After a long conversation with my fellow family members, I questioned myself - "Do I really dislike Russia so much?" or was there just not enough alcohol on a table. A few days ago I read an article Medvedev defends freedom of speech and “telling the truth”, in which he stated that “A journalist’s main duty is to tell the truth”. After such an unbelievable comment, I decided to do some research and convince myself that there is hope for better tomorrow.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), there were more then 47 journalists killed in Russia during the past sixteen years, and most of them died due to being open about their political differences with the government (CPJ 2007). Therefore, Reporters Without Borders, ranked Russia as one of the worst countries with regards to freedom of the press. “The very few independent journalists are constantly harassed, imprisoned or forced into exile by the authorities. The foreign media is banned or allowed in very small doses, always closely monitored”.
During the presidential elections in 2000, Vladimir Putin stated that, in order to be a democratic society, Russia must have freedom of the press. However, after Putin won the 2000 election, he had a different approach towards freedom of the press in Russia, namely, tight control over what is being published or reported.
It seems that nothing has changed since the Soviet regime, when the press was highly regulated by political officials and dissident journalists were repressed or imprisoned. Some people blame the journalists for lack of reliable and truthful information, but it is understandable that many would choose to hide the truth when facing the fear of persecution and possibly death. Dmitri Khodolov, a reporter for the Moskovskii Komsomolets newspaper, was killed by trapped explosives in his briefcase in 1994, while investigating corruption in the military. The president of Smolensk radio was shot several times for accusing a local official of corruption during his broadcast.
Russian political structure does not have built-in checks and balances like U.S. does, therefore most of the power is in the hands of the president, which makes almost any effort to report the truth futile. In highly corrupted country such as Russia, where laws do not apply to everyone, people will always fear authorities and cope with the fact that violence, bribery, and silence is the only way to live in peace with the government. It is very sad, but reality is that Russia will always be one of those controlling federations, in which freedom "cannot exist".
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081022/117883951.html
http://rt.com/Politics/2009-12-09/medvedev-defends-freedom-speech.html
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), there were more then 47 journalists killed in Russia during the past sixteen years, and most of them died due to being open about their political differences with the government (CPJ 2007). Therefore, Reporters Without Borders, ranked Russia as one of the worst countries with regards to freedom of the press. “The very few independent journalists are constantly harassed, imprisoned or forced into exile by the authorities. The foreign media is banned or allowed in very small doses, always closely monitored”.
During the presidential elections in 2000, Vladimir Putin stated that, in order to be a democratic society, Russia must have freedom of the press. However, after Putin won the 2000 election, he had a different approach towards freedom of the press in Russia, namely, tight control over what is being published or reported.
It seems that nothing has changed since the Soviet regime, when the press was highly regulated by political officials and dissident journalists were repressed or imprisoned. Some people blame the journalists for lack of reliable and truthful information, but it is understandable that many would choose to hide the truth when facing the fear of persecution and possibly death. Dmitri Khodolov, a reporter for the Moskovskii Komsomolets newspaper, was killed by trapped explosives in his briefcase in 1994, while investigating corruption in the military. The president of Smolensk radio was shot several times for accusing a local official of corruption during his broadcast.
Russian political structure does not have built-in checks and balances like U.S. does, therefore most of the power is in the hands of the president, which makes almost any effort to report the truth futile. In highly corrupted country such as Russia, where laws do not apply to everyone, people will always fear authorities and cope with the fact that violence, bribery, and silence is the only way to live in peace with the government. It is very sad, but reality is that Russia will always be one of those controlling federations, in which freedom "cannot exist".
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081022/117883951.html
http://rt.com/Politics/2009-12-09/medvedev-defends-freedom-speech.html
2 comments:
Oh look it's Vladimir behind you.
and now for something totally random...
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