Opportunities and Risks of Infiltrating Journalism with Old Propaganda Circulating through nict: From Syria to Ukraine

This study identifies and analyzes the opportunities and risks of using new information and communication technologies (nict) as disseminators of propaganda in armed conflicts. While the way they are fought is constantly changing, the persuasive messages used in wars have not been modified. Search engines such as Google identify those sources that systematically used nict in the Syrian conflict. Pizarroso’s classical model of propaganda analysis and a qualitative content analysis by inference allow us to conclude that in “hybrid conflicts,” the combination of nict with “old propaganda” offers mixed results. Although the journalistic discourse is easily penetrated by informal war actors, it also involves risks. Without external filters, disseminating problematic messages through mainstream media at the end hinders those irregular actors’ propaganda strategies. The media’s uncritical reproduction reveals structural misconducts that undermine their credibility. This model may be useful to assess the relationship between nict, old propaganda, and journalistic media in other conflicts, such as in Ukraine.