Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

Maria Borzunova

Borzunova in 2014

Maria Mikhailovna Borzunova (Russian: Мария Михайловна Борзунова; born January 14, 1995, Moscow) is a Russian journalist and video blogger.

Early life and education

Born in Moscow on January 14, 1995, Borzunova spent the majority of her childhood in Podolsk. In 2012, she graduated from Lyceum No. 23 in the city of Podolsk, and in 2016, she completed her studies at the Faculty of Communications, Media, and Design at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.[1]

Career

From 2014 to 2023, Borzunova worked at the Dozhd television channel.[2] In 2018, she became the host of the program "Fake News," dedicated to exposing the misinformation spread by Russian media.[3] As she reported in 2019, the Russian media demonstrated the tendency to divert viewers' attention from Russia's inherent problems by focusing on similar conflicts, possibly distorted or taken out of context in the West.[4] Since 2022, this show has been broadcast not only on Dozhd but also on the French-German channel Arte.[5]

In 2021, she received death threats from the far-right Male State group after she interviewed a same-sex couple.[6]

In March 2022, due to the closure of the Dozhd channel offices in Russia after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she moved to Istanbul and later to Riga.[7][8]

On April 1, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Justice included Borzunova in the list of foreign agents.[9][10][11] According to the journalist, the Ministry of Justice considered transfers of 1290 rubles from American citizen Evan Gershkovich and 10270 rubles from Belarusian citizen Nadine Lakhbabi, who are close friends of hers, as sources of foreign funding.[12][13]

In February 2023, Borzunova resigned from Dozhd.[14][15] Since February 27, 2023, Borzunova has been running a YouTube channel. As of December 2023, the channel had 149 thousand subscribers.

Awards

In December 2018, Borzunova became a laureate of the HSE Alumni Award (an award presented to outstanding graduates of this university) in the category "Fourth Estate".[16]

Maria Borzunova has twice been a laureate of the Redkollegia media award for her articles on the Belarusian political immigrants published in January and August 2021.[17]

References

  1. ^ ""Дождь", журфак и Вышка: интервью с Машей Борзуновой — The Vyshka" (in Russian). 2018-10-21. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  2. ^ "La guerra oltre le sbarre dei giornalisti russi". il manifesto (in Italian). 2023-07-14. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  3. ^ "TV Rain, la petite chaîne russe qui résiste à la désinformation des médias du Kremlin". Conspiracy Watch | L'Observatoire du conspirationnisme (in French). 2019-11-20. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  4. ^ ""Distracting the Audience from the Real Problems"". euvsdisinfo.eu. 2019. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  5. ^ "Fake News – La guerre vue par la propagande russe – Regarder le documentaire complet". ARTE (in French). Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  6. ^ "Телеканал "Дождь" получил угрозы от имени "Мужского государства"". Радио Свобода (in Russian). 2021-07-24. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  7. ^ ""Каждый день, каждую минуту хочется домой". Покинувшие Россию независимые журналисты ответили на слова Путина о том, что "рады были уехать"". RFI (in Russian). 2022-09-27. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  8. ^ Sauer, Pjotr; Michaelson, Ruth (2022-03-18). "'It was game over': Russian journalists flee to Istanbul after Putin's shutdown". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  9. ^ ""Агент Беларуси и США" — Мария Борзунова узнала, почему ее объявили иноагентом". The Village (in Russian). 2022-06-28. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  10. ^ "Журналистку Марию Борзунову признали "иноагентом" за переводы денег от друзей за обеды и походы в бар". The Insider (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  11. ^ "Russia declares top journalist and video blogger 'foreign agents'". reuters.com. 2022-04-02. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  12. ^ "Спецкору "Дождя" Борзуновой запретили въезжать в Беларусь – DW – 13.08.2022". dw.com (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  13. ^ "Журналистку "Дождя" Марию Борзунову признали "иноагентом" за переводы денег от друга и коллеги". Настоящее Время (in Russian). 2022-06-27. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  14. ^ "Журналистка Мария Борзунова сообщила об увольнении с "Дождя"". Медиазона (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  15. ^ "Мария Борзунова* покинула "Дождь"**". ЛенИздат.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  16. ^ "Мария Борзунова стала лауреатом премии HSE Alumni Awards в номинации "Четвертая власть"". cmd.hse.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-12-31.
  17. ^ "Мария Борзунова* — Редколлегия" (in Russian). 2019-01-01. Retrieved 2023-12-31.