Month: March 2022

A Postscript to MONDAY MORNING MEDIA XV: Just yesterday, March 28, 2022, as I was applauding Nobel laureate Dimitry Muratov for continuing to publish his crusading Novaya Gazette in the face of Russia’s crackdown on independent media, he received a second warning from the Kremlin’s regulator that his paper was violating the emergency press law. The warning was simple: shut the paper down, or its license would be revoked. With no choice, Muratov did as he was ordered, although he promised to remain in Russia and find other means to convey the truith of what is happening in Ukraine. How and when he might manage that is far from clear. The impact: the Kremlin has now succeeded in silencing the last independent voice in Russia. Now the official version of the “special military operation” in Ukraine is the only version readily available to the Russian people.

   Two Profiles in Courage that should not get lost in the ocean of coverage about Russia’s brutal war in and against Ukraine: 

   Dimitry Muratov, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and editor of Novaya Gazeta, the independent Russian newspaper that is bravely continuing to publish under Vladimir Putin’s draconian new press restrictions. Under the law passed earlier this month, merely describing the “special military operation” in Ukraine as what it is – a war – can get you 15 years in prison. Nonetheless, Muratov has continued to publish accounts of the war that are full of ellipses and blanks that the readers can easily fill in for themselves. So far, the paper continues to publish and Muratov remains free. Stay tuned.   

Marina Ovsyannikova, the striking blonde producer for the Kremlin-controlled television Channel 1, who bravely jumped in front of the camera during the widely-watched evening news brandishing a sign that read: “NO WAR, they’re lying to you here.” She was taken into custody, but released after paying a fine for her protest and is at least temporarily free. Remember her