Freedom of the press in Russia

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2007 RWB press freedom rankings      Free      Not Free

The issue of the freedom of the press in Russia involves both the ability of directors of mass media outlets to carry out independent policy and the ability of journalists to access sources of information and to work without outer pressure. Mass media in Russia include television and radio channels, periodicals, and Internet media, which according to the laws of Russian Federation may be either a state or a private property. It may be difficult to evaluate the situation in general, as different aspects of media freedom are developed to a different extent in Russia, and the overall question of media freedom is highly politized.

In 1997 there were just over 21,000 registered periodicals, virtually no electronic media, and just under 100 television companies, more than half of which were owned by the state. As of 2006 there were more than 58,000 periodicals, 14,000 electronic media, and 5,500 broadcasting companies, and the states share in the newspaper and journal market is estimated to be less than 10%. Its share in electronic media is even smaller.^[1]

As stated by BBC, two of the three main federal channels Channel One and Russia TV are controlled by the government controls while state-controlled energy giant Gazprom owns NTV^[2].

In 2007, a report by professor of politics Nicolai N. Petro asserted that foreign companies owned shares in over half of all Russian broadcasting companies and not the state.^[3] He claimed that critics concentrated solely on national television media, while "detailed statistics also demolish the myth that Putin dominates national television and allows no critical reporting". In the same report, Petro declared that for the first time in modern Russian history independent media had become profitable.

Reporters Without Borders put Russia at 144th place in the World Press Freedom Index (from a list of 169 countries), where a ranking of 1st signifies 'most free'.^[1]

Assaults on journalists

Posters with photo of journalist Anna Politkovskaya assassinated in Moscow in 2006. So far, her killers have not been found.

Since the early 1990s, a number of Russian reporters who have covered the situation in Chechnya, contentious stories on organized crime, state and administrative officials, and large businesses have been killed. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, since 1992, 43 journalists have been killed in Russia for their professional activity (which makes it the third deadliest country for journalist in 1992-2006 period^[4]): 30 while Boris Yeltsin was President, and 13 since Vladimir Putin became President, as of 2006.^[5][6]

According to Glasnost Defence Foundation, there were 9 cases of suspicious deaths of journalists in 2006, as well as 59 assaults on journalists, and 12 attacks on editorial offices.^[7] In 2005, the list of all cases included 7 deaths, 63 assaults, 12 attacks on editorial offices, 23 incidents of censorship, 42 criminal prosecutions, 11 illegal layoffs, 47 cases of detention by militsiya, 382 lawsuits, 233 cases of obstruction, 23 closings of editorial offices, 10 evictions, 28 confiscations of printed production, 23 cases of stopping broadcasting, 38 refusals to distribute or print production, 25 acts of intimidation, and 344 other violations of Russian journalist's rights.^[8]

On October 7, 2006, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, well known for her criticisms of Russia's actions in Chechnya and the pro-Russia Chechen government, was shot in the lobby of her apartment building. The death of this Russian journalist triggered an outcry of criticism of Russia in the Western media, with accusations that, at best, Putin has failed to protect the country's new independent media. ^[9][10]KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky believes that the murders of writers Yuri Shchekochikhin and Anna Politkovskaya show that the FSB has returned to the practice of political assassinations. ^[11]

Journalist protection laws

A new law to be implemented at the beginning of 2009 will allow reporters investigating corruption in Russia to be protected. Under new legislation, they will be able to apply for special protection, like court witnesses. The new law is part of a grander national plan to fight corruption in Russia, an area that President Dmitry Medvedev has focused much of his attention on.^[12]

Police raids

On June 19, 2006, Russian police raided the Educated Media Foundation, a non-governmental organization that receives U.S. funding, seizing documents and equipment in a search its director said was likely linked to the government's growing distaste for Western-funded NGOs.^[13]

Television

See also List of Russian-language television channels

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, "All three major television networks are now in the hands of Kremlin loyalists." [4] Indeed, while "Сhannel Russia" was state-owned since its foundation in 1991, major shareholders of ORT and NTV (Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky, respectively) sold their stocks to the government and Gazprom in 2000-2001. Moreover, TV6, a media outlet owned by Berezovsky, was closed in 2002 using a laws hole. In 2003 TVS channel which was formed mainly of former NTV and TV6 was closed due to financial problems. ^[14]

