Internet and democracy in Russia

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RESPONSE:

1. Does the Internet have a positive effect on democracy in Russia or does it attack the democracy in Russia as a new tool of cyber-criminality (illegal organizations) and totalitarianism/propaganda (governments)?

The Internet could have both positive and negative effects on democracy in Russia. Propaganda is defined as "neutrally defined as a systematic form of purposeful persuasion that attempts to influence the emotions, attitudes, opinions, and actions of specified target audiences for ideological, political or commercial purposes through the controlled transmission of one-sided messages (which may or may not be factual) via mass and direct media channels."
(Richard Alan Nelson, A Chronology and Glossary of Propaganda in the United States, 1996)

Politically, propaganda is a form of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position, such as democracy OR totalitarianism. Generally, propaganda presents information primarily to influence an audience, but in many cases, it presents facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented, such as fear of events that promote democracy, etc.. The purpose is to get the desired result, which is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda)

Example 1:

An example of using it to promote democracy through the reporting of government and police abuse is seen in the following example excerpt. Democracy prevailed as the case was dropped against the blogger.

"The opposition Web site Other Russia reports that the case against Russian blogger Dmitri Solovyov has been closed due to a lack of evidence. Solovyov is a blogger with the opposition youth movement Oborona. According to Radio Free Europe Solovyov was charged under Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code with "inciting hatred and humiliating the human dignity of ...