TV Rain

TV Rain ( rus, Дождь, Dozhd, p=ˈdoʂtʲ, a=Ru-дождь (doʂtʲ).ogg; stylized ДО⫻ДЬ) is an independent Russian television channel. It was launched in 2010 in Russia, and since 2022 was based in Latvia. It focuses on news, discussions, culture, politics, business reports, and documentaries, with most shows broadcast live. TV Rain is owned by journalist Natalya Sindeyeva. Its slogan is "Optimistic Channel".

In March 2022, the Russian government blocked access to TV Rain in response to its coverage of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The channel relaunched from studios in Riga, Latvia on 18 July 2022, but after multiple violations had its Latvian license cancelled on 6 December 2022, though it continues to broadcast over YouTube.

History

Early years

TV Rain was founded in 2010 by two women, Natalya Sindeyeva, media entrepreneur and owner, and Vera Krichevskaya, a TV and documentary film director. It has focused on news, discussions, culture, politics, business reports, and documentaries. Most Dozhd shows have been live broadcasts with a motto to "talk about important things with those who are important to us". It is owned by journalist Natalya Sindeyeva.

Dozhd was one of the first channels in Russia to cover the 2011 Russian protests against the alleged rigging of the parliamentary elections. President Dmitry Medvedev was also noticed to have unfollowed Dozhd on Twitter. However, the channel was the first mass media outlet that he had chosen to follow on Twitter, according to an RIA Novosti report. On 9 December 2011, Dozhd was asked to provide copies of its coverage of the protests to check if it had abided by Russian media laws.''Medvedev unfollows Dozhd TV''
, Moscow News, retrieved 15 December 2011 By 10 December, it was showing a white ribbon, a symbol of the protests, by its on-screen logo. The station's owner, Sindeyeva, explained this as being a sign of "sincerity", rather than "propaganda", and an attempt to be "mediators" instead of simply journalists.

Siege of Leningrad controversy

On 26 January 2014, Dozhd ran a poll on its website and on its live "Dilettantes" discussion program asking viewers if Leningrad should have been surrendered to the invading Nazi army in order to save hundreds of thousands of lives during the siege of Leningrad. Presenters cited Viktor Astafyev and compared it with the 1812 capture of vacant Moscow. Within 30 minutes, Dozhd removed the poll and apologized for incorrect wording. In the following days Dozhd was criticized by politicians, activists, State Duma members and Valentina Matvienko for its online poll on the Leningrad siege of World War II. Dmitry Peskov's press secretary, also criticized the channel and said that they violated "more than a law". Yuri Pripachkin, President of the Cable Television Association of Russia (AKTR), said that he wanted "to take functions of censoring". In a resolution backed by the St. Petersburg legislature's deputies, Prosecutor General Yury Chaika was requested to "conduct an investigation into provocative material posted on the website of the Dozhd television channel … and take appropriate measures, including shutting down the channel". On 29 January, the largest Russian TV providers disconnected the channel. Dozhd was forced to move to a private apartment in October 2014. In November 2013, two months before the controversy, Dozhd broadcast a report by anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny investigating high-ranking officials including Vyacheslav Volodin. The channel's owner, Natalya Sindeyeva, suggested that the program caused the campaign against the channel.

Foreign agent designation and suspension

On 20 August 2021, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation added Dozhd, along with the investigative website Important Stories (iStories), into the list of "foreign agents". As stated by a representative of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation at the meeting with the members of Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, Dozhd was designated as "foreign agent" by the request of Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media due to distribution of materials prepared by media and individuals which were declared "foreign agents" that receive donations or funding from outside Russia earlier, such as Meduza, Current Time TV, Lev Ponomaryov, Lyudmila Savitskaya. In response, Amnesty International criticized the move, stating that the authorities were "launching a campaign against independent media aimed at eradicating unbiased journalism and investigative reporting".

''The Moscow Times'' reported that during the year-long prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government began to act against independent and critical media. In that period dozens of journalists and independent media agencies including Dozhd were designated as 'foreign agents' by the Russian authorities. The term foreign agent has Soviet-era undertones. Entities that are designated as foreign agents are obligated to disclose their sources of funding and have to label their publications including social media posts with the tag foreign agent. Violation of the obligation attracts fines.

