title: Russia's Nongovernmental Media under Assault
abstract: In developed democracies, the news media are an inseparable element of a network of checks and balances that help society to ensure the accountability of powerful actors (first and foremost, the government). At least, such is the understanding, even if in real life the news media do not always live up to these expectations and the goal of public accountability is not easily achieved.In Vladimir Putin's - long before his return to the Kremlin in 2012 and the shift toward a harder authoritarian mo
journal: Demokratizatsiya The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization