<description>&lt;p&gt;This podcast series has moved, but you can now find all of my Radio 4 investigative podcasts in the Marianna In Conspiracyland feed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For all of my investigations, including Why Do You Hate Me?, Disaster Trolls, War on Truth and Death by Conspiracy?, just search for Marianna In Conspiracyland on BBC Sounds.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Find all of my Radio 4 investigative podcasts in Marianna In Conspiracyland.

This podcast series has moved, but you can now find all of my Radio 4 investigative podcasts in the Marianna In Conspiracyland feed.For all of my investigations, including Why Do You Hate Me?, Disaster Trolls, War on Truth and Death by Conspiracy?, just search for Marianna In Conspiracyland on BBC Sounds.

Moving to Marianna In Conspiracyland

<description>&lt;p&gt;Citizen journalism – reporting by self-taught people, often on the ground – can play a vital role in the coverage of conflict. However, not everyone who contributes to this coverage is as 'independent' as they’d like their followers to believe.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Roddy’s distrust of the media led him to start his own podcast. He also follows self-styled citizen journalists who are roaming around inside Ukraine.
In this episode of War On Truth, the BBC’s specialist disinformation reporter Marianna Spring investigates some of their work. She speaks with an expert who has analysed some of their coverage, tries to understand how it gets made, what might be influencing it – and why it spreads to people like Roddy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Joseph Martin
Editor: Ant Adeane&lt;/p&gt;</description>

How self-styled citizen journalists are covering the war in Ukraine.

Citizen journalism – reporting by self-taught people, often on the ground – can play a vital role in the coverage of conflict. However, not everyone who contributes to this coverage is as 'independent' as they’d like their followers to believe.Roddy’s distrust of the media led him to start his own podcast. He also follows self-styled citizen journalists who are roaming around inside Ukraine.
In this episode of War On Truth, the BBC’s specialist disinformation reporter Marianna Spring investigates some of their work. She speaks with an expert who has analysed some of their coverage, tries to understand how it gets made, what might be influencing it – and why it spreads to people like Roddy.Producer: Joseph Martin
Editor: Ant Adeane

Roddy: 'We don’t trust the media – so we became it'

<description>&lt;p&gt;On the first day of the war, Ukraine gained a new patriotic hero and Tetyana thought she had lost a son. But the story wasn't quite as it first seemed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tetyana’s son, Roman became world famous for defiantly swearing at a Russian warship which had threatened to bomb him and his fellow border guards on Snake Island, if they didn’t surrender.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A recording of the exchange went viral and the Ukrainian government declared that Roman and his comrades had died as national heroes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tetyana was plunged into grief as her son was celebrated as a symbol of national resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But, as she recounts, events soon took an unexpected turn.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The ramifications of what actually happened at Snake Island have become a battleground in the information war that is being fought over Ukraine, alongside the military battle. And like the conflict on the ground, this fight also has real consequences for the people whose lives it touches.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this podcast series, BBC disinformation reporter Marianna Spring investigates stories from Ukraine, Russia, and around the world, and hears from those caught up in the battle for the truth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producers: Ant Adeane and Joseph Martin&lt;/p&gt;</description>

How a story of sweary heroism wasn't quite what it seemed.

On the first day of the war, Ukraine gained a new patriotic hero and Tetyana thought she had lost a son. But the story wasn't quite as it first seemed.Tetyana’s son, Roman became world famous for defiantly swearing at a Russian warship which had threatened to bomb him and his fellow border guards on Snake Island, if they didn’t surrender.A recording of the exchange went viral and the Ukrainian government declared that Roman and his comrades had died as national heroes.Tetyana was plunged into grief as her son was celebrated as a symbol of national resistance.But, as she recounts, events soon took an unexpected turn.The ramifications of what actually happened at Snake Island have become a battleground in the information war that is being fought over Ukraine, alongside the military battle. And like the conflict on the ground, this fight also has real consequences for the people whose lives it touches.In this podcast series, BBC disinformation reporter Marianna Spring investigates stories from Ukraine, Russia, and around the world, and hears from those caught up in the battle for the truth.Producers: Ant Adeane and Joseph Martin

Tetyana: ‘My son is the Snake Island hero’

