Michael Delahaye, veteran BBC journalist and author of "After the Fall: The Battle to Save Independent Media in the Post-Soviet World," joins us to share his firsthand experiences supporting independent journalism across Russia and the former Soviet republics.

We discuss the challenges faced by journalists in a country without a history of independent journalism, the impact of Putin, the lack of a media market, the role of the West, the significance of the BBC World Service and the ongoing fight for media freedom in increasingly autocratic environments.

“I did find, quite surprised me, that a lot of these young journalists thought, “Hold on,” they were saying to me, “But, but look, you know, this is a time of transition. We do have a patriotic duty here, and, you know, we should actually aid the transition. It’s all very fine going attack dogs against authority, but we've got to bear in mind that this is, quote, an emerging democracy. It is fragile.”

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