Stage 1: The Escalation

The March 2023 arrest of Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter, Evan Gershkovich, on alleged espionage charges in Russia has shaken Western audiences. It made clear that from this point on, state repression can turn against any journalist reporting in the world’s largest nation. Both bringing the truth to Russian citizens and reporting from the Russian Federation for an audience outside have become dangerous ventures. Still, there are Russian journalists fearlessly doing their jobs either by remaining in the country or emigrating to report from abroad.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, independent journalism faced an aggressive government crackdown. The legal basis for this for this was written into the Russian Criminal Code (The Administrative and the Penal Code of the Russian Federation (RF)) in March 2022. A new article about the “responsibility for public actions aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation” made denouncing the aggression against Ukraine and speaking freely about politics and social challenges in Russia almost a guarantee for prosecution.

Stage 2: “We Leave”

With these changes, editorial boards and journalists can be held liable for the mere coverage of social or political events. Journalists being labelled as ‘foreign agents” and facing intimidation tactics from the Russian state became the new normal. They were subjected to large fines, searches, accusations of being ‘extremist’, arrests, blocking of websites and closing of media. Editors-in-chief have been fined up to several thousand euros for publishing news about arrests of artists protesting against the war, printing the photos of pacifist statements or informing about solitary anti-war pickets in Russian cities. The Penal Code article that can be applied by repeated reporting means imprisonment for up to five years.

The bulk of independent Russian journalists saw emigration as the logical and often only choice to preserve their journalistic -and physical- integrity. They left the country in droves. Not to hide, but to keep reporting to an audience within Russia without sacrificing their journalistic independence. Many émigréd journalists who have scattered across the globe see a mission in bringing objective news about the war being waged against Ukraine and the domestic fall-out in Russia. Their impact should not be underestimated. For instance, whether Putin succeeds with another wave of mobilisation may depend on the truth that is being brought to Russians about the war next door being pursued in their names.

Stage 3: Re-Emergence

Not only nationally renowned liberal media like TV Dozhd’, Echo, Novaya Gazeta Europe,  Mediazona and others were able to re-emerge abroad, but also a plethora of smaller journalistic projects sprung up in exile. They are tirelessly broadcasting to try and reclaim minds from propaganda and indoctrination. Breaking through the armour of the mighty Russian state media machine is an endurance-demanding task.

The émigréd journalists, well-known or not, speak and write against the war, supporting Ukraine, and also supporting the dignity of Russians that are against the war, the necessity of the rule of law and the rights of marginalised groups. The reporting is both emotional and factual, which skilfully works to shake up the readers and reach out to a wide array of people. Émigréd media outlets are reporting what happens on the battleground in Ukraine and what human rights activists within Russia face for telling this truth. One such report that made the headlines was the couple from a small Russian city that was painting anti-war graffiti on bus stops and stores, who were detained and sentenced to over six years in a penal colony. Another of a myriad of examples is the Russian school children who faced prosecution after expressing their anti-war feelings.

‘Soft’ and Hard Challenges to Reporting Within Russia

Turning back to domestic outlets, the financial resources of independent journalists not employed by official state media (or not willing to follow the state reporting instructions) almost completely vanished. Trained and tested economic models used by journalist all over the world, such as advertising, crowdfunding or subscription models become untenable when payment channels are shut or companies discouraged from advertising with certain media outlets.

Moreover, the county’s media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, obliged all Russian media outlets to use information only from official Russian sources and prohibited the use of the words  ‘war,’ ‘attack’ and ‘invasion,’ stating they are “misleading publicly significant information that does not correspond to reality”. While President Putin himself called the current state of affairs a “war” in his 2023 Victory Day speech on 9^th May, the media gag orders remain in place.

A New Phenomenon in the Global Media Landscape

As the arrest of WSJ Gershkovich shows, it is highly unclear whether truthful Russian-language reporting from Russia will remain possible at all as the repression of the media reaches new heights. The resilience which the now scattered Russian journalists have built since February 2022 may be necessary for years to come. For many Russian, reporting from the outside might become the only option of reporting on the inside. The émigréd voices, reporting for Russians and about Russia are thereby becoming a new global media phenomenon.