From Russian Newspaper Editor to ‘Foreign Agent’

When filmmaker Patrick Forbes decided to make a documentary about Russian newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov, Muratov had just won a Nobel Prize. Over the course of the next year, Russia would invade Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin would intensify his government’s crackdown on the press – a crackdown in which Muratov and his newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, would be caught up. 

In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch, Forbes joins host Raney Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE, to discuss Putin vs. the Press, the new documentary that follows Muratov as he as he faces personal attacks and fights to keep his reporters safe.

Forbes recounts the difficulty of filming a documentary in Russia, where he says Muratov’s story “symbolizes the increasing restriction on freedom of press in Russia” and “the slow strangling of any independent voices.” 

Putin vs. the Press is streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel, and the PBS App. 

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