As the forces loyal to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan were battling the attempted coup in July 2016, Czech president Milos Zeman was following the dramatic developments on TV.
However, Zeman did not choose a mainstream channel to find out what was going on.
His spokesman posted a photo on Twitter that showed Zeman watching RT, the international television network funded by the Russian government. RT stands accused by numerous critics of spreading Russian propaganda.
In the Czech Republic, this did not raise many eyebrows. Zeman is a well-known supporter of the so-called alternative media – a media environment that is well-developed in the country.
A survey from June 2016 counted around 40 websites in the Czech Republic that regularly published pro-Russian and/or conspiracy narratives.
