Meduza's Statement on the Revocation of the Latvian License of the Dozhd TV Channel

You can join him too

Read this statement in English . Lasiet šo iesniegumu latviski

The Latvian National Electronic Mass Media Council has revoked Dozhd's license. The agency has banned Dozhd from broadcasting on cable networks and is also planning to block its YouTube channel in the country. According to the head of the council, Ivars Āboliņš, the decision was made "due to a threat to national security and public order."

We are watching these events with great attention and concern.

In the eight years that Meduza has already spent in Latvia, the country’s authorities have never once attempted to interfere with our editorial policy. We are grateful for their hospitality. We had no reason to doubt that Latvia, which has become a second home for many of Meduza’s employees, understands the important role independent media play in democratic societies.

After February 24, Latvia invited journalists from Russia, who were facing long prison terms in their home country for their professional activities and resistance to the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine. We were happy with the decision of the Latvian authorities. And we understood how difficult it was, given the pain that the country's residents still experience because of the Soviet occupation.

At the same time, we were also aware that a mass influx of journalists from Russia during a war would most likely lead to conflicts. After all, media outlets created by Russians are almost always focused on Russian problems and look at the world around them through this lens. This often causes bewilderment and sometimes indignation among foreign audiences – especially during a war for which Russia bears full responsibility.

Unfortunately, the situation developed in the most unfavorable way. We believe that the decision of the Latvian National Electronic Mass Media Council to revoke Dozhd's license was unfair, incorrect - and disproportionate to the formal violations listed by the agency.

The arguments that these violations pose a “threat to national security” do not seem convincing. The channel’s anti-war position is obvious, as is its critical attitude toward the Putin regime; Dozhd’s importance in countering Russian propaganda is colossal. Loud words about “national security” are used to cover up a decision that deals a heavy blow to freedom of speech. And ultimately, to European security as well. There can be no democracy without independent media. And an undemocratic Russia will remain a threat to its neighbors and the entire world.

The decision of the National Council for Electronic Mass Media, even if it was completely legal, is also a huge gift to the Russian authorities. By banning Dozhd, Latvian officials are helping the Kremlin in the work it has started, namely, the complete destruction of the infrastructure of independent Russian media. We do not believe that the political situation in Russia can change if its residents are left alone with propaganda. Not to mention that this propaganda risks becoming the only source of information for many Russian-speaking citizens of the European Union.

It is important to remember that Dozhd is one of the few truly independent media outlets that still has a large audience inside Russia. Dozhd is needed by its viewers, and by the anti-war movement. It is enough to watch any Dozhd newscast to see how the channel feels about this disgusting war – and about those who have illegally usurped power in Russia.

Did the journalists of the Dozhd TV channel make mistakes, did they allow inaccuracies in their wording? Yes. However, mistakes, including critical ones, are made, unfortunately, by all media, even the highest quality ones. And in the conditions of war, forced emigration, polarization of public opinion, the probability of error, alas, only increases. Our materials are assessed by readers and viewers, as well as colleagues - and this assessment can be very harsh.

Journalism knows no borders. Freedom of speech is a universal value. It needs our protection, our fight for it every day – wherever we are.

We express solidarity with the Dozhd team. Dear colleagues, we hope that you will endure. We will do our best to help you cope with this crisis.

We invite journalists, media and other organizations to support our statement. To do so, write here: requests@meduza.io

