NCR Says

NCR Says check this out -
http://www.russia.com/forums/russian-politics/20803-freedom-press-russia-what-joke.html


Press Freedom in Russia Vanishing
Phil Brennan
Monday, April 23, 2001
Freedom of the press in Russia has begun to resemble freedom of the press under Communist rule: Journalists once again are expected to follow the party line, only this time it's President Vladimir Putin's line and not some Soviet commissar's.
And keeping a tight rein on the media isn't a routine practiced solely by Putin and his coterie of ex-KGB agents and military brass hats. Out in the sticks local officials can be – and most are – just as intolerant of press freedom.

All across the vast Eurasian expanse that encompasses the Russian Federation, journalists recognize that whatever freedom they enjoy is entirely dependent upon the whims and caprices of government, both national and local.

"There are 89 different political regimes in Russia," says Igor Yakovenko, secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists. "Some of them are harsh dictatorships that crush press freedom, others have leaders that let some pluralism exist. But the signal coming out of Moscow today is telling regional authorities they can deal with the media as they like."

Newsweek's Christian Caryl notes: "What's happening in Russia today resembles … the old Soviet Union. A little over a year after Putin's election Russia is undergoing an extraordinary revival of Soviet-era habits, reflexes and rhetoric.

"What's being selectively salvaged from Soviet days is the idea of an authoritarian state with leaders who decide what's "best" for the people – a state whose interests seem to take precedence over pluralism and press freedom."

Incredibly, all this sits well with the majority of the Russian people. A recent poll revealed that 57 percent said they approved of restoring censorship.

Approval of the government keeping the media in line goes deep into the nation's past, according to Denis Popov, a reporter with Volskaya Zarya. "People think democracy means the majority is right, and holding other viewpoints is therefore wrong," he says.

As a consequence of this public attitude, Putin and the local satraps are free to hobble the media without fear of a hostile public reaction.

Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the liberal Yabloko Party, told Newsweek, "Putin is creating a bureaucratic police state." If so, Newsweek notes, "he's doing it with public consent: His popularity ratings still hover at around 70 percent, higher than George W. Bush's."

In Moscow most of the foreign media's attention recently has been focused on the sudden takeover of NTV, the nation's only independent TV operation. Earlier this month Gazprom-Media, a branch of Russia's state-dominated gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MO)(GAZPq.L), seized the flagship station of Vladimir Gusinsky's Media-Most empire in a boardroom coup, claiming he owed it up to $300 million.

The move drew a strong reaction from officials at the U.S. State Department.

More