28 Mar 2008 | Comment, News and features
Is Chechnya’s President Kadyrov welcome in the country’s journalists’ union or not, asks Anna Sevortian
On the 5 March Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of Chechnya, was inducted into the Union of Journalists of Chechnya, which is part of the Russian Union of Journalists. How can a serving politician, who is not a journalist, become a member? This question was asked by the many posts and press reports that inundated the web. Several well-known journalists announced they would cancel their membership if the information proved to be true. It did.
Kadyrov was given membership for his service to journalism in the Chechen Republic and ‘securing optimal conditions for the independent operation of the press’. He got his certificate and union ID from his minister of external relations and press, Shamsail Saraliev.
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15 Mar 2008 | Magazine, Volume 37.01 Spring 2008
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11 Mar 2008 | Comment
On 4 March, to mark the publication of its latest issue, ‘How Free is the Russian Media?’, Index on Censorship hosted a discussion in London and Moscow on the future of the Russian media under President Medvedev. The discussion featured John Kampfner, Arkady Babchenko (author of One Soldier’s War in Chechnya), Maria Eismont (New Eurasia Foundation, Moscow), Alexander Verkhovsky (Sova Centre, Moscow), Natalia Rostova (Novaya Gazeta), Oleg Panfilov (Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situations), Maria Yulikova (Carnegie Centre) and Sergei Bachinin (Vyatsky Nablyudatel’) and Anna Sevortian (Centre for Development of Democracy).
The event was supported by the Open Society Foundation and the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway.
20 Dec 2007 | Comment
Coverage of the recent Duma poll and forthcoming presidential race suggests that Russian media increasingly only functions to endorse the government line, writes Oleg Panfilov
On 12 December, Vladimir Putin had an official meeting with the Chairman of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov, and with the chairmen of several regional election commissions. The president offered his congratulations with regard to the Constitution Day and thanked them for the ‘highly professional work’ done during the campaign season of the State Duma elections.
The Central Election Commission is an officially independent organisation, so this meeting, and many others like it, could be viewed with some surprise. However, the reality is that Russians are not surprised or worried about this in the slightest. Political aggression from President Putin’s supporters has long been the norm, and it does not seem to upset anyone. On the contrary, such behaviour is widely welcomed, as many regard Putin’s actions to be an expression of masculine power, supreme courage and strong arm tactics.
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