The statement was signed

• Meduza editorial staff
• editorial office of Novaya Gazeta
• editorial board of "Novaya Gazeta Evropa"
• Head of Media Hub Riga Sabīne Sīle
• Editorial staff of "Paper"
• Editorial "Checked"
• New Tab Editing
• Irina Malkova (The Bell)
• Petr Mironenko (The Bell)
• Kit edition
• Signal editorial staff
• editorial staff of Samizdatonline.org
• editorial board of "Pskovskaya Gubernia"
• Sirena editorial staff
• editors of the "Project"
• editors of "Argument"
• DOXA editorial staff
• The project "Suffering Middle Ages"
• editorial staff of " Mediazona "
• Editorial staff of "Important Stories"
• Editorial staff of "OVD-Info"
• Avtozak Live editorial team
• economist Konstantin Sonin
• journalist and editor-in-chief of "Volna | Latvia" Nikolay Ovchinnikov
• company Vandrouki.ru
• editorial staff of "Free Media"
• Telegram channel "Russian refugees in Germany"
• writer Viktor Shenderovich
• journalist Stanislav Kucher
• editorial staff of the Vladimir edition "Resonance"
• Editor-in-chief of the online magazine "Spectrum" Valery Panyushkin
• project "Student Anti-War Movement"
• editor of the project "Citizens of the Gdov Region" Konstantin Gorozhanko
• editorial staff of "Vot Tak"
• SOTA editorial team
• journalist Ilya Azar
• editors of "Layout"
• Republic editorial staff
• Podcast studio "Either/Or"
• editorial staff of "7x7 - Horizontal Russia"
• editorial staff of "Kholod"
• Astra editorial team
• Ilya Krasilshchik , Alexander Polivanov , Igor Safonov and other employees of the "Support Service"
• editorial staff of "Spectrum"
• journalist and writer Mikhail Zygar
• journalist Olga Churakova
• journalist Liza Surganova
• journalist Ilya Shepelin
• journalist Kirill Nabutov
• Echo editorial office
• RusNews editorial staff
• Editorial staff of "Lisbon's Alleys"
• editorial staff of "Skat media"
• founder of TV-2 (Israel) Arkady Maiofis
• editorial office of the media "Pogulyanka" (Lithuania)
• editorial board of "Cherta"
• Project "Experience of Freedom"
• human rights activist Lev Ponomarev and the telegram channel "Peace, Progress and Human Rights"
• editorial staff of "Perm 36.6"
• Perito editorial team
• telegram channel Mine gåter og spindelsinn
• editorial staff of "Chronicle.Media"
• editorial staff of "Daptar"
• The Vyshka editorial team
• Media Loft editorial office
• youth democratic movement "Spring"
• editorial staff of "Groza"
• Mikhail Svetov and the editorial staff of SVTV News
• editors of the project "Pezduza"
• YouTube channel "Talking Heads" (Latvia)
• Editorial staff of "Advocate Street"
• Editorial staff of "People of Baikal"
• Open City editorial board (Latvia)
• editorial staff of the project " Eyewitnesses of February 24"
• editorial staff of the project "NotMoscow Speaking"
• It's My City editors
• editorial board of the project "Guide to the Free World"
• journalist Roman Dobrokhotov and the editorial staff of The Insider
• Editor-in-Chief of The New Times Evgenia Albats
• editorial office of The Moscow Times
• political scientist Kirill Rogov
• Irina Shikhman and the YouTube channel "Let's talk?"
• editorial team of the Re:Russia project
• Conflict Intelligence Team investigative project
• "To be continued" editorial staff
• editorial office of "Novaya Gazeta - Baltiya"
• journalist Ksenia Larina
• The Village editorial board and the publication's editor-in-chief Kirill Rukov
• editorial office of Fergana.ru
• politician and blogger Maxim Katz
