one-day site traffic record on March 3.

Interest in the invasion of Ukraine is not confined to just these two countries. Other regions where VOA broadcasts that are typically disinterested in news from the region are suddenly transfixed. Since the beginning of the invasion, the story has generated 178 million video views and more than 18 million engagement actions, across VOA’s hundreds of social media accounts. For example, reporting on the subject in Africa has generated more than 17 million video views on social media on an account that typically averages about 125,000 views in a similar period. Across Latin America, interest in the story drove the vast majority of the 12 million video views on social media platforms used by VOA Spanish since the invasion, an increase of 125%.

This historic growth is due to the extraordinary work of VOA journalists in covering this story. Responding to the critical need for timely and accurate information, VOA Ukrainian expanded its programming, featuring twice-daily live briefings and dozens of live interactives. As the Russian troops were crossing into Ukraine, VOA Russian was live on the air with two special digital programs featuring reports with people at risk and experts providing analysis. A special edition of Current Time America, and a live feed from the U.N. Security Council generated more than 3 million views on VOA Russian’s Facebook page alone, with the service’s website garnering nearly 2 million views.

Since the Russian invasion, both language services deliver critically important programming daily, including live coverage with simultaneous translations of remarks by President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg , U.S. lawmakers’ reactions, special live discussion shows, and reports from Ukrainian diaspora protests in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami and London in support of Ukraine.

“The Voice of America offers audiences in eastern Europe accurate reporting from the ground and access to a balanced, comprehensive coverage on how the conflict resonates in the U.S. and around the world” says Acting VOA Director Yolanda Lόpez. “True to its history and mission, VOA is providing the people of Ukraine and Russia, as well as all its worldwide audience, reliable news in this critical time in history.”

Despite Website blockages, Russians and Ukrainians turn to RFE/RL for war coverage – USAGM

Despite Website blockages, Russians and Ukrainians turn to RFE/RL for war coverage

March 4, 2022

Washington, D.C. — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) condemns the blocking of access within Russia to websites run by its Russian, Tatar-Bashkir, and North Caucasus services, including the Russian-language North.Realities, Siberia.Realities, Idel.Realities, and Caucasus.Realities sites. Access to the sites was blocked after RFE/RL refused to comply with demands to delete information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from Russian state media-monitoring agency Roskomnadzor.

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said: “Putin is feeding Russians a steady diet of lies about the scope and costs of the war in Ukraine. RFE/RL refuses to censor our content at this critical moment for our Russian audiences. They deserve the truth and we will continue to provide them with factual information about their government’s actions and the consequences that they must now endure.”

A number of other Russian-language websites producing news content from outside of Russia were also blocked today, including the Latvia-based meduza.io, BBC, Deutsche Welle and Voice of America (VOA). Access was blocked on February 28 to the websites of RFE/RL’s Crimea.Realities and the Current Time digital and TV network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.

Since Russia began its invasion, Russian and Ukrainian audiences have been flocking to RFE/RL and its several Russian-language content platforms. On the first day of the invasion (February 24), 527% more Ukrainians and 275% more Russians viewed RFE/RL videos via You Tube. Across all digital platforms, Current Time has earned more than 240 million video views since the invasion, reflecting a nearly tenfold increase over the network’s average pre-war number of weekly video views. Page views by audiences in Russia to RFE/RL websites have nearly doubled in the week since the invasion to just over 2 million, while views to RFE/RL videos on YouTube grew by nearly five times to almost 15 million.

During the period February 23-March 1, audiences viewed RFE/RL videos 436.4 million times on Facebook, 305.4 million times on YouTube, and 83.2 million times on Instagram – reflecting increases of 265 percent, 406 percent, and 185 percent, respectively, over the previous week.

This surge in audience numbers is indicative of a region-wide demand for reliable and factual information, which RFE/RL provides through its network of reporters offering perspectives from Ukrainians and Russians affected by the war.

RFE/RL is also working with the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to further expand its reach by providing its content to media outlets around the world. RFE/RL and Current Time continue to field numerous requests for their content and program distribution from news outlets in Bulgaria, Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, and Romania, among others.

Audiences around the world are following RFE/RL’s reporting on the physical and human toll of the war. As the Kremlin and state media have refrained from disclosing details of the casualties Russia has incurred in its invasion of Ukraine, RFE/RL spoke to mothers of Russian soldiers who were shocked to learn their sons were fighting in Ukraine, after being told they were on training exercises.

