News Media as an Actor of Political Intelligence

The organization of modern political processes is unthinkable without information media. They, as disseminators of information, can appear to us as both a creator of a stable environment and a destabilizing factor. It should be taken into account that the states fighting for the role of a strategic partner or satellite state actively use mass media for dominance in the target states and on the international arena. Accordingly, the processes of information provision from the side of the mass media keep the perspectives of being used for intelligence purposes by the interested states. The news media, as an actor providing political intelligence, may serve to destabilize the target countries, and the dissemination of propaganda and disinformation of an intelligence nature is an important method used in organizing this process. As a result, to achieve political destabilization, operations of inspiring and inciting conflict between political, social, ethnic or religious groups can be used through mass media information activities. It should be noted that the destruction of democratic processes in the target state through surveillance strategies may call into question both statehood and challenge global security. Accordingly, the paper will identify the threats coming from information media as actors under the control of intelligence actors and will present the most important measures to neutralize the threat / minimize the risk impact.