Western media and the war on truth in Ukraine
Al JazeeraJUL 2022
Russian Court Jails Four Journalists in Navalny-Linked Case
Above: Russian journalists Sergei Karelin, Konstantin Gabov, Antonina Kravtsova and Artem Kriger stand inside the glass cage during the verdict announcement at the Nagatinsky court in Moscow on April 15, 2025. Image copyright: Contributor/AFP via Getty Images
The Spin
Anti-Russia narrative
In Putin's Russia, journalism itself has become an act of resistance. Independent reporters face imprisonment, torture, and death for speaking truth. At least 26 journalists languish in detention, while hundreds have fled to exile. Press freedom has been systematically dismantled through oppressive legislation branding truth-tellers as "foreign agents" and "extremists." What remains is not media but mouthpieces of state propaganda, spreading hatred in darkness.
Pro-Russia narrative
The West has weaponized media as a strategic fifth column, amplifying narratives that cast Russia as a pariah while echoing official war briefings uncritically. By cloaking psychological operations in the language of free press, Western outlets have blurred journalism with statecraft, undermining Russia from within and abroad—not through bullets, but through belief, perception, and relentless narrative warfare.