The couple, leading journalists from the independent TV channel Dozhd, have been airing a news show on their shared YouTube channel from neighboring Georgia since the release of Dozhd, but are now preparing an official restart from abroad. Their withdrawal from Russia came after President Vladimir Putin signed a law imposing a prison sentence of up to 15 years for spreading “false” news about the military, making it virtually illegal to criticize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Dozhd was one of the many media outlets whose leaders decided to close down. “The page of modern Russian history called freelance journalism has turned,” Dozhdko, Dozhd’s editor-in-chief, told Reuters in a nude television studio in Georgia, one of the many countries from which they intend to broadcast. A live stream they did last week had more than 92,000 views, allowing them to connect with one of their audiences on one of the few online platforms not ruled out by authorities who say their critics are serving a hostile West . But after sending troops from Russia to Ukraine on February 24, Dozhd garnered about 25 million views daily, even though the channel had been described as a “foreign agent” since the beginning of last year. The Kremlin describes its actions in Ukraine as a special military operation and accuses the media of criticizing it or its actions of trying to destroy Russia. Launched in 2010, Dozhd, known as TV Rain in English, has been a popular source of news coverage of the mass protests following the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and other events not covered by state television. He plans to continue broadcasting from cities such as Tbilisi, Riga and Amsterdam in the coming weeks. Although many aspects of the restart remain to be determined – including its date and exact form – Kotrikadze says Dozhd aspires to be “a real problem for Russian propaganda.” TV Rain (Dozhd) Editor-in-Chief Tikhon Dzyadko speaks during an interview in Moscow, Russia, September 2, 2021. REUTERS / Evgenia Novozhenina / File Photo read more “We want to give them a huge headache,” said Kotrikadze, the channel’s news director.
‘IRON CURTAIN’
As Dozhd prepares to return to the air, the channel faces two major challenges: reaching out to an increasingly isolated Russian audience and reporting safely from within the country despite restrictions. “We have a lot of viewers because they see links on Facebook or Twitter,” Dzyadko said. “But as Facebook and Twitter are excluded, even though people use VPNs (virtual private networks), the audience is getting smaller.” Facebook and Twitter are officially banned in Russia, but are still accessible via VPN. read more Dzyadko fears that some viewers of Dozhd were filling the gap left by the channel with content from the state media. For Kotrikadze, much of the success of the restart will depend on finding the right tone in reporting on Russia from outside. “How do you talk to those who still believe that the so-called ‘special military operation’ is the right thing to do?” he said, referring to the term used by the Russian authorities to describe Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine. “I want to understand what they are thinking. And I want to talk to them.” Moscow blames Western countries – which have imposed extensive sanctions on Russia and restricted Russian news channels since the invasion of Ukraine – for the problems facing Russia’s independent media. Dzyadko recalls that his parents listened to foreign Radio Liberty broadcasts in Moscow during the Soviet era, and says that Dozhd viewers will soon experience something similar. “I have no doubt that there will be a way to overcome this digital iron curtain in Russia,” he said. (This story corrects the media digitally in the last paragraph) Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Reuters. curated by Philippa Fletcher Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
