- [Narrator] The US election is taking up airtime
on Russian state television
as the ballots are still being counted.
(speaking in foreign language)
(crowd cheering)
- [Narrator] Four days after election day,
the Associated Press and other media outlets
declared former vice president Joe Biden the winner.
He had garnered the 270 Electoral votes needed
to defeat President Trump in the race for the White House.
But Russia's main television networks
are taking extra effort to cast out
on Biden's victory in the eyes of its viewers.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] Russian state networks
are using the elections as an opportunity
to portray American democracy as messy.
(speaking in foreign language)
- State media occupies an enormous role
in the Russian media landscape.
In terms of informing people and informing opinions,
it really does play a very large role.
- [Narrator] There are three main themes
shaping Russian public opinion
about US politics,
such as election irregularities,
the question about who calls the winner
and the stark preview of the new administration.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] There's no apparent coordination
between Russian state media and the Trump campaign
but Russian media have echoed a familiar line
from the Trump campaign
about election irregularities.
- It's amazing how those mail-in ballots
are so one sided.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] There's been no evidence of widespread fraud
but the Trump campaign has turned to the courts,
challenging absentee and mail-in voting procedures.
While the news casts appear to support Trump
and not Biden,
it's ultimately signaling something else to viewers.
- I think that a big part of this
is not really to come down on one side or the other
but to rather sow doubt in people's minds
about the electoral process,
about the nature of democracy itself
in the United States.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] Russian anchors also have questions
about who's calling the results in the US.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] For over a century,
US presidential elections have been called
by news organizations
before the official results are announced.
That's because it can take weeks to certify the results
since each state has different rules and regulations.
- NBC News now projects that Joe.
- [Narrator] News organizations based their calls
on near-complete vote counts
by election officials in each state.
Plus the US doesn't have a national elections commission
to announce the winner.
But in Russia, there's a Central Election Commission
and so to Russian viewers,
the American way of calling the election is unusual.
- Who was it called by?
All of them.
Oh my goodness.
All the networks.
Wow.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] Biden's critical comments
about Russia over the years.
- Get out of Ukraine.
- [Narrator] Are repeated across different political shows.
He's portrayed as someone who will not be nice
or at least neutral to Russia.
Biden frequently criticized Russia's foreign policy
and strongly supported sanctioning Moscow
for annexing Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
(speaking in foreign language)
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] The focus isn't just on Biden
but also people possibly being considered
to join his administration.
(speaking in foreign language)
- That certainly does get across the idea
that Joe Biden is not the favorite candidate of the Kremlin,
given some of the things that Biden has said about Russia.
- I think the biggest threat to America right now
in terms of breaking up our security
and our alliance is Russia.
But Biden has also indicated a willingness
to work with the Kremlin on the extension
of an arms control treaty,
something that Moscow has also shown interest in.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] Nearly three out of four Russians
get their new from television
and so the message that state media broadcasts send
about the future administration reaches
large audiences across Russia.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] Beyond who sits in the White House,
Russia's rolling coverage of the election
has a deeper message about American democracy.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] But with its constantly
changing political landscape,
it isn't one to be envied.
- The more time passes,
the more you see differences between the US political system
and the Russian political system,
which in name calls itself a democracy.
Things stay very much the same in Russia
and I think the idea that they're trying
to get across here
is that you have this kind of vibrant democracy
but it's flawed at its roots
and so that in the end kind
of leaves the Russian people with no alternative
to imagine a Russian political system
that could be anything else
beyond Vladimir Putin staying in power.