‘Our kids miss their mom’: Husband of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva speaks out about her detention in Russia
Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with the Tatar-Bashkir service of U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, has been in Russian detention since October 18, when authorities in the western city of Kazan charged her with failure to register herself as a foreign agent. If found guilty, Kurmasheva faces up to…
Mercenary leader’s death sparks hope for new leads in 3 Russian journalist murders
The August 2023 death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, made headlines around the world amid speculation that President Vladimir Putin was behind it. But to press freedom observers, the death was notable for another reason: It may have signaled a new era in long-stalled efforts for justice for three Russian…
Forensic tools open new front for using phone data to prosecute journalists
On April 13, police in Russia’s Khakassiya republic arrested Mikhail Afanasyev and seized his digital devices. Afanasyev, chief editor of the online magazine Novy Fokus, was detained based on an article about riot police in southern Siberia refusing to serve in Ukraine. He faces a possible 10-year prison sentence for spreading “false” information. It’s not surprising for…
SOTA, one of the last independent news outlets in Russia, doubles down on coverage
Since the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, Russia has sought to stamp out independent reporting on the war, prompting journalists to flee and newsrooms to shut down or to self-censor under threat of criminal prosecution. Remarkably, one local outlet has continued to produce robust reporting despite the repressive environment. SOTA, which counts a staff of 40 journalists and support workers,…
‘Disastrous for press freedom’: What Russia’s goal of an isolated internet means for journalists
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine presents a danger not only for reporters operating in the war zone. The campaign could also pose a broader threat to press freedoms and other civil liberties if it brings the Kremlin closer to its dream of creating a domestically controlled internet. Russia’s internet regulator, Rozkomnadzor, has long been able to…
Emily Bell: Tech companies must ‘wake up’ to their role in Ukraine war disinformation
As Russia wages an information war alongside its physical war in Ukraine, tech companies have responded with measures small and large, from reducing the visibility of propagandistic social media posts to blocking Russian state-affiliated media, to going beyond international sanctions by pulling out of the country altogether. Meanwhile, Ukrainian journalists, citizens, and officials have used…
‘We expect anything’: A Russian union leader vows to keep helping journalists facing state repression
As journalists flee Russia fearing prosecution for their coverage of the invasion of Ukraine or their affiliation with outlets deemed “foreign agents,” the country’s Journalists’ and Media Workers’ Union (JMWU) is trying to help them. A non-governmental trade union with some 600 active members, the group defends labor rights, provides assistance to journalists, and stands…
Opinion: Putin tolerated some critical voices in his 22-year assault on Russian media. His war in Ukraine ends even that.
On the morning after Boris Yeltsin stunned the world by resigning and turning over the Russian presidency to Vladimir Putin, The New York Times published a “man in the news” column that struggled to define the new leader. Putin was a man who “would never deceive you,” promised his political mentor and former St. Petersburg…
Calling the war ‘war’: Meduza’s Galina Timchenko bucks Russia’s censorship on Ukraine
The Kremlin was infuriated by editor Galina Timchenko’s coverage of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. So it pressured her boss to fire her. Timchenko left Moscow with much of the staff from her popular website, moving to Riga, Latvia, where they could work free of Kremlin censorship. That may sound like today’s news, but it actually…
Brent Renaud brought heart and compassion to his filmmaking
Brent Renaud was renowned not just for his war reporting, but for the compassion he brought to his work. From Iraq to Somalia to Mexico, his videography explored human vulnerability and human connection at the worst of times. A U.S. soldier in Fallujah calls his mother on Mother’s Day; a physical therapist coaxes a young…