Public disinformation in the scope of digital media: The case of the Russia-Ukraine War

In this study, general disinformation within the scope of digital media was examined as an example of international conflicts such as the Russo-Ukrainian War. The study focuses on detecting the disinformation campaign in the public regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, specifically examining digital media (press websites from Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey) in the context of Russia's designated special operations. The study was conducted using a qualitative research method based on content analysis, utilizing three digital media sites from Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey to identify misinformation in the media about the Russo-Ukrainian war. The research sample was divided into three samples, the first in Russian (Ria), the second in Ukrainian (Pravda) and finally in Turkish (Milliyet). "The news published between January 1st and March 31st, 2023, from three websites about the course of the war was examined in terms of disinformation."One of the most significant findings of the study is that the misleading information used by the Ukrainian website (pravda) in January 2023 is limited to only two news stories. On the other hand, Russian digital media sites represented by the Russian digital site (ria) employ a deceptive approach. It has been determined that 3 out of 5 news articles published by the Russian news site contained misleading information, and it became evident that these news stories have an impact on the local public opinion of Russia, Ukraine, and the world. The Turkish digital media, represented by the Milliyet newspaper website, appears to be more neutral and objective, as it did not intervene in news, documents, and official data taken from its sources. It has been concluded that the level of misleading information in Russian media is higher than in Ukrainian digital media.