#6405
#15 - JRL 6404
BBC Monitoring
Putin aide gives press interview on authorities'
relations with the media
Source: Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Moscow, in Russian 14 Aug 02
Russian President Vladimir Putin's aide Sergey Yastrzhembskiy has said the country's authorities should try to communicate better with the media to improve relations between the two. He said in an interview the sacking and harassment of two regional Russian journalists after they put forward complaints to Putin was unacceptable and was being pursued by the Prosecutor-General's Office. He also made the point that the media had a duty to explain and not just report facts to readers and viewers. The following is the text of Yastrzhembskiy's interview published in the Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on 14 August. The first paragraph is the newspaper's introduction.
At the end of June [Monday 24 June], during a news conference given by Russian President Vladimir Putin [to domestic and world media representatives], Aleksey Vasilivetskiy, a nonstaff correspondent from the newspaper Krasnyy Tundrovik from Naryan-Mar, talked about the conflict that had flared up between local governor Vladimir Butov and the prosecutor's office. And Dina Oyun, a journalist from the Internet publication Tyva On-Line, addressing the president, spoke of the upcoming elections to the republican parliament, which, according to her, were being prepared amidst flagrant irregularities. The president promised to investigate everything and personally discuss the subjects that had been raised with the prosecutor-general and the head of the Russian Central Electoral Commission [Alesksandr Veshnyakov]. It is still not known when and how the Prosecutor-General's Office and the Central Electoral Commission intend to react to the statements by the two provincial journalists. On the other hand, it is known that the local authorities themselves responded instantly to the criticism levelled at them. Krasnyy Tundrovik Chief Editor Olga Cheburina lost her job. Needless to say, the district administration claims that this dismissal had nothing to do with the events during the recent presidential press conference, although Olga herself thinks otherwise. As for Dina Oyun, Shoban Mongush, the head of the Republic of Tyva's Central Electoral Commission, really took offence with her and officially asked the local prosecutor's office to investigate the journalist's actions. The trouble that has rained down as if from a horn of plenty upon correspondents who dared address the president directly has revived with renewed vigour the old disputes in the Russian media regarding the extent of our regime's openness to society. Here is an interview with Russian Federation presidential aide Sergey Yastrzhembskiy on how prepared the state's representatives are for open dialogue with citizens and the establishment in our country of state news services - bodies that should serve as the main instrument of this dialogue:
[Interviewer Vladimirov] In today's world, information has become a highly valuable commodity. However, you get the impression that many of our state bodies, and in particular regional bodies, are more interested in withholding information that should on the whole be available to all. Do representatives of the "fourth estate" have some levers that they can use to change this situation?
[Sergey Yastrzhembskiy] It is no secret that representatives of the regional media, particularly those who take a critical stance with regard to the local authorities, often have difficulties receiving various information from officials. But this is not the only problem. Often these journalists experience full pressure from local bodies of authority. As one example I can of course cite the completely inappropriate actions on the part of the authorities in the two regions with regard to certain journalists who took part in Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin's recent news conference. Regrettably, there is an obvious desire on the part of the authorities in a number of regions to take tight control of the media. Journalists who have problems associated with administrative tyranny appeal for help to the Russian president's information administration from time to time. In some situations we can provide assistance and in some we are unable to assist. I must say that the process of establishing truly independent media in Russia will be directly dependent on the effectiveness of prosecutor's office and judicial bodies by means of which the media are able to defend their interests and how rapidly the media themselves acquire financial autonomy.
[Vladimirov] Does the Russian presidential staff intend to intervene in the conflict that has arisen with regard to the Krasnyy Tundrovik newspaper and the Tyva On-Line Agency?
[Yastrzhembskiy] Personally, I see grounds here for intervention on the part of the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office and, if I am not mistaken, the Prosecutor-General's Office has already responded. If we take a global approach to the subject that you have broached, I must admit that Russia still has very little experience of the state apparatus operating in an open pluralistic society and it will take time for this experience to emerge - that is why the majority of the problems arise.
