Russian and U.S. News Media Coverage of Ukrainian Biological Laboratories, February – March 2022

Soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, narratives about U.S.-funded biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine began circulating in both Russian and U.S. news. We sought to characterize news media coverage of this topic and to understand potential differences in coverage between different news sources. 401 news media items from Russian and U.S. news sources covering Ukrainian biological laboratories between February 24 and March 24, 2022 were analyzed for content and framing tactics based on theories of risk perception, persuasion, and misinformation/disinformation. Results showed strong differences between U.S. mainstream news coverage and Russian news coverage and similarities between U.S. hyper-partisan right (HPR) news coverage and Russian news coverage. Differences between U.S. HPR and Russian coverage of the topic were also found. Findings indicate that the U.S. HPR media ecosystem serves as an important amplifier of Russian strategic narratives about U.S. cooperative biological research. Moreover, findings suggest that U.S. HPR news sources have become sophisticated purveyors of false information, capable of applying the Russian “firehose of falsehoods” model more forcefully than Russians themselves.