Since before the war began, RFE/RL has been preparing for the eventuality that the Kremlin would act on its threats. RFE/RL’s Russian, North Caucasus, and Tatar-Bashkir services and Idel.Realities, Caucasus.Realities, Crimea.Realities, North.Realities, Siberia.Realities, and Current Time websites have been educating their audiences about how to continue to access their reporting in the event that their websites are blocked. Mirror sites – complete copies of each website located at a different online address – have been set up for all of the blocked websites, and their content can also be accessed using virtual public network (VPN) clients such as nThlink. Each of the affected websites also has a robust presence on popular social media platforms such as Telegram, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and VKontakte, and offer mobile applications via Google Play and Apple’s App Store, which include a built-in VPN.

About RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through USAGM.

 

RFE/RL’s comprehensive coverage of Russia’s aggression – USAGM

Ukraine: RFE/RL’s comprehensive coverage of Russia’s aggression

February 18, 2022

Washington, D.C. — With more than 150,000 Russian soldiers and sailors now surrounding Ukraine on three sides, and Belarusian and Russian forces carrying out large-scale military maneuvers less than 100 miles from Ukraine’s capital, the danger of full-scale war remains high. RFE/RL offers comprehensive around-the-clock reporting to audiences in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and in English to audiences around the world.

RFE/RL is uniquely positioned to cover and analyze events as they unfold, with four news services – its Ukrainian, Belarus, and Russian services and the Current Time digital network – fully focused on the crisis. As tensions mount, with a surge in shelling and leaders of the Kremlin-backed separatists that control parts of Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk announcing the evacuation of residents to the southeast of Russia, RFE/RL will be reporting from the line of contact in Donbas and from Russia’s Rostov region.

Stories to follow

• In a February 8 interview, leading Russian military expert Pavel Felgengauer observed that the military would be fully prepared for action that week, and the Kremlin’s decision to start an invasion would come in three days, on February 11 – which turned out to be the day that Western countries sounded the alarm to begin evacuations of diplomatic personnel.

• Reporters also traveled to Ukraine’s eastern border to meet with elite Ukrainian soldiers defending the line of contact and visit an isolated Ukrainian village on the border, as well as the city of Mariupol, 20 miles from the line of contact, to gauge the mood of locals about the threat of invasion.

Newsmaker and expert interviews

RFE/RL interviewed Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.K., Vadym Prystayko, who walked back controversial comments that Ukraine could give up its NATO ambitions, as well as Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte and British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons, who questioned whether Russia’s top officials entirely understand the costs of a potential military invasion, both in terms of loss of life and the economic consequences.

What’s Ahead: On February 19, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service will air an exclusive interview with Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces Serhiy Sobko. The Russian Service will publish an interview with the Hoover Institution’s Michael Bernstam on the potential for economic sanctions to stop Russian aggression against Ukraine as well as analysis of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Russia strategy. RFE/RL will also be providing in-depth live coverage of the Munich Security Conference.

RFE/RL’s News Services

RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with a monthly average of over 8 million visits and 11 million page views to its websites as well as nearly 600 million video views on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram in 2021, sets a standard in the Ukrainian media market for independence, professionalism, and innovation. Its comprehensive coverage includes the award-winning reporting of its Donbas Realities and Crimea Realities websites and “Schemes” investigative reporting team.

Labeled an “extremist organization” by the Belarus government, RFE/RL’s Belarus Service provides independent news and analysis to Belarusian audiences in their own language, relying on social media platforms such as Telegram, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as mirror sites and an updated news app to circumvent pervasive Internet blockages and access disruptions.

RFE/RL’s Russian Service is a multiplatform alternative to Russian state-controlled media, providing audiences in the Russian Federation with informed and accurate news, analysis, and opinion. Despite being labeled by the Russian government as a “foreign agent,” The Russian Service’s websites, including its regional reporting units Siberia.Realities and Northern.Realities, earned a monthly average of 12.7 million visits and 20.6 million page views in 2021, while 297 million Russian Service videos were viewed on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Current Time is a 24/7 Russian-language digital and TV network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. In addition to reporting uncensored news, it is the largest provider of independent, Russian-language films to its audiences. Despite rising pressure on Current Time from the Russian government, which has labeled the network a media “foreign agent,” Current Time videos were viewed over 1.3 billion times on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021.

About RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through USAGM.