Last Vestiges of Russia's Free Press Fall Under Kremlin Pressure
Last Vestiges of Russias Free Press Fall Under Kremlin Pressure
Everything thats not propaganda is being eliminated, a Nobel Prize winning editor said as Russian authorities moved to control the narrative in the Ukraine war.
As President Vladimir V. Putin wages war against Ukraine, he is fighting a parallel battle on the home front, dismantling the last vestiges of a Russian free press.
On Thursday, the pillars of Russias independent broadcast media collapsed under pressure from the state. Echo of Moscow, the freewheeling radio station founded by Soviet dissidents in 1990 and that symbolized Russias new freedoms, was liquidated by its board. TV Rain, the youthful independent television station that calls itself the optimistic channel said it would suspend operations indefinitely.
And Dmitri A. Muratov, the journalist who shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year, said that his newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which survived the murders of six of its journalists, could be on the verge of shutting down as well.
Everything thats not propaganda is being eliminated, Mr. Muratov said.
Precipitating the outlets demise were plans by the Russian Parliament to take up legislation on Friday that would make news considered fakes about Russias war in Ukraine punishable by yearslong prison terms. ................