Messing with the Truth: Disinformation in the West Spread by Chay Bowes

Chay Bowes is an Irish commentator, journalist, and entrepreneur, and recently, a correspondent for RT, a Russian state-funded multilingual television network oriented toward international audiences. He actively maintains his own page on X (formerly Twitter), where he spreads fakes about Ukraine.

Bowes also writes articles for “The Islander” website and gives interviews to other pro-Russian resources, including YouTube channels like George Galloway, Tara Reade, DDGeopolitics. He has also been a guest on the podcast “Donbass Devushka,” which, according to investigators, involves former U.S. Navy officer Sarah Bils. As an RT correspondent, Bowes hosted broadcasts for CGTN, an international media organization based in Beijing.

Chay Bowes’ rhetoric is filled with narratives identical to Russian ones: “Ukraine is a criminal and terrorist country,” and the “Ukrainians are Nazis” being “controlled by the West.”

On June 29, 2023, Chay Bowes spoke at a UN Security Council meeting. During the session, he claimed that the West was to blame for the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian war and condemned NATO’s “aggressive policy” towards Russia. “What began as NATO supporting a Ukrainian military that it had built since the beginning of the civil war in the East in 2014 has now, in real terms, become a proxy conflict, where Ukraine supplies manpower with ever diminishing operational capability to support a de facto NATO operation to prevent a Russian military victory in Ukraine. And those avert potentially terminal such a victory would have on the operational, political and reputational survival of NATO itself. … also, of course, drives the seemingly perpetual escalation of military aid to Ukraine. All of this is despite tens of billions of dollars of weapons in various states of operability already being delivered to a country which the U.S. State Department has described as endemically corrupt,” the journalist stated.

In this way, Chay Bowes echoes a narrative aligned with the Russian perspective, referring to Russia’s incursion into Ukrainian territory in 2014 as a “civil war,” which, according to him, occurred with NATO support. The Irish journalist also claims that NATO, through the hands of the Ukrainian military, is waging a war against Russia. Bowes attempts to justify the war initiated by Russia against Ukraine and shifts the responsibility for escalation onto Ukraine’s allies, who provide all possible military support to the country defending itself against aggression.

Bowes concludes his speech with accusations against Ukraine, alleging the use of weapons provided by NATO and its allies against civilians: “I have seen the consequences with my own eyes. I have to tell you that the weapons supplied by NATO and their allies to Ukraine are being willfully targeted against the civilian population on a daily basis in Donbas, Luhansk, and Belgorod. All miraculously invisible to the Western media. This indicates that the situation is escalating due to compromise solutions. I have personally met with women and children affected by the conflict. We discussed the realities associated with the militarization of the region… As you can see, Washington and London fuel these conflicts and support Ukraine’s military plan, disrupting the negotiation processes in the process.“

Bowes aims to encourage listeners to cease military aid to Ukraine, alleging that Ukraine, with the use of received weapons, commits crimes against its own population. According to the Irish journalist, it is this alleged fact, rather than the atrocities of Russian military forces in Ukrainian territory, that makes negotiation processes unattainable.

On July 1, 2023, Chay Bowes wrote on his page on X (formerly Twitter): “He Banned the opposition. He Oppressed the Church. He Imprisoned his critics. He Monopolised the Media. He Opressed a language. He Jailed journalists. Now he’s refusing to hold Elections. This is the “Freedom” NATO is bankrupting Europe for, This is Zelenskys Ukraine”

Thus, the journalist explains why, in his opinion, Ukraine is not a democratic country and, accordingly, does not share common values with allied countries and is not worth their support.

On September 5, again on his X (formerly Twitter) page, Chay Bowes shared a post with a photo of American prisoners, which he later deleted. In it, he stated: “Imagine arming, funding, and promoting people like this? Imagine sending them to Rape, Murder, and terrorize your own citizens? Unbelievable right? Wrong. Welcome to Ukraine, the country to which the US has handed $76.8 billion of your money to do exactly that.“

He also reposted a message with similar content, where the author suggests that the U.S. government allegedly funds Nazi death squads in Ukraine using taxpayers’ money.

Indeed, the journalist demonizes the Armed Forces of Ukraine, comparing them to aggressive groups, and accuses Ukrainians of supporting Nazi ideology and committing brutal crimes against their fellow citizens. Through such manipulation, Bowes encourages Americans to oppose military aid to Ukraine. Among his statements, Kremlin-favored narratives about the “NATO proxy war against Russia” and claims that Ukraine cannot win the war are frequently heard.

If you enter Chay Bowes’ name into a search engine, you will find a lot of information: interviews, articles, podcasts, and more. This abundance of content may mislead the reader because this personality is popular and recognizable. It is essential to consider that a large quantity of content does not necessarily indicate quality.

Because pseudo-experts appear on shows and publish their materials in various publications to add credibility to themselves. However, they continue to spread misinformation. Therefore, it’s essential to carefully verify all the content you consume. To determine how reputable Western media is, you can use the resource Media Bias/Fact Check. To do this, enter the name of the media outlet into a search engine. You can also find mentions of the media outlet online and check for any scandals associated with it.

Indicators of quality material include the absence of evaluative judgments that immediately reveal the author’s attitude toward a particular person and the presence of references to words or data mentioned in the article. For example, in Bowes’s article “Zelenskyi’s Terror Team: Why the West Looks the Other Way When Ukraine’s Secret Murder Squad Kills Journalists and Activists” for “The Islander,” the author’s attitude toward Volodymyr Zelenskyi is immediately clear.

In low-quality media like RT, authors try to appeal to the reader’s emotions, either by inducing fear or stirring up hatred toward a particular person/event. They may publish untrue information.

If it’s a show or podcast, you can find information about other participants to understand if they have connections to Russia, whether there have been scandals, etc. Most importantly, pay attention to the narratives the author spreads and analyze whose interests a particular thesis may serve. In particular, if the material justifies Russian aggression, talks about alleged biolabs in Ukraine, Nazis, or “black transplantologists,” there is a high probability that the media is of low quality. Outlets that care about their reputation will not publish news or opinion pieces containing false facts.

For more information on the dangerous narratives spread by Irish journalist Chay Bowes regarding Ukraine, watch the video.