• editorial staff of the Chronicles of Turkmenistan
• Team of the YouTube channel "Navalny LIVE"
• Jean-Michel Shcherbak , media project "The One Whom His Mother Disowned"
• the team of the YouTube project "Looking for a Way Out" (former editorial office of "Echo of Petersburg")
• journalist Alexander Plyushchev
• journalist Tatyana Felgenhauer
• director Vitaly Mansky
• producer Natalia Manskaya
• actor Maxim Sukhanov
• journalist Ekaterina Mereminskaya
• journalist Sergey Panov
• journalist Polina Volkova (Estonia)
• journalist Alexey Shishkin
• journalist Victor Lurye
• journalist Alexander Sidorov
• journalist Dmitry Kamyshenko
• journalist Svetlana Osipova
• journalist Daniil Bolshakov
• journalist Anastasia Valeeva
• journalist Nikita Tatarsky
• editorial office of "Polygon Media"
• editorial staff of the YouTube channel "Khodorkovsky LIVE"
• journalist Ilya Rozhdestvensky
• lawyer Ivan Pavlov
• journalist Ilya Zhegulev
• journalist Julia Ioffe
• editorial staff of the "Fourth Sector"
• Director of Transparency International - Russia Ilya Shumanov
• journalist Andrey Loshak
• journalist Natalia Gevorkyan
• ROMB project editorial board
• editorial staff of "Taiga.info"
• Editorial Board of "Popular Politics"
• human rights organization "Roskomsvoboda"
• actress Chulpan Khamatova
• Helsingin Sanomat editorial board (Finland) and editor-in-chief Antero Mukka
• Krautreporter editorial office (Germany)
• community of lawyers and human rights activists "First Department"
• editorial office of Agentura.ru
• journalist Masha Slonim (Phillymore)
• The Ark project and its founder Anastasia Burakova
• political prisoner Andrei Pivovarov
• Editorial staff of Newarmenia.am (Armenia) and editor-in-chief Garik Chilingaryan
• The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
• editorial board of the St. Petersburg publication MR7.ru and editor-in-chief Elena Mikhina
• Polina Shilina , journalist for the Russian-language editorial office of the Latvian website Delfi
• Clownstan Today project
• editorial board of the journal "Discourse"
• Editorial staff of the magazine "Vector"
• editorial staff of the telegram channel "Angry Chuvashia"
• editorial board of "RS" and editor-in-chief Marina Karlin (Switzerland)
• editorial office of the newspaper “Hromadska Pravda” (Ukraine)
• Libertarian Party of Russia
• OBC Transeuropa (Italy)
• Kometa News (Moldova)
• editorial staff of the telegram channel "Telegrams and Memes"
• Human Rights Council of St. Petersburg
• Moscow regional branch of the Russian human rights and historical-educational society " Memorial "
• Sergei Lukashevsky , Director of the Sakharov Center
• Svetlana Gannushkina and the Civic Assistance Foundation
• editorial staff of the telegram channel Russians against the war (Poland)
• independent information site "Chronicle of Turkmenistan"
• Russian Independent Media Archive project
• editorial board of the magazine "Open City" (Latvia)
• authors of the Latvian YouTube channel "Talking Heads"
• editorial board of "Cherta"
• editorial staff of the publication "Chronicle. Media"
• editorial staff of "Daptar"
• Russian Canadian Democratic Alliance (RCDA)
• journalist, co-organizer of the Israeli society "Memorial" Irina Kizilova
• Former BBC World Service Europe Editor Artem Liss
• film critic of the publication "Snob" Dmitry Elagin
• Kristina Lunina and the media "It will work out"
• journalist, columnist for Republic Rimma Polyak
• journalist and writer Alexey Durnovo
