LOS ANGELES (KNX) - On Friday, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a new law, which would ban what Russia considers “fake news” when it comes to the Russian military.
This also includes calling Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine a “special military operation” rather than an invasion or war.
Ivan Kolpakov, an editor of popular Russian intendent media outlet Meduza, told the Washington Post that his sources say the law could be used against journalists.
Felix Light, a CBS News reporter who just left Moscow, told KNX In Depth that the decision to leave was one many journalists — including Russian journalists — made for themselves. Especially when it became clear that Russia wanted the media to cover the war on its own terms.
“(The journalists) weren’t allowed to sort of report on the war using anything other than what had been published by the Russian Defense Ministry which were kind of these ludicrously understated casualty figures. So we weren’t allowed to use our own reporting in any way,” Light explained.
He added that the new law made many foreign journalists worry that they could be put into prison for doing their jobs.
“It was made very clear to us by the authorities that this law, which provides for up to 15 years in prison I should say, would apply to (foreign journalists) as well,” Light said. “So myself, and many other colleagues made a decision last week to get out of Russia pretty quickly.”
Getting flights out of Russia wasn’t easy and came at a hefty price for many of the fleeing journalists.
“We saw things like flights to Armenia, flights to Yerevan going for about $3,000 a piece…,” Light recalled.
So how do we get the news out of Russia with journalists gone? Light says there are still news operations people can look to, like the BBC, but that it is going to be difficult in the future.
“…and we are gonna see some more of the scripted narratives, I think, coming out of Moscow and less, sort of, independent reporting,” Light said.
Listen to Light’s full interview in the audio above.
