James C. Pearce, Jeremy Morris and Jonny Tickle examine why lived experience often contradicts desk-based takes, asking what language skills, fieldwork and everyday conversations add that surveys, Telegram feeds and think-tank incentives miss. They probe the outsourcing of “Russia expertise” to diasporas and distant commentators, the class divide between capitals and small towns, and why certainty sells even when nuance is truer. Along the way they discuss textbook myths, journalism-by-proxy, and the awkward fact that there is rarely a penalty for being wrong.

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