#13 - JRL 2006-194 - JRL Home
From: Evgenya Babich <nunchik87@mail.ru>
Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 21:33:52 +0400
Subject: re media in Russia

Dear Mr. Johnson

My name is Evgenya Babich, I'm a Moscow student, enrolled in the international journalism program at the American University in Moscow. If you don't mind I would like to send you my comment on article #2 from the Russia list, August 24. With thanks,

Evgenya

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[Media in Russia]

The idea of controlled or “unfree” media has lately occupied first positions in the list of “Why you shouldn’t make friends with Russia”. Being a hurtful obstacle, it lays intrust and suspicion in relationships with countries of the EU, NATO. Nowadays it’s become such a popular issue to discuss that everybody has apparently got fully used to the fact that Russia is a country with unfree mass media. Period. “There is no criticism of the president or the administration”, - as Igor Yakovenko, secretary-general of the Russian Union of Journalists, pointed out. Frankly, if that’s the case, criticism appears to be the major criteria of a country’s freedom. The more you have it, the more liberty you posses. Perhaps I’m mistaken, but from what I see and hear, criticism is a thing we’re not short in. Take Echo Moskvi for example, a popular program called The Spiral of Evil after 15 minutes of being on air will make you quickly tune on to one of Putin’s speeches so as not to suffocate from pessimism.

The press also isn’t a deletion to this. Take a short look at today’s headlines, strict upsetting judgment is hidden underneath: Moskovskii Komsomolets: Olga Bozhieva, THE MOTHERLAND'S DEFORMED WINGS. Russia, bloated with petrodollars, still can't afford new planes; Novaya Gazeta: Alexei Polukhin, THE STATE - IT'S THEM. The bureaucracy is aware of itself as the force that distributes and reaps. The bureaucracy is gradually building a separate country for itself; Moscow Times: William Mauldin, Free of Debt Stigma but Stuck on Oil; Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Popularity of Party, Politicians' Private Websites Analyzed; ITAR-TASS: Russia's Population Continues To Diminish, Totals 142 Million.

TV is also a real haven for criticism of all kind. Try watching NTV over the weekend at about 19:55 and be prepared to swallow a large portion of shocking news: death, poverty, violence, crimes, scandals, bribes and immorality. It may not be a direct pointer to the government’s insuccess, but it sure leads up to one numb question: “Who’s responsible for it?” If you’re interested in direct judgment, popular programs like Vremena with Vladimir Pozner or Voskresnii vecher with Vladimir Soloviev could serve as the perfect example. Not only guests are encouraged to express their most open points of view, but ministers and other state officials are invited to the program where on behalf of the hosts they are not to be flattered with. And it’s, if I may notice, broadcast on channel 1, a “federal” one, I suppose. That’s the picture you get in Moscow, not to mention regional media where critisism is puffed up to even a larger scale.

Almost everything and everyone are open to criticism. I can’t remember reporters actually saying something good about the country’s development – that is apparently considered to be bad taste. You’ll be luckier to hear good news about Russia’s prospects from a foreigner than from a fellow country man. The first contemporary man I heard to actually admire the Russian language was George Kennan in his book (!) So I’m afraid we’re head over heals in criticism and that’s merely what we need to “boost up”. Every tiny hint on some positive changes in Russia’s economics or social status is sure to be accepted with skepticism and indifference by Russian people. There are so totally exhausted from false promises and unhappy reality that only when life’s “bad to the bone” can it be considered bearably all right. Now this ruthful fact, not the “criticism shortage” in media, ought to concern influential people of our time. There’s also another turn to it. Ever thought it’s about time to switch from the trite question of “Who is to blame?” (Kto vinovat?) to a more useful one “What to do?” (Shto delat’?) Few reporters actually answer that question, and I don’t think that “judicial pressure” or the new “law on extremism” could be at fault here (* for reference see: Russian TV praises Putin but censorship growing, media unfree – journalist leader, Sources: Ekho Moskvy news agency, Moscow. )

If we think globally and just use our common sense it would be clear that, since we have the opportunity to discuss all these matters and say it all out loud, Russian media isn’t as “anti-free” as it could seem to some, at least far away from China. Mr. Yakovenko for example pointed out the lack of criticism LIVE on Echo Moskvi radio – a little contradictive, don’t you think? Given the fact that Igor Yakovenko is a prominent figure in the sphere of journalism and there’s more than one of his articles you can easily find on the net, I doubt he personally experiences professional “unfreedom”.

By all this I don’t want to give the impression of a student, highly afflicted with false patriotism, and trying her best to point out that Russian media is the best in the world. Each phenomenon has its own pros and cons, and our media is not an exclusion. Sure, it’s censored. But censorship is a thing you can’t do without. Even now, in the highly developed XXI century. Just look at the printed matter. You can’t possibly imagine how many issues come out on a periodical basis in Russia, of all sorts and kinds. And hell knows what’s inside. Students are often warned to be extra picky on what to read, never taking the printed word for granted, for we could be easily deluded. Especially when it comes to socio-political and economic issues the info can almost certainly be unresearched, unstructured and NOT written in an unbiased manner.

Anyway my message is not to put on a pair of pink glasses and put up with life, my call is to find the golden middle. To me freedom has always been a matter unattainable. You can’t find absolute freedom on Earth, otherwise it would lead to full chaos. And yet the pursuit of it is quite a remarkable thing.