United States Agency for Global Media

On World Press Freedom Day, coronavirus multiplies challenges facing independent media

May 4, 2020

“Today the state has a new 'stick' – ‘fake news’ about the coronavirus,” says journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva, a contributor to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Russian Service, who has been charged with promoting terrorism in a case decried by international rights monitors. Prokopyeva, in remarks on World Press Freedom Day, was referring to the ways that the Russian government – and countless others – are exploiting the coronavirus outbreak to tighten controls over information and the independent press. Read More