When the Oscars Warn Us: “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” and the Fight for Free Expression at Home

At last night’s 98th Oscars ceremony, an important moment unfolded—one that speaks directly to the mission of this blog and to the future of every independent journalist, every website, every newsroom, and every platform where free expression still struggles to survive. Earlier I wrote about FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s threat to revoke broadcast licenses over coverage of the U.S./Israel war with Iran, a move that echoed the White House’s escalating hostility toward critical reporting. That hostility was on full display again when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth opened a press briefing not by addressing casualties—as has been the longstanding norm in wartime pressers—but by attacking the media, singling out CNN and dictating what their chyron should have said. The message was unmistakable: control the narrative first, address the human cost later.

Against that backdrop, a profound and deeply relevant moment occurred when the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature was announced. The winner, “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” is a 2025 documentary following Russian school videographer Pavel “Pasha” Talankin as he secretly records how his small-town school is transformed into a propaganda and recruitment arm during the invasion of Ukraine. Through intimate, first‑person footage, the film reveals how authoritarianism rarely arrives with a single dramatic gesture—it advances through small, coerced acts of complicity, tightening its grip on education, messaging, and the everyday lives of ordinary people.

Director and producer David Borenstein, accepting the award, delivered remarks that cut straight to the heart of our own political moment. Without naming names, he spoke directly to the dangers of governments using regulatory power to intimidate journalists, silence dissent, and reshape public truth. His words landed with particular force given the current administration’s willingness to weaponize agencies like the FCC through loyal appointees such as Brenden Carr.

Here is the portion of his acceptance speech that speaks most directly to the themes of authoritarianism and the suppression of free expression:

I was genuinely struck by this moment, and I’m thrilled that this documentary received the top honor at the Oscars this year. I haven’t yet had the chance to watch it, but I intend to at the earliest opportunity. The message delivered in Borenstein’s acceptance speech was timely—a clear warning that we must act while we still can to push back against the oligarchic forces in this country that are working to narrow what we hear to a single ideological viewpoint.