Russia's Unsubtle Censorship

It's becoming clear that the Russian government is getting very, very paranoid about the financial crisis, and, as usual, their first target of harassment is the media.  Reporters and editors have been given strict instructions from the procuracy not to report on anything negative relating to the economy, or face ambiguous penalties.  I don't think this is too surprising, but rather disappointing that the authorities don't bother to work harder to carry out their censorship and violations of free press in a more subtle way ... this just looks bad.  So what in the world is left for government mouthpiece Russia Today to report?  With little irony, today they are carrying a story on Turkey's shortcomings in freedom of speech.  From the Wall Street Journal:

Prime Minister Putin was speaking a day after the Prosecutor General's office warned media outlets to be careful about how they cover the financial crisis. If news organizations can't report that there's a problem, they'll be hard-pressed to report that things are improving.

The point here is all too serious. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor told Interfax news agency that the office was not engaging in censorship but merely reminding media of their obligation to "publish credible information" and refrain from "information attacks" on financial institutions. To this end, she said, "permanent monitoring of the mass media materials" was necessary. That's another blow to a local press that already avoids topics that might anger the.

There's little doubt that Mr. Putin's predictions of an economic resurgence will be reported by the mostly state-owned media. So, too, will his tirades about how Russia's problems owe mostly to "cheap money-doping and mortgage troubles in the United States" -- with only minimal blame for his country's underdeveloped financial markets, heavy foreign-currency borrowing by its private sector and overdependence on energy resources.

The doesn't want Russians to think they've gone back to the woes of the Yeltsin era. With the meltdown around them kept off the front pages, Russians might instead recall an earlier era -- one covered dutifully, by Pravda.

Source