A Free Press (2001): Recent events suggest the Kremlin is “pulling the plug” on free media. This strong piece documents the systematic state harassment of the beacon of free press in Russia.
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NTV has dared question the Kremlin line about the war in Chechnya and has vigorously pursued high level corruption involving the Prosecutor General and the Kremlin. The recent coup and forcible change of management at the Russian TV station was the climax of a year of state harassment. Authorities mounted dozens of raids on NTV and its parent company Media-Most in the name of investigating debts to the state gas monopoly, Gazprom. Week after week, masked paramilitaries and investigators stormed in, seizing documents and interrogating over 200 staff. They included the secret police service, FSB, the feared successor to KGB. “The pressure is huge. How can a journalist feel when investigators accompanied by FSB officers walk past the room where he is editing his story?”... Yevgeny Kiselyov, one of Russia’s best known and respected journalists was sacked. If the Kremlin takes control he says “this means the end of democracy and freedom of the press in Russia”. A timely reminder that press freedom is a shaky concept in Putin’s Russia.
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ABC Australia - Ref/ 0966