• Chief editor of the publication "Fronde TV" and the project "Attack on the Heritage" Andrey Novichkov
• author of the news agency "Panorama" Efim Neizvestny
• journalist Lidiya Ageeva
• journalist Natalia Galkina
• photojournalist Oleg Ivanov
• journalist Vadim Kondakov
• journalist Andrey Rebrov
• journalist Olga Leontyeva
• editorial staff of the telegram channel "Equality"
• Belsat journalist Ivan Slobodenyuk
• Anastasia Sechina and the media project "Fourth Sector"
• journalist Maria Latsinskaya
• journalist Oleg Basalin
• journalist Nikolai Kandyshev
• journalist Victor Yukechev
• journalist, writer and film critic Boris Tukh
• editorial staff of satirical news "TJ is not dead!"
• journalist, RTN news anchor (New York) Artem Androsov
• journalist Afanasy Yemelyanov
• journalist Alexander Gerasimov
• journalist, radio producer Anton Chernin
• blogger Ivan Fedosov
• journalist Petr Kozlov
• Politico Europe journalist Vijay Maheshwari
• journalist Mark Novikov
• journalist Denis Cheredov
• journalist Vasily Zakharko
• journalist Sofia Epifanova
• author of the telegram channel "Analyteg" Kirill Alekseev
• journalist Semyon Zelenovich
• YouTube blogger Angela Kalsynova
• journalist Ilya Kozin
• ZIMA Magazine - Independent Media in London
• editorial board of the project "They are for war"
• editorial board of the project "The Truth about the War"
• Voice of Reason movement
• journalist Dmitry Tolstosheev
• journalist Evgeny Galitsky
• journalist Nina Abrosimova
• journalist Elena Samoilova
• journalist Vera Vasilyeva
• journalist and podcaster Ivan Makridin
• journalist Lev Kadik
• journalist Ruslan Totrov
• journalist and TV presenter Vladimir Raevsky
• Mikhail Parinov , Chairman of the Board and shareholder of Padva, Parinov and Partners JSC
• artist and curator Fedor Pavlov-Andreevich
• editorial board of "Lenizdat.ru" and editor-in-chief Ekaterina Sergeycheva
• editors of the YouTube channel “Everyday Life of an Italianist”
• Dimitri Cherne , director of the first drama theatre in Europe for actors with Down syndrome
• editorial staff of the Yekaterinburg edition of Itʼs My City
• editorial staff of the telegram channel "Nevoyna"
• Alexander Chichkov , founder of the human rights project for legal support of Russian emigrants "Lawyer in Kazakhstan"
• journalist Artem Filatov and the project "Experience of Freedom"
• editorial board of the civil journalism project "Moscow Activist"
• Editorial staff of the publication "Lisbon Alleys"
• Maria Stensrud , head of the association "Smorodina: for democracy in Russia" (Norway)
• socio-political movement "Apoliticality destroys"
• editorial staff of the telegram channel "Russian Ark"
• Vornadzor movement
• teacher Dima Zitser
• editorial staff of the closed in Russia "Echo of Petersburg" (now - YouTube channel "Looking for a Way Out" )
• journalist Alex Dubas
• journalist Zygmunt Jenchelowski (Poland)
• Team of the YouTube channel "Objective"
• team of the telegram channel "Local Anti-War Committee of Warsaw"
• project "Watch in Volgograd"
• project "The Polycrates Foundation"
• human rights activist Alexander Artemyev
• lawyer Dmitry Bayandin
• Member of the Council for Science and Education under the State Duma Arseniy Lytar
• Ilya Furman
• Maria Klimentyeva
• Memorial activist and volunteer Polina Shubentseva
• Andrey Yakimovich
• Dmitry Simanovsky
• Linur Arslanov
• Vadim Dmitriev
• lawyer Mikhail Biryukov
• Dmitry Gerasimenko
• Sergey Kovalchenko
