US TV network banned by Russia

[Dreamer128]

So much for Democracy in Russia. This looks an awful lot like the old Sovjet-regimes.

Russia is to ban US television network ABC from operating inside its borders. On Tuesday, the foreign ministry in Moscow announced that the accreditation of ABC’s journalists would not be renewed, after the station’s US transmission of an interview with Russia’s most wanted terrorist, Chechen rebel Shamil Basayev.

The controversial interview was actually recorded in June by Russian journalist Andrei Babitsky, who was himself abducted in Chechnya a few years ago, while working for Radio Free Europe in Prague. He regards the Russian response to the item as ‘shocking’ and ‘ill-advised", and commented, "if there had not been such a fierce reaction, it would have been forgotten by now."

Tightening muzzle
However, as a Russian journalist, he is fairly used to such things. Under President Vladimir Putin, an ever-tighter muzzle has been placed on the country’s media. At present, there is still only one truly independent newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, and one radio station, Echo Moskvy. Mr Babitsky was even arrested a year ago as he made his way to Beslan, where a school full of children was the scene of a mass hostage-taking incident, carried out on the orders of the very same Shamil Basayev.

This, however, is the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union that the Kremlin has reacted so furiously to a foreign media organisation, as Martin MacCauley, a British expert on Russian affairs at the University of London, confirms:

"It is unprecedented. Nothing like this has happened since the fall of communism in 1991. We are really going back to the pre-glasnost era, to the era of Brezhnev, when journalists could be declared persona non-grata. This is a very serious step, because it underlines the fury and dismay of the Russian authorities that ABC - an important American network - should give Shamil Basayev airtime and allow him to articulate his demands and accusations and - if you like - to legitimate his policy."

Guilty of terrorism
Yet it is not unusual for terrorists to be seen and heard in the international media. Stations such as al-Jazeera and CNN have, for example, broadcast tapes featuring Osama bin Laden. An interview with a terrorist is not, in itself, an act of terrorism, and may provide some insight into the way they think. The controversial ABC provides an example, inasmuch as Shamil Basayev can be seen wearing a T-shirt with the word ‘anti-terrorist’ printed on it. He believes that Russia is guilty of terrorism in Chechnya, and that this makes him an anti-terrorist. He, though, is responsible for multiple attacks in Russia, in which hundreds of adults and children lost their lives.

Martin MacCauley sees a number of possible explanations for the fierce Russian reaction to the interview. Firstly, it could be a warning to foreign media that they, too, cannot get away with saying, writing or showing anything they care to. Up to now, these restrictions have only applied to domestic media. But, Mr MacCauley believes there’s another reason, too:

"The first question I would ask the Russian foreign ministry is: how is it possible for ABC to arrange an interview with Shamil Basayev, while you have been chasing him since 1998 and you haven't found him yet? Does this mean that you are incompetent or that ABC is very clever?"

"The answer, I think, is that the Russian military and security forces have not really devoted all their [power] to catching and eliminating Shamil Basayev. There are voices inside Russia who say that the military establishment is doing very well, making money out of the war in Chechnya, that there is enormous corruption and that this is one of the reasons why they are so unsuccessful in Chechnya and are losing men every day."

Further evidence of incompetence like this, is of course, painfully embarrassing for President Putin. Officially, he has declared the war in Chechnya ‘at an end’, but under his regime - where the ‘dictatorship of the law’ is said to apply - the conflict is in fact beginning to spread. Russia appears to be losing control of the situation in other republics in the Caucasus, with growing reports of unrest and disturbances in, among other places, Ingushetia and Dagestan.

Seen against this background, muzzling the media would appear to be nothing more than a cosmetic solution, and one which - as Martin MacCauley sees it - also makes President Putin look somewhat silly:

"Now, when he will go abroad, journalists will ask him: ‘what may we report Mr President? Can we actually report what you say, or can we comment on what you say?’ and that can be very facetious, and he would in fact come in for some ridicule."

(Rnw.nl)

[ 08-04-2005, 02:57 AM: Message edited by: Dreamer128 ]

[johnny]

I guess Puto's KGB inner self is getting the upper hand.

[Kakero]

Heh, they go and interview one of russia's hated person. Why wouldn't they be angry? US were angry with al jazeera for their reports too iirc.

[Morgeruat]

Al Jazeera hasn't been banned in the USA

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

That's right. You can turn it on. It's channel... channel... I'm sorry, what channel is it, again?

[Morgeruat]

It hasn't been banned, they just have no presence currently, heck they only recently made it into Canada. Even when they do get a presence in the US it's up to cable and satellite companies to pick up the channel.

[Timber Loftis]

10:1 odds that if AJ starts a show in the U.S. they get banned.

[Morgeruat]

Once the FCC gets a look at what they're saying, probably, but there is no current ban on them, as was implied by Illumina.

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Ahh, but of course there's no ban as such. But it'll be a cold day in hell when cable and satellite companies pick it up. They may as well be banned.

[Morgeruat]

The point is that there is no government banning, if Russian media corps were not under the thumb of the gov't and decided to drop ABC over the event in question it wouldn't be an issue of GOVERNMENT censure, just as that issue does not exist in the US, as it is corporate censor it cannot be affected by congress.

For instance I could write a book, it's highly unlikely anyone would agree to publish it, but "the Man" isn't keeping me down and banning my work, it's private corporations deciding not to carry it. A completely seperate kettle of fish, besides there's nothing stopping a Saudi, or UAE, or Yemeni firm from starting a cable company specifically to carry it, other than the expected ROI.