As President Vladimir Putin wages war against Ukraine, he is fighting a parallel battle on the home front, dismantling the last vestiges of a Russian free press, the New York Times reports. Every media outlet that isn’t propaganda is being eliminated in Russia, a Nobel Prize-winning editor has said. Some believe the Kremlin is even more intent on controlling messaging about the war in Ukraine than it usually is about controlling the news, wanting the invasion and tactics to seem inevitable rather than inhumane. This story is a reminder that a free press is essential to democracy and being able to hold your government accountable.