Perspective: As the U.S.-funded broadcaster is forced to shut most of its Russian operations, its web traffic indicates that Russian people are eagerly consuming its stories.
The Kremlin kept putting the screws to its Russian-language broadcasts, throwing up ever more regulatory hurdles. But it was in late 2020 that the hammer really came down. The “media regulator” demanded that every broadcast, digital story and video carry an intrusive disclaimer at the top stating that what followed was the product of a foreign agent., as the organization has been known since a 1976 merger.That labeling would interfere with the private nonprofit’s mission at a core level.
The timing seemed anything but coincidental. The Russian government started bankruptcy proceedings just as the Ukraine war was beginning last month. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — which receives much of its funding from the same U.S. agency that oversees Voice of America — shut down much of its operations in Russia just as many international journalists were forced to flee the country, social media platforms were blocked or banned, and Russia’s independent media was being silenced.
He and his colleagues are particularly proud of the on-the-ground reporting in Ukraine, such as a March 10 video headlined “Ukrainian Troops Attempt to Drive Russian Forces from Village Near Kyiv.” There have been thorough reports about civilian deaths in Mariupol and about mortar fire directed at Ukrainian interior minister and journalists.
There’s been a price to pay beyond the monetary fines and regulatory hassles. In recent weeks, four freelance journalists who work for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty have been detailed or harassed by Russian police. Many others have been labeled individual foreign agents. “It’s scary, but total information control was always the goal,” Fly told me. The organization has filed suit against the Russian government at the European Court of Human Rights, though it’s unclear how a verdict would be implemented.Suspending the Moscow bureau after 31 years of operation was a tough blow, Fly told me. But through freelancers, tips and videos generated by the audience and other means, “we’re still trying to report from the ground and we’re not abandoning the Russian audience.
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