Thread by @polidemitolog

🧵 on reading 🇷🇺 media

Russian independent media sources write about a mass exodus of highly skilled specialists who were employed in the administration of Moscow city because of the fear of being conscripted. Previously, an employ of said administration was KIA on the front.

When reading Russian independent media you must understand that some of their work is very important investigative journalism, they have uncovered many cases of corruption and abuse of power by the Kremlin elites. They write important pieces on the economy side as well.

Other parts of their reporting rests on anonymous sources. This is based upon the fact that the 🇷🇺 political system is autocratic (in recent times transitioning to totalitarianism), so sharing your opinion with independent media is extremely dangerous, especially for higher-ups.

If a Western media source reports something important only based on anonymous sources, it would be considered unprofessional, but it all depends on the topic and its importance, and the prestige of the media in question. If you're caught in a lie it destroys your reputation.

You can take 🇷🇺 independent media reporting with anonymous sources with a grain of salt, but if you're familiar with the general situation you can deduce for yourself if the story is truthful. E.g. it's tough to find a reliable source inside the presidential administration.

It's easier to find a similar source in Moscow city administration. Further more, sometimes even stories with less reliable sources are close to the truth, they represent fairly accurate analyses being reported as news stories. Yet again you are left to your on thought process.

It's very difficult to live in an autocracy, it's even more difficult to differentiate truth from lies (even well-meaning ones). You can never be completely sure of anything, this is the product of the lack of freedom and the feeling you're being constantly watched by the police.

In this particular case, I would wager that sought-after specialists are indeed leaving Moscow city administration and most probably Russia. Obviously the conscription and sanctions are the main factors in their decision-making. This you can deduce even without any sources.

If they're leaving en masse, if it's a real exodus, we cannot tell, it's a matter of faith really, either you believe an anonymous source or you don't, nothing beyond that can be proven in this case. Proper investigative journalism is needed to give the actual facts, not stories.

In an autocracy, the system itself is based on lies, so the people themselves don't trust anyone, outside their close circle of friends and family, completely. That's why all sorts of wild conspiracy theories can be easily spread by the people on their own.

The independent media also has an agenda - toppling the autocracy and brining freedom. That's a moral agenda. Sometimes the independent media will tell stories, based on the observed reality, rather than on factual evidence. At other times it will get real confidential data.

Both are necessary for achieving the aforementioned goal of reaching freedom. You can't judge media in an autocracy by the same standards you would the media in a democratic ruling system. They're forced to be an activist movement and a source of information simultaneously.

Pay attention to those Russian "experts" and "journalists" who portray independent media as liars just because they're forced to tell stories in order to help free the people. Those are most probably Kremlin agents. Everyone who has lived in an autocracy knows the state of play.

Those that pretend that the persecuted independent media in 🇷🇺 can be held to the same standards as media in the democratic West are not well-meaning, they're on the job to discredit the fight for democracy, while hiding behind a code of ethics they don't belive in.

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