How well do we understand Russia?

Communism, cold war and caviar. The way Russia is portrayed in the mainstream media relies heavily on these familiar stories and old tropes. With the recent news about an unpublished Parliamentary report into Russian interference conjures up regular narratives of spying and skulduggery. But how well do we understand Russia? How much does the media coverage represent independent journalism, and how much is dependent on political narratives?

Russia during daytime - photo by Michael Parulava on Unsplash

In today’s episode we talk to Professor Monica Attard, head of journalism at University of Technology, Sydney. She served as a correspondent for Russia for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in both the 1990s and 2000s, covering stories such as the collapse of Soviet communism, the coup against Gorbachev, the Beslan school siege and the Chechen war.

Her coverage there won her three Walkley awards, and she wrote a book Russia Which Way Paradise? about her time there. We began by asking her what it was like to arrive there as a young foreign correspondent in 1989...

Professor Monica Attard

Presented by: Dr. Glenda Cooper and Dr. Lindsey Blumell

Produced by: Atina Dimitrova

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