Posted on March 1, 2022 by COLFA
With the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Russia and the Russian language have become more relevant than ever.
NEWS4SA Story
Important to understanding the Ukraine-Russia conflict is the use of Fake News as a tool of influence and disinformation. The UTSA Russian Program is offering a new course this semester: “Russia in the Fake News” (RUS 4213/CSH 3283). This course was recently talked about in a KENS5 news article that also features Andrew Chapman, director of the Russian program. In this course, students are currently reading, analyzing and discussing news currently disseminated by a wide variety of Russian government-backed media outlets. The goal of the course is for students to understand pertinent Russian social, political, and geopolitical narratives in the news across a variety of Russian-language and English-language media. To find out more about this course read the UTSA Today article here.
NEWS4SA also reported on this Russian course that is the first of its kind at UTSA. In this article, reporter Chelsea Torres goes more in depth into what the course has to offer, noting that unbeknowst "to students and Professor Chapman, the course has taken a turn to focusing on the Russia-Ukraine conflict." Dr. Chapman was interviewed and observes that what "we're seeing more is not necessarily censorship, but careful crafting of news stories that benefit Russia." This 18 student class is already showing deep impact in its students, as student and interviewee Theron Boyer shows. Boyer says, "it is important to know that when you talk about the conflict, it doesn't lead to 'anti'-Russian people sentiment because ultimately it's the Russian government that's doing it." Dr. Chapman hopes this new course proves insightful for students and that it will be available for future semesters. Watch the NEWS4SA video below.
To read the KENS5 news article click here. For the NEWS4SA click here.
— COLFA
