(left) is interviewed by
Alexei Venediktov (right) in the station's television studio, 2008 Echo of Moscow gained attention during the events of the
1991 Soviet coup d'état attemptit was one of the few news outlets that spoke against the
State Committee on the State of Emergency. The committee's decree number 3 on the suspension of Echo's broadcast is now regarded as a prestigious state award by the station's journalists. According to editor-in-chief
Alexei Venediktov, the special
KGB Alpha Group made several attempts to cut the radio's access to the transmitter, but its employees managed to connect the studio directly to the transmitter through the telephone line and continue broadcasting. From the first day of its existence Echo of Moscow adhered to one rule: "All significant points of view about events should be presented". Journalists have been jokingly calling the station "Ear of Moscow". Most of Echo of Moscow's content consists of news and talk shows focusing on social and political issues, where the station tries to represent different points of view.
Alexey Venediktov has been the station's chief editor since 1998. Radio hosts of the station include
Viktor Shenderovich,
Yulia Latynina,
Sergey Parkhomenko,
Alexander Nevzorov,
Yevgenia Albats,
Vladimir Kara-Murza,
Vladimir Ryzhkov,
Yevgeny Yasin and
Sophie Shevardnadze. Yulia Latynina was the most popular presenter at the radio station. As of 2018 Echo of Moscow is majority owned by
Gazprom-Media, which holds 66% of its shares. Editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov is the largest minority shareholder, with 18% of shares, and the remaining 16% are held by other minority shareholders. On 1 November 2014, the station received an official
Roskomnadzor warning that a program the station had aired about Ukraine contained "information justifying
war crimes". In October 2017, the station was broken into by an assailant who pepper-sprayed a security guard and soon afterwards stabbed
Tatyana Felgengauer, one of Echo's main presenters, in the neck. Her injuries were life-threatening, but she was able to make a full recovery thanks to timely medical intervention. The station described the attacker as an Israeli, quoting "informed sources". Forensic medical expertise determined him to have
paranoid schizophrenia, and he was sentenced to compulsory medical treatment by the court. On 1 March 2022, the office of the
Prosecutor-General of Russia asked Roskomnadzor to restrict access to Echo of Moscow as well as
TV Rain due to their coverage of the
invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, claiming that they were spreading "deliberately false information about the actions of Russian military personnel" as well as "information calling for extremist activity" and "violence". Later that day, Echo of Moscow was taken off the air, the first time since 1991. The following morning, according to Venediktov, YouTube blocked the station's channel, its only broadcasting avenue in Europe, because the station is affiliated with
Gazprom. On 3 March, Venediktov reported that the YouTube channel was unblocked. On 3 March, the board of directors voted to close the station down. Venediktov and some of the employees have started a spin-off YouTube channel,
Zhivoi Gvozd', that follows the station's programming and format. In 2024, a documentary using real-time videos of how the staff of Echo of Moscow,
Novaya Gazeta, and
TV Rain coped with the government's suppression of the freedom of speech, was made. == Editorial independence ==