Media Watchdog Expresses Concern Over Press Freedoms in Russia
by Mosnews

AXcess News

The watchdog group denounced self-censorship introduced in Russia
over the past few years and pressure exerted on the media.

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March 22, 2005 (AXcess News) Moscow – The International Press
Institute, a global network of journalists, on Thursday released its
2004 review examining 191 countries. It reveals the overwhelming
failure of the authorities in many parts of the world to properly
investigate and prosecute the killers of journalists. Russia is
no exception.

The watchdog, uniting media executives, editors and journalists from
120 countries, denounced self-censorship introduced in Russia over
the past few years and pressure exerted on the media.

“The situation of the mass media in Russia continues to be difficult,”
IPI said in a statement. “Attacks on journalists are frequent… In
addition to the attacks on journalists, the media have engaged in a
great deal of self-censorship, which is evident in reporting on the
presidential election campaigns.

“Although only three of the 78 journalists killed this year died
in Russia, and only one was targeted directly, the country remains a
dangerous place for journalists. The Glastnost Defence Foundation (GDF)
listed ten journalists killed in 2004 for their work, and a further
four that died in car or airplane crashes while on their way to an
assignment. In total, the number of press freedom and journalists’
rights violations recorded by GDF was 1,236.”

“Adlan Khasanov, a cameraman working for Reuters died in the blast
that killed Chechnya’s President Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov on 9 May. The
bomb exploded in the Dynamo Stadium in the Chechen capital of Grozny,
where Khasanov was covering the annual Victory Day parade celebrating
the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

“Paul Khlebnikov, editor-in-chief of Forbes Russia, was shot and killed
outside his office in Moscow on 9 July. Police suspect that his murder
was a contract killing, linked to his work as a journalist. Khlebnikov,
an American of Russian descent, was shot from a passing car about
100 meters from Forbes’ editorial offices in northern Moscow after
he left work in the evening…

“The body of Payl Peloyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian-language
Armyanski Pereulok (Armenian Lane), an arts and literature magazine
serving the Armenian community in Moscow, was found on 17 July at the
side of the MKAD ring road that circles Moscow. His body bore knife
wounds to his chest and signs of beating on his head and face. The
police did not rule out the possibility that his murder was linked
to his work as a journalist.”

“Direct censorship, as well as intimidation by physical means
(beatings, murder, etc.), is less frequent now than in the early 1990s,
but indirect censorship is on the rise,” the review reads.

“According to reports by the OSCE and the RUJ, the Russian media,
as a whole, failed to provide fair and objective coverage of the
election campaign. Indeed, media outlets devoted from 57 to 100
percent of their campaign coverage to Vladimir Putin, and there was
no substantial difference between state-controlled and private media.”

Source: Mosnews