KLMNO

Style

MONDAY, MARCH 7 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/STYLE EZ RE C

BY KELSEY ABLES

In the wake of Russia’s crack-

down on news coverage and the

imposition of a new law criminal-

izing reporting that accurately

characterizes the Ukrainian inva-

sion, some international news

outlets have taken to technology

to circumvent the news blackout,

pointing readers to VPNs (virtual

private networks), the encrypted

Tor browser and even old-

fashioned radio.

As war in Ukraine escalates,

sending more than 1 million peo-

ple fleeing and bringing terror to

numerous cities, media outlets in-

cluding the BBC, Voice of America

and Radio Free Europe/Radio

Liberty (RFE/RL) have been

blocked by the Kremlin, along

with several Ukrainian sites, Twit-

ter and Facebook. The Russian

government has alleged that the

sites were providing false news

about the war.

But some outlets are refusing to

be silenced. In response to the ban,

the BBC posted a statement on its

website that said: “Access to accu-

rate, independent information is a

fundamental human right which

should not be denied to the people

of Russia.” It attached instructions

on how to circumvent the media

blackout by accessing BBC con-

tent through two apps: Psiphon, a

censorship circumvention tool,

and Tor, an anonymous browser.

Voice of America also vowed, in a

statement, to “promote and sup-

port tools and resources that will

allow our audiences to bypass any

blocking efforts imposed on our

sites in Russia.”

Since the invasion, VOA’s

Russian-language site has seen a

major increase in traffic, accord-

ing to Matthew Baise, director of

digital strategy and audience de-

velopment at VOA, rising from

40,000 visits per day to about

SEE MEDIA ON C3

Outlets find

ways to

circumvent

censorship

BY EMILY YAHR

In terms of metaphors, this one
was a little too on the nose. Dur-
ing halftime of the NFL’s AFC
Championship in January, the
CBS commentators started to
discuss the game: “The answer is
time, that’s what Patrick
Mahomes ... ,” Phil Simms began
to say.
But he was immediately
drowned out as the nearby speak-
ers suddenly blasted the off-
screen halftime performance
from Walker Hayes, whose No. 1
smash “Fancy Like” is probably
familiar to anyone who uses Tik-
Tok or has watched TV commer-
cials in the past year: “FANCY
LIKE APPLEBEE’S ON A DATE
NIGHT, GOT THAT BOURBON
STREET STEAK WITH THE
OREO SHAKE / GET SOME
WHIPPED CREAM ON THE TOP
TOO / TWO STRAWS, ONE
CHECK, GIRL, I GOT YOU ...”
The commentators were barely
audible for the rest of the show as
Hayes’s music took over; viewers
found this hilarious, and a video
clip of it blew up online. (“Some-
one at CBS forgot to check half-
time show speaker levels ...” ) But

the situation was also oddly sym-

bolic of the past eight months of

Hayes’s life, as he has catapulted

from a country singer struggling

to find a lane to inescapable star.

“That is exactly how this past

year has gone,” Hayes, 42, said in

an interview. “You don’t plan for

it, and then all of a sudden, you’re

everywhere.”

Hayes, who not long ago had to

squeeze in early-morning shifts

stocking coolers at Costco before

songwriting sessions to provide

for his wife and six kids, now

performs on late-night shows and

morning shows and award shows

and “Dick Clark’s New Year’s

Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.”

Next month, he will attend the

Grammy Awards, where the dou-

ble-platinum “Fancy Like” —

which blew up on TikTok and is

an ode to life’s simple pleasures,

including eating at one of Ameri-

ca’s most popular casual dining

spots — is nominated for best

country song. On Monday night,

he will perform at the Academy of

Country Music Awards, where he

has five nominations.

But much of the audience

who only know him as the

SEE HAYES ON C5

Walker Hayes, viral ‘Fancy Like’ guy, is ready for seconds

CATHERINE POWELL/GETTY IMAGES

Country music star Walker Hayes struggled to break out in Nashville for years until he got a viral hit

on TikTok in 2021, “Fancy Like,” t he second-highest-selling digital song in the country last year.

The former

presidential

adviser and Russia

expert Fiona Hill

made headlines

last week when

she stated bluntly

in a Politico

interview that

Russian President Vladimir Putin

would not hesitate to use nuclear

weapons.

But it was another part of that

long interview that I found

almost as arresting. Hill

described how Putin, as he

reaches for domination, relies

heavily on his skills at the

influence-and-information game.

“What happens in a Russian

‘all-of-society’ war, you soften up

the enemy,” she told her

interviewer, Maura Reynolds. Hill

named some names: “You get the

Tucker Carlsons and Donald

Trumps doing your job for you.”

And now, after a few years of

their apologetic rhetoric on

behalf of Russia, Putin “has got

[swaths] of the Republican Party”

and “masses of the U.S. public

saying ‘Good on you, Vladimir

Putin,’ or blaming NATO, or

blaming the U.S.” for Russia’s

invasion of Ukraine, she added.

It was quite an indictment

from a well-respected intelligence

officer, who worked in both

Republican and Democratic

administrations. She became

known to the American public for

her unsparing analysis when she

testified during Trump’s first

impeachment hearings.

But while it’s startling to hear

it said so directly — a Fiona Hill

specialty — the proof is there for

anyone to see.

In addition to the many times

that Trump has praised Putin as

strong and admirable, while

failing to criticize his human

rights offenses, our previous

president helped the Russian

cause in more specific ways. He

SEE SULLIVAN ON C3

Putin’s

information

helpers on

U.S. right

Margaret

Sullivan

CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK

Most reality TV fans know that artifice

is baked into pretty much all of their

favorite shows. Part of the fun of watching,

in fact, is trying to suss out what’s fake and

what’s authentic. That’s the case even after

the cameras stop rolling. Reality partici-

pants eager to extend their 15 minutes of

fame often continue their antics (or “story

lines”) on social media, where, in turn,

extremely online viewers take it upon

themselves to evaluate which posts are for

the likes and which amount to genuine

self-expression.

But real-life events interrupted this

largely harmless (or at least mutually

parasitic) game last month, softening

pockets of an ultra-cynical fandom into

concerned and alarmed onlookers. While

much of the United States has been

horrified by the statistics coming out of

Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine,

which has thus far killed hundreds of

civilians and displaced at least a million

more, many fans of “90 Day Fiance,” the

mega-popular reality franchise, flocked to

Reddit, Facebook and Instagram to voice

their worries over the safety of its Ukraini-

an cast members and their families.

Despite its obvious contrivances, xeno-

phobic tropes and unrepentant trashi-

ness, the TLC programming pillar has

SEE NOTEBOOK ON C3

A grief connection

BY INKOO KANG

‘90 Day Fiance’

has become a medium

through which some

Americans have

emotionally invested

in the war in Ukraine

TLC

Yara Zaya and Jovi Dufren from “90 Day Fiance.” Zaya, who is from Ukraine, recently described how

her friends back home are afraid they’ll go to sleep and not wake up because of the Russian invasion.