Along with that, plenty of media outlets actively develop now while state participation in them is minimal ^[3]. Private TV networks REN TV and TV Center which cover 80% and 64% of population respectively, broadcast independent analytical programms like "25th hour", "Week" with Marianna Maksimovskaya, "Postscriptum", "Moment of truth". REN TV remains perhaps the only major TV outlet with liberal views, easily unveiling themas of censorship or showing interviews with leaders of Other Russia.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006 Putin commented that in the period of 1990s freedom of press in Russia "was indeed under threat, not from the former state ideology that once held a monopoly on expression, but from the dictates of oligarchic capital". [5] Journalist Yevgeniya Albats has said: "Of course in the 1990s there were restrictions on freedom of expression but, due to the fact that the media belonged to different business structures, despite influence being exerted pluralism was preserved." [6] When asked about media freedom in 2006 interview with NBC TV channel, Putin replied: "We have more than 3,500 television and radio companies here in Russia and state participation in them is decreasing with every passing year. As for print media, there are more than 40,000 publications and we could not control them all even if we wanted to." ^[15]

As reported by Clifford J. Levy in New York Times article, all Putin's opponents are being made to vanish from Russian TV. They are blacklisted and not allowed to appear in TV shows. In one example, a presentation critical of Putin's policies has been digitally erased ^[16]. As reported by Russian scientist Sergey L. Lopatnikov, information about "black lists" is nonsense; an argument was made that not less than 35-40% of participants of NTV-aired talk show "At a barrier" hosted by Vladimir Solovyov during the last two years represented the opposition (including Novodvorskaya, Ivanenko, Nemtsov, Hakamada); from January to May 2008, overt adversaries of Vladimir Putin participated in 9 of 16 (more than 50%) issues of the talk show [7].

Internet

In May 2008, some 32.7 million users in Russia had continuous access to the internet, what accounted for internet penetration of almost 30%. ^[17]

As reported by Agence France-Presse, "The Internet is the freest area of the media in Russia, where almost all television and many newspapers are under formal or unofficial government control". ^[18]

Russia wasn't included in the list of 12 "Enemies of the Internet", prepared by the Reporters Without Borders in March 2009. ^[19]

As reported by Kirill Pankratov in April 2009 in The Moscow Times,

Even discounting the chaotic nature of the web, there is plenty of Russian-language material on political and social issues that is well-written and represents a wide range of views. This does not mean, though, that most Russians are well-informed of the important political and social issues of today. But this is largely a matter of personal choice, not government restrictions. If somebody is too lazy to make just a few clicks to read and become aware of various issues and points of view, maybe he deserves to be fed bland, one-sided government propaganda.^[20]

Controversies

Magomed Yevloyev, editor of Ingushetia.org, a vocal critic of the region's administration, was murdered in August, 2008. ^[21]

At the background of December 2008 demonstrations in Vladivostok^[22], it was reported by Kontury news website that FSB officers addressed moderators of the ru_auto Internet community with a request to remove stories about the Vladivostok protests. The major reason, as reported by a moderator of the resource, was that a number of repeating posts with the information about protests worsened some sort of statistics on people's attitudes. The moderator in question requested bloggers to publish only unique posts about protest actions. ^[23]

SORM

A System of Ensuring Investigative Activity, SORM, an amendment signed into law by Putin. SORM allowed law enforcement bodies to monitor Internet traffic and required ISPs to assist law enforcement in their investigations. In late 2000, Russian Supreme Court ruled that the law enforcement bodies are required to obtain a warrant and inform ISPs when law enforcement agents were using the system. Similar laws exist in most developed countries with large internet populations.^{[citation needed]}

Censorship

The actual influence of Kremlin on the media space causes harsh debates between journalists of "liberal" (e.g. Shenderovich) and "patriotic" (e.g. Oleg Kashin) persuasions. ^[24] According to journalist Maxim Kononenko, "People invent censorship for themselves, and what happens on some TV channels, some newspapers, happens not because Putin dials them and says: No, this mustn't go. But because their bosses are fools."^[25] However, political scientist Yevgenia Albats in interview with Eduard Steiner has disputed this assertion: "Today the directors of the television channels and the newspapers are invited every Thursday into the Kremlin office of the deputy head of administration, Vladislav Surkov to learn what news should be presented, and where. Journalists are bought with enormous salaries. In discussions they tell us then how horrible it is to work in the state television service." [8].

According to 2005 research conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), the number of Russians who approve of censorship on TV has grown in a year from 63% to 82%; sociologists believe that Russians are not voting in favor of press freedom suppression, but rather for expulsion of ethically doubtful material (such as scenes of violence and sex: 57% for restricting of violence/ sex depiction on TV, 30% for ban of fraudelent businesses ads; and 24% for products for sex ads and 'criminal way of life propaganda' films).^[26]

Freedom House report

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Freedom House scores nations on political freedom.      Free      Partly Free      Not Free

Draft version of the 2007 report of Freedom House "Freedom of the Press" in Russia ^[27] states that:

"Media freedom was further curtailed in 2006 as President Vladimir Putin’s government passed legislation restricting news reporting and journalists were subjected to physical violence and intimidation ...

