The exiled founder of Russia's only independent television news channel, Mikhail Zygar, takes us inside Vladimir Putin's Russia, with a firsthand account of how the President has successfully silenced the media, opposition and Kremlin critics, to cement his hold on power.

The 2025 AN Smith Lecture: Journalism against autocracy: Putin, Trump and the future of news was recorded at the University of Melbourne's Centre for Advancing Journalism on 31 March 2025.

Speakers

Mikhail ZygarExiled Russian journalist and commentatorFounder of Russian TV channel Rain TVAuthor, War and Punishment: The Story of Russian Oppression and Ukrainian Resistance, All the Kremlin's Men: Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin and moreWinner, 2014 Committee to Protect Journalists International Press Freedom Award

Professor Andrew DoddDirector, Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne