DATE=5/16/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA MEDIA CQ
NUMBER=5-46322
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A senior Russian media ministry official has
accused a U-S government-funded radio station of
hostility to the state, and suggested changing the law
to limit anti-Russian broadcasts. Correspondent Peter
Heinlein in Moscow reports independent Russian
journalists are complaining of government intimidation
and outright attacks on press freedom.
TEXT: Deputy Media Minister Andrei Romanchenko says
changes in the law are needed so foreign broadcasters
can be punished if they adopt positions hostile to the
Russian government. At a conference this week, Mr.
Romanchenko singled out the U-S government funded
Radio Liberty for special criticism.
Radio Liberty has annoyed government officials with
its coverage of the war in Chechnya. The station's
correspondent in the war zone, Andrei Babitsky, was
detained in January and held for several weeks. He
still faces charges of belonging to an armed gang and
using a false passport.
Mr. Romanchenko's comments follow a series of
incidents that worry free press advocates. Last week,
tax police wearing masks and carrying machine guns
raided the headquarters of Media-Most, Russia's
leading independent news organization. Media-Most's
holdings include the N-T-V television station and the
Echo of Moscow radio.
In a separate incident last Friday, a reporter for the
independent "Novaya Gazeta" newspaper was beaten
unconscious outside his home. Earlier this year,
hackers broke into "Novaya Gazeta's" computers and
destroyed an entire issue. The attack came after the
newspaper published an article suggesting that
Russia's federal security service, the main successor
to the Soviet K-G-B, may have been involved in the
apartment bombings last year that killed nearly 300-
people.
The series of incidents prompted Russia's Union of
Journalists to call for a public protest demonstration
this week. Union leader Igor Yakovenko says urgent
measures are needed to protect press freedom.
/// YAKOVENKO ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
He says - we cannot afford to wait until N-T-V and
Echo of Moscow radio are closed. Mr. Yakovenko added
that in some parts of Russia, newspapers are already
being closed. He warned that if freedom of speech
were curtailed, other freedoms would also disappear.
Prominent journalist and former Soviet dissident
Andrei Piontkowsky says the current government's
attitude toward the media is more troubling than what
he calls the "big brother" of Soviet times.
/// PIONTKOWSKY ACT ///
In some respects today's big brother is more
ugly, because during the latest two-decades
under Brezhnev and Gorbachev there were no cases of
physical assault on inconvenient journalists,
and last week there was a case of an
assassination attempt on a journalist of Novaya
Gazeta.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Piontkowsky says he regularly gets anonymous
telephone threats and knows his line is bugged.
/// OPT /// The dean of journalism at Moscow State
University, Yassen Zassoursky, says he believes
attempts to intimidate the media are not the work of
President Vladimir Putin, despite his ties to security
services. Mr. Zassoursky says many journalists see
Russian Press Minister Mikhail Lesin as the driving
force behind the crackdown.
/// OPT // ZASSOURSKY ACT ///
I am afraid that Mr. Lesin, in a way, is
encouraging this harassment. But I am not sure
that Mr. Putin, whose policy is to consolidate
society, that he is interested in these actions.
But Mr. Lesin definitely goes in this direction.
There is no doubt about that.
/// END ACT // END OPT ///
Other analysts point out the growing influence of the
security forces under President Putin. Viktor
Kuvaldin, a scholar at the Moscow-based research
organization operated by former Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev, is quoted as saying security agencies are
behind the new media pressures because they see the
independent press as an obstacle.
Mr. Gorbachev jumped into the fray this week, agreeing
to act as chairman of a public council aimed at
protecting the N-T-V television channel from
government interference. In a news release issued
Tuesday, N-T-V noted that - the growing influence of
mass media has given rise to a struggle for control
over it.
The release noted that Mr. Gorbachev initiated reforms
such as perestroika and glasnost that helped loosen
Soviet-era media controls. In his letter of
acceptance, Mr. Gorbachev said he would contact other
prominent figures, in and out of Russia, to serve on
the council, which he said would work to build support
for the principle of press freedom. (SIGNED)
NEB/PFH/JWH/RAE
16-May-2000 14:35 PM EDT (16-May-2000 1835 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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