Post-Soviet Russia is a dangerous and demoralizing place to be a journalist. In fact, it is an intimidating place even to ask questions about the media. My requests for interviews were met with a stream of incredulous questions, often beginning with, ‘Who sent you?’ from journalists who have learned the hard way that it pays to be suspicious. Those who did agree to meet – often on the condition of anonymity – chose locations far from prying eyes: an empty burlesque club in the early morning; the back of a moving taxi; and, most paranoid of all, on a boat moored in the River Moskva.
Yet, not all Russia’s journalists are prepared to live in the shadows. A surprisingly large number of brave individuals continue openly to criticize the Kremlin and to expose the ills of the society over which it presides. Yevgeny Kiselyov is one such. As editor-in-chief of Russia’s largest commercial broadcaster, NTV, and host of the channel’s flagship political show Itogi, Kiselyov was arguably Russia’s most popular and powerful journalist when Vladimir Putin first came to power in 2000. Week after week on Itogi, Kiselyov offered audiences an alternative narrative on Russia’s conduct of the Chechen war to that proffered by the Kremlin.
