David Remnick

Now that's an experience that most American journalists have never had.

And yet other aspects of her story are very familiar.

The journalism business is under political and financial threat in this country and many others.

The Kiev Independent is called independent because there's no media baron and no oligarch controlling it.

It was founded by Olga Rudenko and a group of her young colleagues who broke away from another paper, the Kiev Post.

You were at a newspaper in Kiev and decided around 2021 that you needed more independents.

Tell us that story, how the Kiev Independent came to be and breaking with the Kiev Post.

Why did it change?

What happened?

How does Zelensky, Volodymyr Zelensky, feel about a free press?

We think of him in absolute contradiction to Vladimir Putin in so many ways, and that's true.

But when it comes to the press, is he an advocate of and a supporter of a free press?

As a comedian, he's used to hearing applause.

Would you say that he's more or less comfortable with the free press than Donald Trump?

Well, Donald Trump calls the press scum.

Vrag Naroda, enemy of the people.

He uses that Stalin era phrase.

He insults people directly and personally.

He issues lawsuits against all kinds of press outlets.

He manipulates ownership situations with CBS and other outlets.