In 2021, a full-length documentary film titled ''F@ck This Job'' was released. It was written and directed by Vera Krichevskaya, one of the founders of Dozhd. The film deals with work of Dozhd and its CEO Natalya Sindeyeva. The documentary was broadcast under its alternative title, ''Tango with Putin'' in the UK in March 2022 as part of the BBC documentary series, Storyville. The documentary had been due to receive its Moscow premiere and Russian distribution in early March 2022, which were cancelled due to bomb threats against the Moscow cinema, and new censorship rules following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. On 1 March 2022, six days after the invasion began, the office of the Prosecutor-General of Russia ordered the country's censor, Roskomnadzor (arm of Russian government) to restrict access to Dozhd as well as Echo of Moscow due to their coverage of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, claiming that they were spreading "deliberately false information about the actions of Russian military personnel" as well as "information calling for extremist activity" and "violence". On 2 March, Dozhd editor-in-chief Tikhon Dzyadko released a statement saying he and several other Dozhd workers had fled Russia, as "it became obvious that the personal safety of some of us is now under threat." On 3 March, Dozhd said it was temporarily suspending operations due to the forthcoming enactment of war censorship law, and towards the end of its final broadcast, the crew walked off-set and played ''Swan Lake'' in protest, in reference to the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt when channels could not report the news and instead played footage of the ballet.

Move to Latvia and cancellation of license

On 6 June 2022, Latvia's media regulator, the (NEPLP), issued a broadcasting license to the channel. Tikhon Dzyadko stated on Twitter that the channel was going to broadcast not only from the Latvian capital, Riga, but also from several studios in the Netherlands, France and Georgia. According to Lyngsat.com, the channel reappeared on 2 June 2022 in a test format on the satellite Astra 5B and on its streaming website. On 18 July 2022, Dozhd resumed broadcasting from a studio in Riga. The channel's owner, Natalia Sindeeva, stated that the launch process would have several stages and would be finalized in autumn 2022.

On 1 December 2022, anchor Alexey Korostelev asked viewers to provide information about mobilization to publicize irregularities, saying: "We hope that we can help many service members, for example, with equipment and basic amenities at the front". The channel was criticized by Ukrainian activists over the statement, and Latvian Minister of Defence Artis Pabriks called on the channel to return to Russia. The next day, editor-in-chief Tikhon Dzyadko apologized, stating that the channel "has never been, is not, and will never be involved in assisting Russian armed forces with equipment" and that Korostelev had been fired. Three other employees, including hosts Margarita Lyutova and Vladimir Romensky, announced their departure from the channel over the firing. The same day the channel was fined 10,000 euros by the NEPLP for using a map which showed Russian-annexed Crimea as part of Russia and referring to the Russian Armed Forces as "our army", the second major violation for TV Rain in recent months, according to the Latvian regulator.

On 6 December 2022, the NEPLP decided to cancel the channel's broadcasting license, citing "threats to national security and public order". Latvia's State Security Service also urged authorities to bar Korostelev from entering the country and warned Dzyadko of potential "criminal liability in case of committing criminal offenses". Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs defended the decision to initially allow TV Rain to operate in Latvia, but reminded that the channel has to comply with Latvian laws on the basis of which it was allowed to work there and therefore should be held responsible. Tikhon Dzyadko called the Latvian regulator's decision to cancel the channel's licence a "farce", "absurd" and "devoid of common sense", claiming that Dozhd was not allowed to appeal the decision, and affirmed the channel's staunch opposition to the war in Ukraine. CEO Natalya Sindeyeva apologized to Korostelev, calling it "disgraceful" that he was fired for a "mistake", asking him to rejoin the channel as well as Lyutova and Romensky.

Reporters Without Borders called on the Latvian regulator to not withdraw Dozhd's license. The Latvian Association of Journalists acknowledged TV Rain had "made a serious mistake", but believed the cancellation of licence was "disproportionate to the infringements committed" and that "both supervisory authorities and the Latvian journalist community should have worked with TV Rain" to help them "understand the values of Latvia and Europe, the principles of media independence, rights, and responsibility." Russian-language news outlet Meduza, also based in Latvia, called the decision "unfair, wrong, and disproportionate to the official violations flagged by the agency" and called it an "an incredible gift to the Russian authorities". Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov

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