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Log inIn Wake of Georgian War, Russian Media Feel Heat
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In Wake of Georgian War, Russian Media Feel Heat
by Outspoken on Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:11 pm
In Wake of Georgian War, Russian Media Feel Heat
By Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Foreign Service
MOSCOW -- At the height of the crisis over Russia's invasion of Georgia last month, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin summoned the top executives of his nation's most influential newspapers and broadcasters to a private meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The Kremlin controls much of the Russian media, and Putin occasionally meets with friendly groups of senior journalists to answer questions and guide news coverage. On Aug. 29, though, for the first time in five years, he also invited the editor in chief of Echo Moskvy, the only national radio station that routinely broadcasts opposition voices.
For several minutes, according to people who attended the session or were briefed about it, Putin berated the editor in front of his peers, criticizing Echo's coverage of the war with Georgia and reading from a dossier of transcripts to point out what he considered errors.
"I'm not interested in who said these things," one participant quoted Putin telling the editor, Alexei Venediktov. "You are responsible for everything that goes on at the radio station. I don't know who they are, but I know who you are."
The message to the 30 or so media executives at the gathering was clear: With Russia occupying parts of Georgia and locked in perhaps its most serious conflict with the West since the Cold War, they should be especially vigilant against reporting anything that the government might find objectionable.
Four months after Putin handed the presidency to his protégé Dmitry Medvedev, mildly raising expectations that the Kremlin might relax its grip on political life here, the continuing standoff with the West over Georgia has largely ended that talk and brought fears that a turn toward increased repression might be underway instead.
Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into whether Echo Moskvy has broadcast "extremist" speech. A leading opposition figure in the troubled Ingushetia region has been shot dead by police.
And a campaign to undermine the reputations of nongovernmental organizations seems to be picking up. In remarks to a group of foreign academics last week, Putin said Russia needed to act in Georgia because "certain nongovernmental organizations in certain republics" were using the crisis to justify separatism in the Russian part of the Northern Caucasus region.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091402249.html?wpisrc=newsletter
By Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Foreign Service
MOSCOW -- At the height of the crisis over Russia's invasion of Georgia last month, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin summoned the top executives of his nation's most influential newspapers and broadcasters to a private meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The Kremlin controls much of the Russian media, and Putin occasionally meets with friendly groups of senior journalists to answer questions and guide news coverage. On Aug. 29, though, for the first time in five years, he also invited the editor in chief of Echo Moskvy, the only national radio station that routinely broadcasts opposition voices.
For several minutes, according to people who attended the session or were briefed about it, Putin berated the editor in front of his peers, criticizing Echo's coverage of the war with Georgia and reading from a dossier of transcripts to point out what he considered errors.
"I'm not interested in who said these things," one participant quoted Putin telling the editor, Alexei Venediktov. "You are responsible for everything that goes on at the radio station. I don't know who they are, but I know who you are."
The message to the 30 or so media executives at the gathering was clear: With Russia occupying parts of Georgia and locked in perhaps its most serious conflict with the West since the Cold War, they should be especially vigilant against reporting anything that the government might find objectionable.
Four months after Putin handed the presidency to his protégé Dmitry Medvedev, mildly raising expectations that the Kremlin might relax its grip on political life here, the continuing standoff with the West over Georgia has largely ended that talk and brought fears that a turn toward increased repression might be underway instead.
Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into whether Echo Moskvy has broadcast "extremist" speech. A leading opposition figure in the troubled Ingushetia region has been shot dead by police.
And a campaign to undermine the reputations of nongovernmental organizations seems to be picking up. In remarks to a group of foreign academics last week, Putin said Russia needed to act in Georgia because "certain nongovernmental organizations in certain republics" were using the crisis to justify separatism in the Russian part of the Northern Caucasus region.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091402249.html?wpisrc=newsletter
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
