Disinformation and Russia’s War in Ukraine

In this episode we talk to two journalists covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine to help us better understand how disinformation and propaganda are obscuring, or outright contradicting, the facts, both within Russia and beyond its borders. 

Our first guest, Roman Anin, is a Pulitzer Prize-winner and founder and editor-in-chief of the Russian news portal iStories and a former investigative journalist for the recently shuttered Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Now living in exile and labeled a so-called “foreign agent” by the Russian government, Anin tells us why “propaganda is like radiation” and how hard it is for Russians today to access news from independent sources.

After hearing about Putin’s 20-year campaign to restrict press freedom and control the media narrative, we talk to Elyse Samuels, a member of the The Washington Post visual forensics team, about her role in verifying images and videos for breaking and ongoing news events like the war in Ukraine.

Is that a fact? is brought to you by the nonpartisan, non-profit News Literacy Project. For more information, go to newslit.org.

Related links:

• Russian police raid home of prominent journalist Roman Anin, The Guardian
• 'Our job is to save history': Russian journalist on exposing Putin's lies, Vice
• Opinion: Putin tolerated some critical voices in his 22-year assault on Russian media. His war in Ukraine ends even that, Committee to Protect Journalists
• Russian attacks hit at least 9 Ukrainian medical facilities, visual evidence shows, The Washington Post
• Some survivors emerge from rubble of theater bombed by Russia, Ukranian officials say, The Washington Post

Is that a fact? is a production of the News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan education nonprofit building a national movement to create a more news-literate America. Our host is Darragh Worland, our producer is Mike Webb, our editor is Timothy Kramer, and our theme music is by Eryn Busch.