[Russian state TV talk show discusses controversial State Duma bills – BBC Monitoring/Rossiya 1 – January 27, 2013] BBC Monitoring reports on the Rossiya 1 television program “Sunday Night with Vladimir Solovyev” and its January 27, 2013, broadcast covering Duma bills: The 27 January edition of the “Sunday Night with Vladimir Solovyev” talk show on state-owned Rossiya 1 TV featured […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, January 30 (RIA Novosti) – Russian media experts said on Wednesday the country deserves its 148th position out of 179 on the 2013 Press Freedom Index, six points down from last year. Reporters without Borders, which published the index on Tuesday, said Russia has lost points again because “since Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency, repression has been stepped […]
» Read more
(Russian ex-finance minister tipped to be premier before long – BBC Monitoring/Ekho Moskvy Radio – January 30, 2013) BBC Monitoring reports on Ekho Moskvy and Argumenty Nedeli covered of alleged systematic down-grading of how state-controlled Russian television presents Dmitry Medvedev to the viewing public: Russia’s national TV channels have been told to reduce their coverage of Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev, […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – January 29, 2013) Veteran journalist Vladimir Pozner is one of the three best known and most trusted TV journalists in Russia, a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) has shown, as reported by RIA Novosti news agency on 29 January, citing the organization’s website (http://fom.ru/SMI-i-internet/10793). The poll was conducted on 27 January among 1,500 respondents […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 30, 2013) Press freedom in Russia continued to decline last year, Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday. The country dropped six points in the organization’s World Press Freedom Index, finishing in 148th place among 179. Russia’s rating is slightly better than Singapore’s and slightly worse than that of the Philippines, according to the report, published […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Jan 28 (Interfax) – The State Duma is ready to accept apologies from television journalist Vladimir Pozner, saying the draft “Pozner law” will be “put on hold.” Pozner apologized for his earlier criticism of the State Duma on his program on Sunday evening. After that criticism, parliamentarians drew up a bill prohibiting journalists who have another country’s citizenship in […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – January 28, 2013) With a United Russia deputy declaring that Russia is not Sodom and Gomorrah, the State Duma gave tentative approval to a bill that would ban “gay propaganda” to minors. But the measure, which mirrors similar legislation in place in St. Petersburg and several other areas, met with unusually strong […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, January 24 (Dan Peleschuk, RIA Novosti) Pavel Samburov exudes confidence when he recalls the night in October, on International Coming Out Day, when a group of masked hoodlums stormed and ransacked a Moscow gay club. “They worked as a team,” Samburov says nonchalantly, taking a drag from a cigarette, then snuffing it out. “It was an organized attack.” […]
» Read more
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2013 From: James Beadle <jamesdbeadle@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: Re: 2013-#13-Johnson’s Russia List (re Robert Bridge on the Moscow Times) Robert Bridge may have a case complaining about the strength of Michael Bohm’s Anti-Americanism op-ed in the Moscow Times(#42 in JRL 2013-#13), but his blinded rapprochement of the entire Moscow Times publication is an affront to a high quality […]
» Read more
(Kennan Institute – www.wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Mary Elizabeth Malinkin and Nataliya Rostova – November 29, 2012) An interview with Nataliya Rostova, Starovoitova Fellow, upon the completion of her grant “The Russian Mass Media of the Post-Perestroika Era.” Malinkin: What were some of your impressions from the American media? Rostova: I was surprised to watch some of the American methods of using […]
» Read more
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 From: Robert Bridge <robertvbridge@yahoo.com> Subject: Letter to the editor re “Expect More Anti-Americanism in 2013” (JRL 2013-#12) Dear JRL, I can’t help but the see the incredible hypocrisy in the article entitled, “Expect More Anti-Americanism in 2013” (The Moscow Times, January 18), when this publication – Moscow’s only English-language daily – has practically declared itself […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – January 21, 2013) State-controlled NTV television on Sunday aired its latest documentary-style film targeting prominent opposition figures, this time for allegedly being part of an organized information campaign to discredit the Russian Orthodox Church. The film, “I Don’t Believe It,” accuses popular blogger Rustam Adagamov a member of the opposition Coordination […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax) – The Russian Investigative Committee has pledged to continue the inquiry into the 1995 killing of popular journalist and TV anchor Vladislav Listyev. “It is still early to draw the line in this case. It will not be closed. The inquiry has been put on hold and the services responsible for it have been instructed to […]
» Read more
(Interfax – January 11, 2013) Moscow – Journalism is an important and necessary profession that enjoys public confidence but it is not very profitable, said Russians polled by the Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) ahead of the Russian Press Day marked on January 13. “Russians have less confidence in journalists than in scientists or teachers,” says a VTsIOM press […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, January 14 (Marc Bennetts, RIA Novosti) Opponents of a Kremlin-approved ban on US nationals adopting Russian children expressed anger on Monday at a state TV program that suggested they were betraying their homeland. “State television is brainwashing people,” said Maria Orlovskaya, who helped promote and organize Sunday’s peaceful protest march in central Moscow against the ban. “The authorities […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 8, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/01/window-on-eurasia-protests-political.html) The rise of a new generation of independent journalists in Russia who use technology to report directly to their audience and who are not shy about declaring their interest in promoting civil society is an entirely natural response to the increasing government restrictions on the official media […]
» Read more
(Radio Liberty Forced to Make Hard Choices in Russia – Wall Street Journal – Letter to the Editor – Steven Korn – January 7, 2012 – click here for full letter) In a Wall Street Journal letter to the editor, Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty president Steven Korn discusses changes in how RFE/RL tries to reach listeners in Russia, including […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Jan 4 (Interfax) – A Russian analyst has argued that this year Russian President Vladimir Putin will keep the leading role in global politics attributed to him by Foreign Policy magazine, which declared Putin the world’s most influential political, business and public figure in 2012. “The fact that President Putin is recognized as the most influential person of the […]
» Read more
[USA to reckon with ‘Putin factor’ after magazine power rating – pundits – BBC Monitoring/Ekho Moskvy Radio – January 4, 2013 – no open link exists to this product] Ekho Moskvy Radio addresses what it terms Foreign Policy magazine’s move to call Russian President Vladimir Putin the world’s the most powerful person, including the fact that the magazine actually listed […]
» Read more
[The most frequently asked questions on Yandex in 2012: In the outgoing year, Internet users were interested in love, the Russian presidential elections, the European Football Championship, and shampoo – Russia Beyond the Headlines/RIA Novosti – December 31, 2012 – click here for full article] Russia Beyond the Headlines provides an English-language version of a RIA Novosti report on the […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Jan 1 (Interfax) – Head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill has said that the diversity of ideas inherent in church circles sometimes assumes absurd forms in the Internet environment. “In the web space groups of church liberals and conservatives are appearing that are not looking for the truth, divine truth but a means of finding fault, stinging […]
» Read more
(Moscow TImes – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – December 26, 2012) A third criminal investigation was opened against opposition leader and anti-corruption lawyer Alexei Navalny on Monday, with the Investigative Committee claiming he stole money from a political party in 2007. The committee said in a statement that Allekt, a company headed by Navalny in 2007, had received 100 million […]
» Read more
Russia Beyond the Headlines sets out its list of top news stories for 2012: 1. The presidential election … 2. Medvedev’s Cabinet … 3. United Russia’s new leader … Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev swapped jobs and not only in public office … 4. Strident new laws … 5. Protest actions …
» Read more
[Vladimir Putin gives big news conference in tough debate with journalists – ITAR-TASS – RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW – December 21, 2012 – http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c142/606821.html] Itar-Tass covers Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent marathon press conference. Putin reportedly claimed he had not read a recent Duma bill banning U.S. adoptions of Russian orphans, and allowed that the Duma was responding emotionally to the […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm – Michael Bohm is opinion page editor of The Moscow Times – December 21, 2012) State Duma Deputy Oleg Mikheyev from the Just Russia party came up with an original idea to lift the spirits of people depressed by all of the bad news they face every day from the country’s leading media […]
» Read more
From: “Committee to Protect Journalists – ECA” <eurasia@cpj.org> Subject: CPJ: Russia still far from solving Politkovskaya murder Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 Committee to Protect Journalists www.cpj.org News Alert Russia still far from solving Politkovskaya murder New York, December 17, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called for a retrial of a key defendant in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 16 (Interfax) – In 20 years 341 journalists have been killed in Russia, the Russian Journalists’ Union announced on Saturday. The list includes reporters killed in conflicts and counterterrorist operations, in peaceful times, reported missing and dead under uninvestigated circumstances. On December 15 the union marks the Day of Remembrance of Killed Journalists and on that day the […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, December 14 (RIA Novosti) – A Moscow court sentenced a former police officer to 11 years in prison on Friday for his role in the 2006 killing of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov was convicted in a separate trial from the others accused of involvement in the killing, the mastermind of which remains at liberty. Politkovskaya, a reporter […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, December 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s effort to blacklist harmful websites can only be effective if broad sections of civil society are involved in the process, Russian media and communications watchdog Roscomnadzor said on Monday. According to a recent poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation, only 43 percent of web users, which translates into 23 percent of the […]
» Read more
[Medvedev’s interview with Russian TV stations ends awkwardly – ITAR-TASS – RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW – Dec. 10, 2012 – http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c142/595374.html] Itar-Tass covers Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s “hit mic” comments disparaging of Russian security services raiding the home of a media figure: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s interview with five Russian television stations ended awkwardly Russia Today placed a […]
» Read more
