(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply troubled by efforts to restrict media coverage of the conflict in Dagestan on the part of the Russian government, as well as Dagestani and Chechen authorities. **New case and update to IFEX alert of 16 August 1999** On 17 August 1999, the new Russian Ministry for the Press, Television and […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply troubled by efforts to restrict media coverage of
the conflict in Dagestan on the part of the Russian government, as well as
Dagestani and Chechen authorities.
**New case and update to IFEX alert of 16 August 1999**
On 17 August 1999, the new Russian Ministry for the Press, Television and
Radio Broadcasting, and Media Affairs issued a formal warning to Russia’s
national television networks barring them from broadcasting interviews with
any of the Islamist rebel leaders now waging a separatist war against Russia
in the Caucasus region of Dagestan. The warning was delivered to ORT Russian
Public TV, the All Russia State TV and Radio Broadcasting Company, Russian
TV, NTV and TV-6.
The ministry claimed that by airing such interviews, the networks are
helping the rebels wage a “massive propaganda war,” inciting ethnic and
religious intolerance, and urging citizens to change the country’s borders
by force.
The Russian government warning followed moves by Dagestani and Chechen
leaders to restrict regional media coverage. On 9 August, Dagestan’s
regional executive, Magomedali Magomedov, imposed official censorship on the
republic’s media. All print and broadcast media are now required to submit
all of their reporting on the conflict to Dagestani Minister of Nationality
Policy and Information Magomedsalikh Gusayev for approval before it can be
printed or aired. And on 15 August, Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov
announced a month-long ban on the work of all local media, except for
state-owned television.
CPJ condemns recent efforts to censor independent journalism in Dagestan and
Chechnya. These measures make a bad situation worse. Since 1996, numerous
abductions of foreign, Russian and even local correspondents, chiefly by
Chechen warlords seeking ransom, have turned the northern Caucasus into one
of the world’s most dangerous beats. In the most recent incident, a
photographer with the Itar-Tass news agency, Vladimir Yatsina, was kidnapped
on 19 July in the northern Ossetian town of Nazran, near the Chechen border.
His Chechen kidnappers are demanding a U.S. $2 million ransom for his
release.
The press ministry’s current effort to control the content of television
news coverage, and the introduction of prior censorship under any
circumstances, violate all of Russia’s international obligations to
guarantee press freedom.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
authority to press the leaders of Dagestan and Chechnya to end all media
censorship in both republics
release from captivity
Appeals To
His Excellency Boris Yeltsin
President of the Russian Federation
The Kremlin,
Moscow, Russia
Fax: + 7 095 206 5173 / 206 6277
E-mail: president@gov.ru
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
