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.

 

Audiences turn to RFE/RL for truthful reporting about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – USAGM

Audiences turn to RFE/RL for truthful reporting about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

February 25, 2022

Washington, D.C. — As the world awoke to unprovoked war in Europe, audiences turned to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) for breaking news and analysis of the escalation. With journalists across the region and RFE/RL’s Ukrainian, Belarus, Russian, and Current Time networks providing on-the-ground coverage, RFE/RL is uniquely positioned to provide the facts to audiences across the region that are being bombarded by Kremlin disinformation.

• RFE/RL’s networks recorded 13 million page views on their websites on February 24, representing a 159 percent increase over the previous day and a 248 percent increase over the same day one week before (February 17).
• RFE/RL Ukrainian Service websites, which include content for audiences in Crimea and Donbas, alone recorded 4.7 million page views yesterday, a 313 percent increase over the previous day and 557 percent rise over the same day one week before.
• Current Time’s live coverage of the early hours of the invasion was viewed more than 10 million times across social platforms, including YouTube and Facebook, reflecting a 25-fold increase over the same day the previous week for Current Time’s morning show.

Jamie Fly, President of RFE/RL, spoke of the importance of providing uncensored news and information and condemned Russia’s aggression: “With Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, our mission to share the facts with audiences that are denied that truth by their governments or that need independent information during a crisis is more important than ever.”

“Vladimir Putin initiated an unprecedented act of war against Ukrainian democracy today, but he has been assaulting the rights of the Russian people and undermining democracies for decades. We will continue to report the truth about him and the Kremlin’s lies and fabrications to our audiences in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and throughout the region during this critical moment.”

RFE/RL is staying close to the story, offering comprehensive, around-the-clock reporting from our journalists on all aspects affecting our audiences during this conflict. This includes coverage of events Russian authorities would rather ignore, such as the outbreak of anti-war protests across Russia, damage to civilian apartment buildings in Kharkiv as a result of Russian bombardment, and massive traffic jams caused by civilians trying to flee the attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. RFE/RL continues to counter Russian propaganda through our services’ live videos, in-depth reports and analysis, podcasts, photo galleries, maps, infographics and real-time blogging.

To stay up to date on the latest developments, follow RFE/RL’s Live Briefing: Ukraine Under Attack – updated throughout the day. Several RFE/RL services, including the Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian and Current Time networks, are also live blogging the invasion, and RFE/RL has also created a list of its most relevant Twitter feeds.

In response to intensified attempts by Russia’s media monitoring agency Roskomnadzor to keep Russian audiences from accessing factual reporting on the invasion, RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Tatar-Bashkir Service, Crimea.Realities, and Current Time units are educating their audiences on a variety of means to bypass online censorship and safely access information. Such efforts to ensure access to RFE/RL content are especially relevant given Roskomnadzor’s recent attempts to force RFE/RL to take down content tied to corruption investigations by jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny’s team.

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.