DISINFO: Meduza operates fully and without discrimination in Russia
SUMMARY
Meduza operates in Russia as a full-fledged media platform, although the nature of its publications indicates that it is a foreign medium. They do not face discrimination in any way.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative aimed at portraying Russia as protector of freedom of speech and the press. The claim was neither critically challenged nor counterbalanced in the article.
On 23 April 2021 the Russian Ministry of Justice has labelled the independent news website Meduza as a "foreign agent". This puts many restrictions on the operation of the media outlet. First, it subjects the media outlet to increased government scrutiny compared to other outlets. Second, this designation discourages advertisements which negatively affects the revenue streams of outlets labelled as such. Third, the law also requires so-called “foreign agents” to note such status whenever they produce news or are mentioned in news articles. For example, Meduza now has to publish the following statement with each news article they publish:
“This message (content) was created and (or) distributed by a foreign mass media outlet executing the functions of a foreign agent and (or) a Russian legal entity executing the functions of a foreign agent.”
This has come amidst increasing pressure on independent journalism in Russia where police threatened to arrest reporters for attending mass protest rallies in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Student journalists were also charged earlier in April with “inciting minors to dangerous behaviour” for supporting students whose universities reportedly threatened to expel them for attending the Navalny rallies.
The EU rejected the Russian authorities' decision and warned that the so-called “foreign agent” law contributes to a systematic infringement of basic freedoms, and restricts civil society, independent media and the rights of political opposition in Russia.
According to the 2020 World Press Freedom Index, Russia is in 149th place out of 180 countries. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 83 journalists and media representatives have been killed in Russia since 1993. Out of them, 38 have been murdered directly for being engaged in investigative journalism related to corruption, politics, and human rights violations. According to the report, the murders can be traced to the Government.
According to Reporters Without Borders, pressure on the independent media, blocking websites, and draconian laws became even more severe in the last years. Leading independent news outlets either ended up in governmental control or were shut down under suspicious circumstances. That comes in addition to the 2020 report by “RWB” that states that “[a]t least 37 Russian professional journalists have been killed in connection with their work since 2000,” compared with 40 reporters killed in 1992-9.
Read our post “Russia is the world champion in free speech” or our analysis “Four factors affecting press freedom in Russia”, or more cases that claim that the West Falsely Claims Russian Media Not Free, or that Russia is the most liberal country and that there is no restriction of foreign media in Russia.