Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations archive: www.index.org.ru/cjes/ Russian Union of Journalists: www.ruj.ru RUSSIA Statement of the Russian Press Freedom Support Group at a press conference, 13 July 2000 in the House of Journalists, Moscow presented by James H. Ottaway, Jr., Chairman, World Press Freedom Committee The eleven delegates in our Russian Press Freedom Support Group represent six of the leading international free press organizations with worldwide memberships. The delegates come from eight different countries of Western and Central Europe, the Middle East and North America. We are in Moscow at the invitation of the Russian Union of Journalists and the Glasnost Defense Foundation to support them in their struggle for freedom of speech for all Russians and freedom of the press for all journalists and anyone who publishes a newspaper, magazine, or Internet news site and anyone who operates a television or radio broadcast company. We are here to tell you that the world is watching Russia in its struggle to build a democratic society and a free press. As President Putin said in his remarkable state of the nation speech on July 8, "Censorship and interference in the activities of the media are prohibited by law. å Without truly free media, Russian democracy will simply not survive". In talks over the past few days with journalists and government officials, politicians and ordinary citizens, we have confirmed our concern that President Putin's stated goals are far from the reality in Russia today. There is widespread interference in the media by government officials in Moscow and even more so in the regions. And there is not a truly free and in dependent media in Russia today. The Russian Union of Journalists estimates that 80 per cent of the print and broadcast news media in Russia is controlled directly or indirectly by the Federal government or the 89 regional governments or other local authorities. Instruments of control are unequal subsidies needed for media survival, and by use of the government's power for grant broadcast licenses, newsprint, access to government printing presses and the government-controlled press distribution system. We see four major threats to press freedom and independent journalism in Russia today. One is government attempts to control the press with new information security policies and intimidation of opposition media with selective, politically motivated criminal prosecutions and tax-enforcement raids against media that question government policy. The second threat comes from government and oligarch media owners in Moscow and the regions, who use their own broadcast stations and publications to attack enemies and competitors and report favorably only about their own political candidates. The third threat to freedom of the press and independent, honest, objective journalism is the lack of high standards of ethics and professionalism in the news media. If the media are to claim their vital place in building a free and democratic society, they must by worthy of that standing. Publishers and journalists themselves need to set higher ethical standards and to demonstrate greater concern for the public interest and the common good. The fourth threat if the lack of an economic environment to create the financial independence needed by the news media. We urge the Putin government and the Russian people to see their own self-interest and national benefit in building and safeguarding a truly free and independent press. A free flow of information is essential for a successful free market economy; and for foreign and Russian confidence to invest in public and corporate loans, the stock market and new businesses. A free flow of ideals and opinions is essential to development of democracy in Russia, to a truly functioning political party system in which every candidate, every elected official, every party can state their positions and arguments to the public via a free and independent press. Now, we want to present out list of government actions that intimidate journalists who do not always agree with government policy and that threaten freedom of the press in Russia. It is the same list that we have presented to the Russian officials we have met. That list shows that there is a contradiction between the good public statements and reality. Actions speak louder than words! * * * * * * * Russian Press Freedom Support Group, 10-13 July 2000 Committee to Protect Journalists, New York City Terry Anderson, CPJ Executive Board Member; Professor, Ohio University; former Senior Correspondent of the Associated Press Emma Gray, CPJ Europe Program Coordinator, former producer at Moscow Bureau of Independent Televistion News of London, Russian studies and language specialist International Federation of Journalists, Brussels August Glattfelder, IFJ Senior Vice President; Chairman of the Works Council of Suedwestrundfunk Baden-Baden, Germany International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP), London Per Mortensen, FIPP President and Chief Operating Officer Lodewijk Croonen, President of the European Magazine Publishers Federation, Brussels International Press Institute, Vienna Piotr Niemczycki, IPI Executive Board Member; Publisher, Gazeta Wyborcza, Warsaw World Association of Newspaper, Paris Mikhail Klima, WAN Vice President; Managing Director of the newspaper Economia; President of the Czech Publishers Association, Prague Gebran Tueni, WAN Board Member and Special Advisor on Middle East Affairs; Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the newspaper An Nahar, Beirut Ali Hamade, Editor-in-Chief, An Nahar, Beirut World Press Freedom Committee, Washington James H. Ottaway Jr., WPFC Chairman: Senior Vice President of Dow Jones & Co. (publishers of the Wall Street Journal) and Chief Executive Officer of Ottaway Newspapers regional group Ronald Koven, WPFC European Representative, former Washington Post Foreign/Diplomatic Editor, former Boston Globe Foreing Correspondent. -- Best regards, Oleg Panfilov director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations phone/fax: +7 095 201-7626 'hot line' phone: +7 095 201-3550 address:room 320, 4 Zubovsky blv.Moscow 119021 Russia mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] __________ EcoNews Service - Alternative News: Ecology, Consciousness & Universe Politics mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] USA http://www.ecologynews.com/index2.html CZECH http://mujweb.cz/www/ecologynews/ UK http://members.tripod.co.uk/ecologynews/ Canada http://www.ecologynews.com/index2.html <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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