Moscow News No 16, May 1-7, 1997
Battle Raging Over Freedom of the Press
Elite members of Russia's print media expressed their concerns about the state of freedom of the press in a letter to President Yeltsin.

A group of editors-in-chief, including the heads of Argumenty i Fakty, Trud, Ogonyok, and Moskovskiye Novosti decided to appeal to the president because of what they believe to be an attempt by major corporate shareholders of two of the nation's most widely read dailies, Izvestia and Komsomolskaya Pravda, to force changes in the newspapers' editorial policies. The fact that Izvestia was only recently named Russia's top daily by the country's journalists' union made the need for such changes seem particularly odd. Moreover, in addition to his position as editor-in-chief at Izvestia, Igor Golembiovsky also heads the prestigious editors' club and the Free Press Academy. And it is well known that the winner of the annual Presidential Correspondents Award is based on the academy's nomination. Komsomolskaya Pravda is also well known for its journalistic achievements. It is circumstances like these that invite curiosity about what is really going on.

The letter's authors are convinced that the corporate shareholders want changes because they are unhappy with the political views espoused by the newspapers. The two dailies are serving as testing grounds for subtle forms of censorship, and the lessons learned will be used on other Russian publications.

They talk about shareholders' rights and the natural rules of the market... Such arguments, however, carry no weight when the controlling stake in a company-shareholder happens to be held by the state. But as the company plays its political games, one has to wonder if it's acting only for its own motives. If such is the case, then a way must be found to limit grievances.

For the last several years, members of the journalist community have been pressing both parliament and the president to clear up legislative contradictions regarding press freedoms once and for all. But in the last six and a half years nothing has been done. There are currently no legal barriers to protect journalists from even the lowest-level bureaucrat. And this is in spite of repeated pledges by President Yeltsin to do so. In the meantime, shareholders can use their unlimited property rights as a lever to apply political pressure. Could it be possible that we are actually witnessing a new state policy towards the mass media?

In a recent radio address, President Yeltsin called freedom of the press one of the new Russia's greatest achievements, an achievement that even the opposition wouldn't dare to dispute. He added that, in Russia, political and ideological censorship could never make a comeback. "We've been through that before. We know what that leads to," said Yeltsin. The journalists ended their appeal to the president with the following words: "We are also against a return to censorship, but unfortunately, we are being forced to move in that direction".