Q. Fascism is on the rise all over the world, and I can see echoes of what happened in Russia happening in the United States. What can I do?
A. What I would definitely do differently — and it was a trap I don’t want you to fall into — it’s this principle: Don’t get involved or you will lose your objectivity, all of us sho…
Q. Fascism is on the rise all over the world, and I can see echoes of what happened in Russia happening in the United States. What can I do?
A. What I would definitely do differently — and it was a trap I don’t want you to fall into — it’s this principle: Don’t get involved or you will lose your objectivity, all of us should be objective and professional and blah, blah, blah. I believe this whole principle — don’t get involved in things — was invented by people who had power and wanted to keep it because they don’t want media to be politically active. This is what we believe in, too — that the first thing we should do is professional duty. But professional duty is not enough. We all have not just professional duties, but also civil duties, and they’re not eliminated by professional duties. If you as a journalist know that your country goes in the wrong direction, you should alarm the rest.
Many educated Russians are very happy to believe that propaganda doesn’t affect them, that some stupid people are being affected by propaganda but we know things. When you feel that propaganda doesn’t affect you, you’re already under its influence.
I won’t shame myself for being an activist and a journalist. And I believe, of course, that I should be — we should all be — way more alarmed. If you see that things are going to hell, they are going to hell.
From the article:
Q. Fascism is on the rise all over the world, and I can see echoes of what happened in Russia happening in the United States. What can I do?
A. What I would definitely do differently — and it was a trap I don’t want you to fall into — it’s this principle: Don’t get involved or you will lose your objectivity, all of us should be objective and professional and blah, blah, blah. I believe this whole principle — don’t get involved in things — was invented by people who had power and wanted to keep it because they don’t want media to be politically active. This is what we believe in, too — that the first thing we should do is professional duty. But professional duty is not enough. We all have not just professional duties, but also civil duties, and they’re not eliminated by professional duties. If you as a journalist know that your country goes in the wrong direction, you should alarm the rest.
Many educated Russians are very happy to believe that propaganda doesn’t affect them, that some stupid people are being affected by propaganda but we know things. When you feel that propaganda doesn’t affect you, you’re already under its influence.
I won’t shame myself for being an activist and a journalist. And I believe, of course, that I should be — we should all be — way more alarmed. If you see that things are going to hell, they are going to hell.