The first episode of a new public TV program, International Focus, is called “What Do We Really Know About Russia. Terry Phillips was a CBS News correspondent in Moscow when the Soviet Union broke up, and he takes a big-picture look at US-Russian relations, framed around the 1850 Russian settlement in Fort Ross, California. Phillips compares Russia’s deep history with America’s relatively shallow connections to the past, and looks at the role of media in both countries, which reflect and reinforce nationalist biases. In an excerpt from the TV show, we hear Russian exile Masha Gessen’s sharp criticism of Putin and Russia.
**Terry Phillips is producer/anchor of International Focus, and former CBS News correspondent. You can watch the program here.
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