Independent Media “Suffocated”
Russian reporter criticizes Kremlin propaganda
03/23/2022, 11:11 am
Zhanna Agalakowa worked for the Russian state television for 20 years. Then she resigns in protest against the Ukraine war. The power apparatus “suffocated” the independent media; the news no longer showed what was actually happening in Russia.
The prominent Russian journalist Zhanna Agalakova has condemned the Kremlin propaganda as far from life. Russian television only tells the story of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and people around him. “We only see the apparatus of power,” said Russia’s First Channel’s longtime France correspondent, who left the channel after 20 years to protest Putin’s war on Ukraine. “There is no country in our news, Russia is not in our news.”
The power apparatus “suffocated” the independent media. Many continued to fight. “These are brave, incredibly bold, brave people who I appreciate immensely,” said the 56-year-old, who is a celebrity in Russia for reporting from France. She spoke on Tuesday at an appearance in Paris at the organization Reporters Without Borders.
The essence of propaganda in the Russian state media, on the other hand, is to twist facts and produce a lie-filled concoction. “I want people to stop being turned into zombies.” Agalakova, who spoke part French and part Russian, continued: “(…) A free press is important for any society. And when people don’t see themselves in the news anymore, they don’t know who they’re talking to Your voice will not be heard. That will lead to suicide. A great suicide on the scale of the country.” She is aware that she is now being accused of treason in Russia. “No one paid me. I’m not a spy,” she said in hers too speech distributed as a video.
“West also bears its responsibility”
At the same time, Agalakowa was concerned that the word “Russian” was now being erased in many places in the West, in shops, theaters and social centers. “You are suffocating and killing Russian culture,” she said. “I don’t think that’s your goal, but it’s also an inevitable result of your actions.”
Last but not least, the West’s sanctions against Russia’s war in Ukraine would primarily hit people in the middle class, “who have always shared democratic values.” The West is now losing these allies. And a country of more than 140 million people would be thrown into poverty and destruction, she warned. The Russian state is to blame for the situation. “But the West also bears its responsibility.”