[Getting His Goat: Open criticism of Russian officials is allowed only when it is part of a plan – Masha Gessen – Masha Gessen is the director of Radio Liberty’s Russian Service and the author of “The Man Without a Face,” a biography of Vladimir Putin – New York Times – Dec. 10, 2012 – click here for full article] […]
» Read more
[Post-interview ‘hot mic’ catches Russia’s Medvedev – AFP – Dec. 10, 2012 – click here for full article] AFP covers Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s recent remarks against security services, caught after a televised press conference was supposed to be over, but when at least one live feed was still running (from state-controlled Russia Today): Stark divisions within Russia’s elite […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – Dec. 10, 2012) Television channels were passing the blame Monday after unofficial footage from an interview with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was leaked Friday. Footage that appeared on YouTube showed the prime minister just after the end of an hour-and-a-half interview, chatting freely with the journalists from the five channels that […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Dan Peleschuk – Dec. 3, 2012) Despite President Vladimir Putin’s newfound appreciation of the Internet as a useful tool to fight Russia’s “brain drain,” experts question how fair his proposed funding scheme will actually be. They argue his new proposal to help finance online start-ups may be little more than a cash cow for government-friendly […]
» Read more
[What the Papers Say, Dec. 5, 2012 – Moscow Times/BBC Monitoring – http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/what-the-papers-say-dec-5-2012/472534.html] The Moscow Times and BBC Monitoring examine highlights from Russian print newspapers: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/what-the-papers-say-dec-5-2012/472534.html
» Read more
[What the Papers Say, Dec. 4 2012 – Moscow Times/BBC Monitoring – http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/what-the-papers-say-dec-4-2012/472463.html] The Moscow Times and BBC Monitoring examine highlights from Russian print newspapers: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/what-the-papers-say-dec-4-2012/472463.html
» Read more
[What the Papers Say, Dec. 3, 2012 – Moscow Times/BBC Monitoring – http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/what-the-papers-say-dec-3-2012/472346.html] The Moscow Times and BBC Monitoring examine highlights from Russian print newspapers: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/what-the-papers-say-dec-3-2012/472346.html
» Read more
[Ellen Barry – New York Times – Dec. 2, 2012 – http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/world/in-panicky-russia-its-official-end-of-world-is-not-near-664630/] Ellen Barry of the New York Times covers Russia’s response to reports about the would-be Mayan Apocalypse: There are scattered reports of unusual behavior from across Russia’s nine time zones. * * * For those not schooled in New Age prophecy, there are rumors the world will end […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Rachel Nielsen – Dec. 3, 2012) Although Russian proposals on Internet regulation ahead of Monday’s opening of the International Telecommunication Union conference in Dubai have worried anti-censorship watchdogs around the globe, some local experts aren’t expecting any significant changes to the U.S.-centric system that administers the technical aspects of the World Wide Web. “There won’t […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, December 3 (RIA Novosti) – A group of Russian politicians have urged national TV networks to show restraint in broadcasting material suggesting the end of the world is nigh, a deputy from Russia’s LDPR party said on Monday. According to an ancient Mayan calendar, December 21, 2012 marks the end of a 5125-year long cycle. Lurid articles have already […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – Nov. 30, 2012) A city court has declared Pussy Riot’s “punk prayer” video extremist, meaning that media outlets can face closure for publishing the all-female band’s famous performance in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. Thursday’s far-reaching decision also means that hosting platforms like YouTube must remove the video for Russian users […]
» Read more
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2012 Subject: Response to your question (re Masha Gessen) From: Sarah Lindemann-Komarova <echosiberia@gmail.com> A response to David’s request concerning the accuracy of Masha Gessen piece “In the Penal Colony. This Being Russia, A Massive Prison Protest Isn’t Being Reported”. By Sarah Lindemann-Komarova The temperatures here in Novosibirsk are currently ranging between -20 and -30. That allows […]
» Read more
(Interfax – November 27, 2012) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev denied on Tuesday that Russian laws on the Internet are repressive. “It’s impossible to call those laws repressive because so far not a single resource has been banned or disconnected,” Medvedev said at a joint news conference in Paris with French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. Mistakes that had been made, […]
» Read more
(Interfax – Moscow, 26 November) TV host Vladimir Pozner is calling for a real privatization of all federal TV channels, with one of them being turned into public TV. “Who is to blame for the fact that Russia has this sort of TV – I mean the federal channels, Channel One, Rossiya 1 and NTV? Who do these channels belong […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax) – An interview with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will be broadcast live on Rossiya 1 television and Medvedev will be fielding questions from journalists representing Chanel One, VGTRK, NTV, REN TV and the Dozhd television station, business daily Kommersant wrote on Tuesday. “Such interviews at the end of the year have become a tradition. The April […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – November 27, 2012) Kommersant has fired opposition-minded journalist Oleg Kashin for writing too much for other media and too little for his employer, the leading daily’s editor said Monday. “An agreement has been reached with Kashin [to terminate his employment] because he practically has not worked for Kommersant for one year,” […]
» Read more