Media freedom in Russia concerns both the ability of directors of mass-media outlets to carry out independent policies and the ability of journalists to access sources of information and to work without outside pressure. Media of Russia include television and radio channels, periodicals, and Internet media, which according to the laws of the Russian Federation may be either state or private property.
As of 2013 Russia ranked 148th out of 179 countries in the Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders. In the 2015 Freedom House Freedom of the Press report Russia scored 83 (100 being the worst), mostly because of new laws introduced in 2014 that further extended the state control over mass media. Freedom House characterised the situation as even worse in Crimea where, after the 2014 annexation by Russia, both Russian jurisdiction and extrajudicial means are (according to Freedom House) routinely applied to limit freedom of expression.
Here's the lead in section from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_freedom_in_Russia
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When one does a query about press freedom in Russia, you can't avoid the list of journalists killed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_Russia
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Here's the report from Freedom house:
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2016/russia
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One media outlet that seems to get away with criticizing Putin is the Mosocw Times:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moscow_Times
What's curious about them is that it's published in English and started by a dutch guy.
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I'll try to investigate more papers - at first glance - this one appeared to be critical of things in Russia:
Novaya Gazeta is a Russian newspaper well known in its country for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs
Then I read further . . .
Six Novaya Gazeta journalists, including Yury Shchekochikhin, Anna Politkovskaya and Anastasia Baburova, have been murdered since 2001, in connection with their investigations.