<description>&lt;p&gt;After Russia’s first independent radio station was taken off air by the Kremlin, the journalists who worked there are finding ways to get round censorship of the war in Ukraine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sergei Buntman helped to found Echo of Moscow which for more than three decades provided an alternative to the news on Russian state media.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the days following the invasion of Ukraine, his radio station and several other news organisations were forced to shut down for challenging the official narrative about the war.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yet despite threats of violence and imprisonment, Sergei and some of his fellow Russian journalists are refusing to stay silent, and are finding new ways to make themselves heard.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;They find themselves on the frontline of the information war that is being fought over Ukraine, alongside the military battle. And like the conflict on the ground, this fight also has real consequences for the people whose lives it touches.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Russia’s military assault has been accompanied by an onslaught of disinformation and propaganda from state media, trolls and influencers. With all sides seeking to capture and control the narrative, how do you tell what is fake and what is real?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this podcast series, BBC disinformation reporter Marianna Spring investigates stories from Ukraine, Russia, and around the world, and hears from those caught up in the battle for the truth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Ant Adeane&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Editor: Ed Main&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The Russian journalist who refused to stay silent after the Kremlin took him off air.

After Russia’s first independent radio station was taken off air by the Kremlin, the journalists who worked there are finding ways to get round censorship of the war in Ukraine.Sergei Buntman helped to found Echo of Moscow which for more than three decades provided an alternative to the news on Russian state media.In the days following the invasion of Ukraine, his radio station and several other news organisations were forced to shut down for challenging the official narrative about the war.Yet despite threats of violence and imprisonment, Sergei and some of his fellow Russian journalists are refusing to stay silent, and are finding new ways to make themselves heard.They find themselves on the frontline of the information war that is being fought over Ukraine, alongside the military battle. And like the conflict on the ground, this fight also has real consequences for the people whose lives it touches.Russia’s military assault has been accompanied by an onslaught of disinformation and propaganda from state media, trolls and influencers. With all sides seeking to capture and control the narrative, how do you tell what is fake and what is real?In this podcast series, BBC disinformation reporter Marianna Spring investigates stories from Ukraine, Russia, and around the world, and hears from those caught up in the battle for the truth.Producer: Ant AdeaneEditor: Ed Main

Sergei: ‘It’s my duty to keep telling Russians the truth’

<description>&lt;p&gt;Marianna Vishegirskaya is the pregnant woman who has unwittingly found herself at the centre of one of the most disputed events of the war.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In a previous episode we looked at how Russia falsely accused her of helping fake photos of the aftermath of its attack on a maternity hospital, in which at least three people were killed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But now Marianna has told her side of the story, after escaping the besieged city of Mariupol with her husband and newborn baby.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Her interview, given to a pro-Kremlin journalist, flatly contradicts much of what Russia has said up to now. But some of her comments have been cherry picked to promote a new version of events which also absolves Russia of any blame.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Despite all the contradictions in the propaganda, Marianna’s Russian friend Yaroslava still believes Russian state media rather than the woman she knows personally.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It’s a sign of the power of the information war being fought over Ukraine alongside the military battle. And like the conflict on the ground, this fight also has real consequences for the people whose lives it touches.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Russia’s military assault has been accompanied by an onslaught of disinformation and propaganda from state media, trolls and influencers. With all sides seeking to capture and control the narrative, how do you tell what is fake and what is real?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this podcast series, BBC disinformation reporter Marianna Spring investigates stories from Ukraine, Russia, and around the world, and hears from those caught up in the battle for the truth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Joseph Martin&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Editor: Ed Main&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Russia spun a web of lies around her photo, but now she’s resurfaced to tell her story.

Marianna Vishegirskaya is the pregnant woman who has unwittingly found herself at the centre of one of the most disputed events of the war.In a previous episode we looked at how Russia falsely accused her of helping fake photos of the aftermath of its attack on a maternity hospital, in which at least three people were killed.But now Marianna has told her side of the story, after escaping the besieged city of Mariupol with her husband and newborn baby.Her interview, given to a pro-Kremlin journalist, flatly contradicts much of what Russia has said up to now. But some of her comments have been cherry picked to promote a new version of events which also absolves Russia of any blame.Despite all the contradictions in the propaganda, Marianna’s Russian friend Yaroslava still believes Russian state media rather than the woman she knows personally.It’s a sign of the power of the information war being fought over Ukraine alongside the military battle. And like the conflict on the ground, this fight also has real consequences for the people whose lives it touches.Russia’s military assault has been accompanied by an onslaught of disinformation and propaganda from state media, trolls and influencers. With all sides seeking to capture and control the narrative, how do you tell what is fake and what is real?In this podcast series, BBC disinformation reporter Marianna Spring investigates stories from Ukraine, Russia, and around the world, and hears from those caught up in the battle for the truth.Producer: Joseph MartinEditor: Ed Main

Marianna Part 2: The view from the other side

What's fake, what's real? Stories from the information war over Ukraine. BBC disinformation reporter Marianna Spring speaks to people caught up in the battle for the truth.

War on Truth

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