Abstract

Can propaganda produced by foreign adversaries shape public opinion in a target country? We develop a theoretical framework to understand outward-facing propaganda, which many autocrats employ to shape public opinion abroad. We argue that beliefs about foreign affairs are more susceptible to outward-facing propaganda than beliefs about domestic conditions. Empirically, we focus on RT (formerly Russia Today), a media platform the Russian government founded in 2005. After characterizing its content, we ask whether exposure to RT influences the beliefs of American consumers. Exposure to RT, we find, induces respondents to support America withdrawing from its role as a cooperative global leader by 10–20 percentage points. This effect is robust across measures, obtains across party lines, and persists even when we disclose that RT is financed by the Russian government. RT has no effect on Americans’ views of domestic politics or the Russian government.

摘要

外国对手进行的宣传能否影响目标国家的舆论？我们建立了一个理论框架来理解对外宣传，许多独裁者利用这种宣传来塑造国外的舆论。我们认为，关于外交事务的信念比对国内条件的信念更容易受到外来宣传。从经验上讲，我们关注的是RT（以前称为“今日俄罗斯”），这是俄罗斯政府于2005年建立的媒体平台。在确定其内容的特征之后，我们询问对RT的接触是否会影响美国消费者的信念。我们发现，接触RT会诱使受访者支持美国将其作为全球合作社领导者的角色退出10-20个百分点。跨措施，跨党派获得的效果都很明显，并且即使我们披露RT由俄罗斯政府资助也仍然存在。RT对美国人对国内政治或俄罗斯政府的看法没有影响。