As a jumping off point for my journey into the curious world of the Russian media, I found an article about the irony of people claiming that there is no longer free press in Russia.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Russia-s-Free-Press-Hoax-by-William-Dunkerley-090215-778.html According to media analyst William Dunkerley, when was there ever freedom of the press under Russia's government? Media there has always been financed by corporations and political figures, creating very little independence for the media to report honest news but rather open avenues to push agendas. Dunkerley seems to think that Western news outlets have been painting untruths regarding journalism under Putin's government. Having investigated the death of Alexander Litvinenko, Dunkerley feels it is quite apparent that the lack of knowledge on Russia's media is rampant among Western writers. Like his article questions, is it all a big hoax?
I would have to agree with this article. From its Soviet era until the collapse of the USSR, Russian media has been highly influenced by the government. My country of focus, Turkmenistan is a former Soviet state, many similarities therefore arise between our two countries
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. I think Dunkerley has a good point. There was trouble in the Russian media even before Putin.
ReplyDeleteP.S. great picture at the top of the page!
We had a semi free press until recently. Some would argue that we have have never had one. Wether corporate interests in the past or idealogs now?
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that I chose this topic as my first post...throughout the rest of my blogging I found that Russia is one of the countries truly struggling for press freedom. The number of journalists suspiciously murdered under Putin's time in office is something that needs to be addressed under new government.
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