ABSTRACT

The Russian state-funded international broadcaster RT is often accused of pedalling misinformation and claiming legitimacy for nefarious Russian activities. Whilst studies have so far analysed the content of RT's media reports, they have yet to interrogate how Russian legitimation claims are often expressed on RT through a blurring of news reporting and comedy. This paper addresses this gap and places humour at the centre of analysis, arguing that comedy and satire are fundamental to how RT claims legitimacy for Russian foreign policy. We begin by introducing theories of legitimation to studies of comedy in global politics, before then examining RT's social media outputs and audience responses to those. In doing so, we demonstrate that humour is central to how RT claims legitimacy for Russian foreign policy. From military intervention in Syria, to the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury, humour shapes how RT's legitimation claims are interpreted by their audiences.

摘要

俄罗斯国家资助的国际广播公司 RT 经常被指控散布错误信息并声称俄罗斯的邪恶活动具有合法性。虽然迄今为止的研究已经分析了 RT 媒体报道的内容，但他们还没有质疑俄罗斯的合法性主张通常如何通过新闻报道和喜剧的模糊来表达在 RT 上。本文解决了这一差距，并将幽默置于分析的中心，认为喜剧和讽刺是 RT 声称俄罗斯外交政策合法性的基础。我们首先将合法化理论引入全球政治喜剧研究，然后检查 RT 的社交媒体输出和观众对这些的反应。通过这样做，我们证明了幽默是 RT 如何声称俄罗斯外交政策合法性的核心。