Jill Dougherty — How the Media Became One of Putin’s Most Powerful Weapons

Interesting presentation of a Western take on Russian media, without comparison with similar matters in the Western media, which are controlled by a small group of the ruling elite like Rupert Murdoch, who has a lock on the popular media in the US, UK, and Australia. So one needs to read between the lines while reading this.

The interesting point is that Putin concluded that the West was weaponizing the media and that Russia needed to counter. This is a political duel with a lot of money at stake, too. So it is a tale of money and power. What else is new?

Interesting section on Margarita Simonyan, too. She became chief of RT (Russia Today) in when she was only 25, and now at 34, she is one of the world's primary influencers.

The Atlantic
How the Media Became One of Putin’s Most Powerful Weapons
Jill Dougherty, public-policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and formerly Moscow bureau chief for CNN.