Russian disinformation is rife in countries formerly ruled from Moscow. Some ex-Soviet states have tried to suppress it altogether by banning Russian television stations and even limiting the use of the Russian language on their own domestic channels. Special Correspondent Simon Ostrovsky visited Estonia, which is trying a different approach. The story was produced in partnership with the Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellowship.
ERR s Russian-language TV channel, ETV+, has continued to show strong growth. The channel provides an important counter to big budget, Kremlin-controlled stations which also actively broadcast in Estonia and the Baltic States, and by some metrics is now more popular than these offerings.
The coronavirus crisis has without a doubt raised the importance and relevance of the channel, providing as it does accurate and local public information on the virus.
The major commercial Russian channels, which includes a dedicated Baltic States channel (PBK) still each outstrip ETV+ in terms of overall viewing time, but at certain periods ETV+, which has been in operation for well over five years, finds itself the most widely-viewed channel at that point in time.
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