After all, relations between officials and journalists may not work out not just because of the reluctance of "statesmen" to associate with the press but because of their inability to do so correctly. Smart specialists are needed who can help establish a dialogue between the media and the state to ensure that the various levels of the regime develop a taste for working with journalists and become experienced in this delicate business. It is necessary for news services that are able to operate professionally in the highly important area of public relations to appear within the structure of state bodies themselves. It is the effectiveness of news services' work that is rightly considered worldwide to be one of the main signs of a regime's openness and stability.
[Vladimirov] As someone who frequently has to deal with state press services, I can say that frequently they are only detrimental to the establishment of a dialogue between officials and the media.
[Yastrzhembskiy] The effectiveness and professionalism of press services' work are primarily dependent upon the readiness of the main man in the department that this service represents - be it a governor or a minister - to communicate with the media.
If the official himself is unwilling to enter into contact with journalists, his press services generally contains people who only intensify their boss's "negative charge" with regard to the press.
There is also another problem to which I would like to draw your attention: There are very few good professionals who know how to work efficiently in the news sphere and they are predominantly to be found in Moscow and the major regional centres. After all, our higher educational establishment began training specialists in public relations relatively recently and we are now conscious of an acute shortage of these people.
[Vladimirov] In your opinion, which central department or ministry in Russia is currently working the most successfully with the press?
[Yastrzhembskiy] The Emergencies Ministry. By the way, this is precisely a case of the personality of the leader himself promoting the openness of a state body. The Emergencies Ministry in many respects has a model press service which operates in a very modern way. Needless to say, there are many factors associated with the work of the Emergencies Ministry in this area, the main one being the very nature of the ministry's activity.
[Emergencies Minister] Sergey Shoygu's ministry appears in the "foreground" in emergency situations, when events take place in which society and the media have increased interest from the outset. The ministry's only option is to use this interest efficiently and satisfy the demand for information. However, this factor does not in any way belittle the ability of Emergencies Ministry press service personnel to operate well because we could all imagine the opposite situation happening where the Emergencies Ministry was unable to satisfy high public demand for particular information.
[Vladimirov] Do you agree with the view that the work of state bodies with the media should be confined solely to the prompt provision of information without any interpretation or comment?
[Yastrzhembskiy] No, I categorically disagree. The provision of information is just one of the functions of press services. They must operate extremely actively in the field of information and not just announce a decision that has been adopted, for example, but also explain why this decision was adopted rather than another. The regime must be able to seize the initiative in work with the media and put its view into the information arena rather than wait for that view to be produced by someone else. The image of the state and its institutions are directly dependent upon the professionalism of press services' work and their being geared to constantly playing the news "game".
[Vladimirov] Press complaints about the authorities are understandable, namely, state bodies are too closed, sluggish, and so on. But what do representatives of state news services find irritating about our media? Is it easy to work with national representatives of the press?
[Yastrzhembskiy] The press does indeed frequently feel dissatisfied with the work of state news services, but the latter in turn repay representatives of the "fourth estate" in the same coin and accuse them of superficiality and inadequately reflecting the views of the state or a department. The press services complain that, despite their having provided the mass media with objective, detailed information regarding a particular event, the press conveys to readers, viewers and listeners just a tiny fraction, the "husk" of the information that they have obtained.
There is a simple explanation for this behaviour by journalists: The "scribes" see state bodies as their opponents, who are on the other side of the "barricades" and "aim merely to cover up" the requisite information. All journalists throughout the civilized world to a certain extent have this inner psychological feeling. Representatives of the press have an innate instinct to mistrust the information provided by official representatives of the structures of authority. What is more, official representatives themselves are most often geared up to providing more - and this is understandable - positive information, whereas the press generally acts on the premise that "no bad news means no news at all". This is also an international phenomenon that is being taken to absolute terms in Russia. Some of our media specialize in only seeking out information that is controversial and negative. This is the source of their ratings but this is detrimental to society's psychological state.
[Vladimirov] Might official bodies themselves, which are unable to convincingly convey their own viewpoint to the press, be partially to blame for the fact that these feelings hold sway within our media?
[Yastrzhembskiy] There is a grain of truth in what you have said. Unlike the situation in other civilized countries, many of our state structures have still not come to realize the fact that maintaining regular dialogue with the population is a highly important task and duty for the bodies of authority. The state's actions must be as understandable as possible for citizens.
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