Technical complications? Bad luck? Bad press? It would appear that the BBC’s difficulties to be on the air (both on AM and FM) in Russia are more evidence of President Putin’s shutting down of the free press. As the IHT reports, these BBC problems come on the heels of many other more or less covert clamp downs, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America. The IHT article reports that the “German broadcaster Deutsche Welle has also had problems with its German and Russian-language medium-wave radio programs in the past.” All told, it just doesn’t bode well. The unspeak, double talk and lack of transparency seems to be growing at leaps and bounds. The problem is that there doesn’t seem to be anybody (perhaps other than the Brits) putting up any resistance. What’s to be done? Insofar as the internet is terribly difficult to control, I don’t see how Putin will manage to shut down all the non-favorable commentary. What is he preparing that he doesn’t want anyone to talk about? His next Presidency? I found this post and the follow-up comments from Swedish expert, Vilhelm Konnander, plentiful.
Putin at it again…stomping out the BBC?
by Minter Dial | Aug 23, 2007 | Politics | 2 comments
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The arrest, announced on Aug 28, 2007, of the ten “suspects” in the assassination of the rebel journalist Anna Politkovskaya truly seems more a signal to the “alignment” of the police with Putin than an independent indictment of the real perpetrators. I look forward to more real pronouncements regarding this case. The Moscow Times article sets the tone: http://tinyurl.com/ys2tsm.