The Russian Media: Thirty Years of Freedom of the Press

Join us for a screening of Yury Shchekochikhin: His Life in Words and Deeds (2017), followed by a panel discussion.

Golden Film Studio’s 40-minute documentary examines the life and work of investigative journalist and Duma representative Yury Shchekochikhin. An outspoken champion of democracy, free expression, and the rule of law during perestroika and in post-Soviet Russia, Shchekochikhin was famous for his probing investigative reporting on corruption, the KGB, human rights’ violations, international organized crime, and the war in Chechnya. He died in 2003, under unclear circumstances, in the middle of a major investigation of corruption at the top levels of the Russian law enforcement and intelligence services. The film is in Russian with English subtitles.

The panel will consider both Shchekochikhin’s legacy and the current state of the Russian media thirty years after the law on freedom of the press was passed in 1990.

PANELISTS

Mark Lipovetsky (Columbia University)

Nadezhda Azhgikhina (PEN Moscow)

Tom Kent (Harriman Institute)

Nina Khrushcheva (New School)

Katrina vanden Heuvel (The Nation)