Russian TV Rain given Peabody Award

Independent Russian television station TV Rain has been given a Peabody Award for its coverage of the country’s invasion of Ukraine before being shuttered by the government earlier this year.

The station was recognized with the Peabody Journalistic Integrity Award, which honors the sustained achievement of the highest professional standards of journalism as well as personal integrity in reporting the news in challenging times, the awards said on Tuesday.

TV Rain was Russia’s last remaining independent television station before it was shut down by the Kremlin in March over critical coverage of President Vladimir Putin and the country’s war in Ukraine.

Russian officials have gone to great lengths to promote propaganda in state-sponsored media and suppress criticism of the invasion and public protests against it.

In TV Rain’s dramatic final broadcast, the station’s entire staff walked off the set as the anchors said, “No war,” the Peabody Awards noted in praising the defunct news outfit.