UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought to light the role that information — and misinformation — play in shaping perceptions about the conflict in Ukraine and around the world. Peter Pomernatsev has spent decades studying Russian and Soviet propaganda and how it has influenced democracies around the world.
Pomerantsev, a senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, will visit Penn State's University Park campus March 31 and April 1 to present two lectures on his work.
The first lecture at 4 p.m. March 31 in Paterno Library’s Foster Auditorium will be based on his book “This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality.” The second lecture at 3:30 p.m. April 1 in 110 Business Building will cover his recent research on Russian propaganda in Ukraine.
In his book “This is Not Propaganda,” Pomerantsev outlines the Russian strategy of “censorship through noise,” or creating so much misinformation that citizens struggle to discern truth from lies and fact from fiction. The result is a sense of apathy that makes it easier for authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin to exercise control and gain power.
However, Pomerantsev’s work also focuses on efforts to combat misinformation online and make the Internet a place that fosters democracy, not one that works against it. In an April 2021 article in The Atlantic called “How to Put Out Democracy’s Dumpster Fire,” Pomerantsev and Anne Applebaum explore how online communities can bring about the sense of connection and civic engagement that church groups and service organizations like the Rotary and Kiwanis did in previous generations.
“And yet even as America’s national conversation reaches new levels of vitriol, we could be close to a turning point,” Pomerantsev wrote. “Even as our polity deteriorates, an internet that promotes democratic values instead of destroying them — that makes conversation better instead of worse — lies within our grasp.”
Pomerantsev has also published a report on Ukraine at 30, which explores what independence means to Ukranians and how they’ve worked to build and strengthen democracy since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The support for independence and democracy among Ukrainians expressed in the report are clearly on display in news reports and social media videos from the current invasion.
Pomerantsev’s visit is sponsored by the McCourtney Institute for Democracy, Woskob Endowment in Ukrainian Studies, Ukrainian and Russian Student Clubs, Department of German and Slavic Languages and Literatures, University Libraries, and the College of Information Sciences and Technology.
Visit democracy.psu.edu/events to register for the March 31 and April 1 lectures.