Dmitry Muratov, the chief editor of Novaya Gazeta, was speaking at the Global Media Forum in Germany’s Bonn and had his speech interrupted by the sound of an air raid siren. The video of the incident is circulating on social media.
The sound of siren complemented with an instruction to head to a shelter.
Delfi Lithuania says the siren was played by Ukrainian journalists. UNIAN also reports that the journalists shouted “Glory to Ukraine!” after Muratov’s speech. The hosts of the event have yet to comment on the matter.
The Global Media Forum is organised annually by Deutsche Welle. This year’s edition has a slogan that goes “Overcoming divisions”. Deutsche Welle mentioned earlier that Muratov’s participation had “caused certain critical remarks from the Ukrainian side on social media”.
Muratov’s speech was on the state of independent journalism in today’s Russia.
In March 2022, Novaya Gazeta stopped updating its website and printing new issues of its physical newspaper due to the censorship that Russia introduced after starting the Ukraine war. Some of Novaya’s staff left Russia and established a new media outlet in Latvia, called Novaya Gazeta Europe. The remaining members of the staff soon started updating the Novaya Gazeta website again.
Soon enough, Roskomnadzor, Russia’s censorship agency, deprived Novaya of its licence and blocked access to its website in Russia.