Despite public objections, Russia’s parliament also passed amendments to the Law on Fighting Extremist Activity, which Putin then signed in July. The measure expanded the definition of extremism to include media criticism of public officials, and authorized up to three years’ imprisonment for journalists as well as the suspension or closure of their publications if they were convicted ...

Authorities continued to exert influence on media outlets and determine news content in 2006. The state owns or controls significant stakes in the country’s three main national television networks: Channel One, Rossiya, and NTV ...

During 2006, journalists continued to face criminal libel charges for printing and broadcasting statements that were unfavorable to public officials. Criminal courts also sentenced several journalists on charges of “inciting racial hatred” for publicizing controversial events in Chechnya. Stanislav Dmitriyevsky, head of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, was convicted of the offense in February after publishing statements by leading Chechen separatists like the late Aslan Maskhadov. He received a suspended prison sentence and probation, but his conviction allowed the government to shutter his organization in October under a provision of the new NGO law. It remained open, with appeals pending, at year’s end. Boris Stomakhin of the monthly Radikalnaya Politika, who has written various critical articles on Russia’s actions in Chechnya, was sentenced in November to five years in prison ....

The international media community expressed its shock at the October murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was renowned for her independent reporting about abuses committed in the war in Chechnya. Other journalists who were killed in 2006—likely for reasons tied to their work, according to media watchdogs—included Ilya Zimin, a correspondent for the national television station NTV; Vagif Kochetkov, a correspondent for the Moscow daily Trud and columnist for the Tula paper Tulskii Molodoi Kommunar; Yevgeny Gerasimenko, a correspondent for the Saratov independent weekly Saratovksy Rasklad; and Anatoly Voronin, deputy director of the Russian news agency Itar-Tass ....

With online media developing and 16 percent of the population now online, the government also harassed some of Russia’s leading news websites. For example, officials accused Pravda.ru, Bankfax.ru, and Gazeta.ru of spreading extremist ideas, and fined the editor of the internet publication Kursiv for publishing an “offensive” article about Putin."

While Russia maintained "partly free" status of its media in the reports of the 1990s, it recently deteriorated back to "not free". ^[28]

The annual Freedom in the World report reportedly caused a real uproar in Russia.^{[citation needed]} The Foreign Ministry declined to comment, calling the findings in the report "absurd". Ella Pamfilova, head of the presidential council on civil society institutions and human rights, told Kommersant that it is former CIA employees who shape Freedom House’s ideology. But Russian human rights activists consider the Freedom House’s conclusions quite fair.^{[citation needed][29]}

Russian journalist Andrey Kuznetsov criticized factual accuracy of the draft version of the report ^[30]. Considering the amendments to Russian Law on Fighting Extremist Activity, the draft version of the report mistook "public slander of authorities" for "media criticism" ^[31] (in a more recent report of Freedom house the correct term — public slander — was used and mentioned as allowing the authorities to use "unchecked power against its critics"^[32]). Kuznetsov claimed, that considering the journalists convicted "for publicizing controversial events in Chechnya" Freedom House mixed the guilty with the innocent ones: while Dmitrievsky only published statements of Maskhadov and Zakayev, Kuznetsov believes that the conviction of Boris Stomakhin could be justified ^[33].

According to Kuznetsov, the death of journalist Ilya Zimin was classified as murder on everyday grounds, the motive for murder of Kochetkov claimed as being robbery (although Kochetkov's father disagrees with this version of the investigation), Gerasimenko was murdered by a hobo (this murder was solved), and Anatoly Voronin was a business chief, rather than the deputy director of Itar-Tass. Kuznetsov claims that "only the murder of Politkovskaya may be directly tied to her unveiling articles about Chechnya. In all other cases it makes an impression that authors of the report simply composed death list of people having any relation to spread of information."

Considering "harassment of some of the Russia’s leading news websites", Kuznetsov clarified that all they got a precaution "on inadmissibility of propagation of extremism", and noted negligence of the report's authors who listed regional Altai server Bankfax.ru as a "leading news website" and placed in the list a "comical" case of chief editor of Kursiv fined for a moderate sum for satirical article 'Putin as phallic symbol of Russia'.

Kuznetsov concluded that "the situation with press freedom in Russia is for sure very far from ideal, and weighted and reasoned estimation of it could greatly facilitate its improvement. But the methodology of the authors of Freedom House report leaves open space for subjective treatments... Freedom house has carried out a vast research, but obvious flaws of the report slightly discredit the very idea of securing speech freedom as one of basic values of the humankind."

See also

• List of journalists killed in Russia
• Media of Russia
• NTV
• TV6
• TVS
• RTVi
• Glasnost

References

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