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Anti-Media Violence Grows in Russia
Reporters Without Borders presented its annual 2007 Report – Europe and the Former Soviet Bloc - in Berlin yesterday. The organization criticized lack of public commitment to press freedom, apprehended anti-media violence and emphasized that Russia is amid the nations with the greatest threat to the freedom of speech.
“The spinelessness of some Western countries and big international institutions is damaging freedom of expression. They are quick to condemn developing countries that have little strategic value, but things are different when it comes to Russian President Vladimir Putin or Chinese President Hu Jintao. Western heads of state put away their lawyer’s robes and become salesmen. Trade with China and Russia is so important that human rights are rarely on the agenda…. Who can withstand the icy look of President Putin in a discussion of rights in Chechnya or about the score of journalists murdered since he came to power?” says the report.
Of interest is that the journalists of only two states, Russia and Zimbabwe, were invited to attend the report’s presentation. Russia was represented by Natalia Morar, The New Times correspondent, who had been banned from arriving in the RF past December.
Reporters Without Borders has been releasing its annual reports and indexes since 2002. Russia has been ranked the 144th in the latest Worldwide Press Freedom Index, close to such states as Afghanistan, Yemen, Tunis and Ruanda.
The Russia’s section of 2007 report of the organization draws attention to much pressure exerted on the independent media because of two major elections – the parliament election of past December and March 2 presidential election.
“Security forces also exerted pressure on the editorial line of media outlets,” the report says, mentioning dismissal of Mikhail Baklanov, head of the country’s biggest independent radio network, RSN. “The opposition was no longer heard on the station.” The general obligation of media was to support the regime during the parliamentary election campaign, Reporters Without Borders point out.
The progress in efforts to punish killers of journalists was little, the report says, recalling assassinations of pro-opposition investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes Russian edition, and the suspicious death of Kommersant journalist Ivan Safronov.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 13, 2008
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