INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russian journalists who have quit their jobs in state media talked to The Moscow Times about their decision
Most say they did it as a protest against the invasion of Ukraine or out of fear that they would be sent to the war zone to report
Eight journalists working at national television and print media spoke with The Moscow Times anonymously
One of them said that their bosses had warned them ahead of time about the invasion of Ukraine
now that they have seen what is happening, several of them are breaking ranks.A journalist at the Russian Television and Broadcasting
Company that airs Channel Two said that they are intentionally not following what is happening in Ukraine
said that reporters set up a private chatroom to discuss what is happening militarily and the chances of film crews being sent to
Two people who post on them said they understood perfectly well what the channel was doing but could not affect the editorial policy in any
problems with alcohol, but that a career in a national publication still remains very attractive
In private conversations she said she was against the annexation of Crimea and support for the separatist regions of the Donbas
But she had the sense not to show it
official positions.Instead, they were assigned topics they had to cover
working at national state media are silent
He has not been on air since then, although Larisa Krymova, the channel press secretary, says that he is still part of Channel One.The St
Petersburg journalist Anna Zaslavskaya, who worked on the political program Inter-Vision, quit TV Channel 78 over her position on
Ukraine.Yelena Chernenko, a well-known journalist at the newspaper Kommersant, was removed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pool after
she signed an open letter demanding a stop to hostilities against Ukraine
Chernenko had worked in that press pool for 11 years.Last year 102.8 billion rubles were allocated to nation-wide state media
The big winner of state funding is Russia Today, which got 27.4 billion rubles in 2020, according to RBK
Channel One received 6.5 billion rubles in subsidies.Channel One, Izvestia and the State Broadcasting Company did not respond to The Moscow
Times requests for comment