• costume designer Maria Kabysh
• Timofey Andropov and the "Wake Up" Movement
• Lana Pylaeva and the FreeRussiaNL project
• Olga Chernikova , former lecturer at Moscow State University
• Alina Gnatyshina and the community "Russia of the Future" (Switzerland)
• journalist Fyodor Khudokormov
• Elena Stetsyuk
• Elena Volozhanina
• journalist Karen Apryants
• Alexandra Shaidulina
• Gleb Alexandrovich
• translator Alexander Salikhov
• Vladimir Malinsky (USA)
• Sergey Losev
• Alexey Shmelev
• Sergey Galin
• Ekaterina Komissarova
• Nikolay Matrosov
• Ilya Bobrik
• Alisher Artykov
• Zhanna Shchukina
• Igor Nagirner
• Alexey Volkov and the telegram channel "Canadian Association of Russians"
• Olesya Kazmirchuk
• Sonya Blade
• Yosef Malkin
• Shimon Glazstein
• editors of the "Protocol"
• Ivan Romanov
• Elena Kvasyuk
• Georgy Sushilin
• Olga Degtyareva
• Paul Robertus
• Olga Deryabina
• lawyer Elena Lukyanova
• human rights activist Timofey Ilyushin
• artist Nikolay Golikov
• conductor Vladimir Jurowski (Germany)
• lawyer Grigory Vaipan
• historian Andrei Suslov
• Doctor Alexander Vanyukov
• editor Diana Karliner
• journalist Sergei Pavlov
• journalist Nikita Safronov
• journalist Gleb Sokolov
• human rights project "Politzek-Info"
• Alexander Kabanov , professor at the University of North Carolina
• blogger Andrey Doronichev
• Kirill Povarov
• Elena Myasnikova
• Irina Karpova
• Irina Sokolovskaya
• Mila Zemtsova
• Andrey Kotov
• Victor Shtykov
• Sofia Borisova
• Sergey Korsakov
• Natalia Zel
• Evgeny Reichenberg
• Vadim Smagin
• Nikita Petrashen
• Natalia Mironova
• Vladimir Shusterman
• Nikolay Bryukhov
• Ludmila Katz (Latvia)
• Leonid Potyagailo , professor of mathematics, University of Lille
• Mikhail Mednik
• Jurgen Baskov
• Radmila Lazarenko-Manevich
• Valeria Karavaeva
• Natalia Mauritz
• Sergey Somov
• Sergey Kalinin
• Yuri Suchilin
• Alexey Kalinichev
• Ilya Sazonov
• journalist Jaanus Piirsalu (Estonia)
• journalist Makar Sitkin
• Hubertus F. Jahn (UK, Professor of the History of Russia and the Caucasus)
• Lolita Rose (Latvia)
• Mikhail Gokhman (USA)
• Greg Dolgopolov (Latvia)
• Juris Raudulis (Latvia)
• Lev Mendelson (USA)
• Michael Mamontov (USA)
• Eleonora Scheerseu (Germany)
• Arthur Heidt (Germany)
• Marks Lisnanskis (Latvia)
• Dmitrijs Krupņikovs (Latvia)
• historian Dmitri Gouzévitch (France)
• Herta Hansen
• Ellina Nickell
• Konstantin Kabanov
• Tatiana le Roy (Belgium)
• Laure Thibonnier (France)
• Gennadii Kreps (Germany)
• Natalia Kuzmina (Germany)
• Association of Solidarity with Civil Society and the Development of Democracy in Russia "Russia of the Future" (Spain)
• editorial office of "Lenizdat.Ru"
• Penguin Travel YouTube channel
• Russian Democratic Society (London)
• rap artist Aiza Dolmatova
• blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky
• Iskra Media School Team
• KermlinRussia project team
• association "Smorodina: for democracy in Russia" (Norway)
• Oleksandr Tsiba
• Andrey Lukashevich
• Vadik Sirekanyan
• Oleg Ponomarev
• Sofia Gribkova
• Alex Zatsman (USA)
• Mykola Shpilchin
• Marina Polischuk
• Tatiana le Roy (Belgium)
• Konstantin Kabanov
• conductor Vladimir Jurowski (Germany)
• Olga Deryabina
• Laure Thibonnier (France)
• Dimitri Cherne
• Jana Merkuljev (Estonia)
• Dr. Dmitrii Mironov (Germany)
• Natalia Telegina
• Vitaly Bovar
• Maria Gabisov
• Sofia Pulver
• Nikita Petrashen
• Ludmila Kaca (Latvia)
• journalist and TV presenter Vladimir Raevsky

and many other people and organizations