(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 1 May 2001 CPJ press release: “Domino Effect” CPJ Briefing on How the Kremlin’s Tactics of Muzzling Critical Media Could Spread “Governments throughout the region still take their policy cues from Moscow, and they are watching the NTV crisis closely.” New York, May 1, 2001 – The takeover of […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 1 May 2001 CPJ press release:
“Domino Effect”
CPJ Briefing on How the Kremlin’s Tactics of Muzzling Critical Media Could Spread
“Governments throughout the region still take their policy cues from Moscow, and they are watching the NTV crisis closely.”
New York, May 1, 2001 – The takeover of Russia’s Media-Most news outlets by the state-run gas monopoly Gazprom could have negative repercussions for press freedom beyond Russia’s borders, argues a new briefing posted on the Web site of the Committee to Protect Journalists, www.cpj.org. The briefing warns that authoritarian leaders in neighboring countries may follow the Kremlin’s lead, increasing the dangers already faced by independent journalists in the region.
The takeover of Media-Most’s independent national television station NTV, the daily Segodnya and the weekly Itogi “is also frightening to journalists in Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, and other former Soviet republics,” writes CPJ Europe & Central Asia program coordinator Alex Lupis, author of the briefing. “They fear that their own governments, already skilled in the use of bureaucratic and legal harassment to stifle independent reporting, will now follow the NTV precedent by orchestrating the state takeover of independent media and then dressing it up as a business dispute.”
Lupis argues that “governments throughout the region still take their policy cues from Moscow, and they are watching the NTV crisis closely.” He describes several cases of attacks on the press in neighboring republics such as Ukraine and Belarus.
CPJ letter to President Putin
On April 30, CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling on him to “reverse the state’s growing consolidation of control over the press.” Cooper said CPJ is “deeply concerned” about the motivation behind Gazprom’s actions. “In our view,” she writes, “as well as in the view of many Russian journalists and independent analysts, the takeovers of NTV, Itogi, and Segodnya are not a result of a financial dispute but rather represent part of a concerted effort to silence media that are critical of your government’s policies.”
The letter also expressed dismay that the Russian people’s access to information will be limited. “As a result of these takeovers and pressures, the government’s primary critics in the media are now silenced or sidelined. The Russian government already controls the two remaining national television broadcasters, ORT and RTR, and exerts enormous influence over hundreds of newspapers through a system of subsidies. For a healthy democracy to flourish in Russia, it is vital that its citizens have access to a variety of sources of news and information.”
For the complete texts of “Domino Effect” and CPJ’s letter to President Putin, visit www.cpj.org
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom around the world.
