KGB RTR


June 14, 2002


BOB GARFIELD: We're back with On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.

MIKE PESCA: And I'm Mike Pesca. A couple of weeks ago Vladimir Putin received the news that the U.S. Department of Commerce had recognized Russia as a market economy. That status is a crucial condition for Russia's admission into the World Trade Organization which sets the ground rules for international trade. But while Russia heads for a future of free trade, the marketplace of free ideas suffered yet another blow.

BOB GARFIELD:A former KGB official named Alexander Zdanovich was given one of the top posts at the state-owned RTR Television Network, Russia's largest, with an audience of more than a hundred million people. Zdanovich's position grants him oversight of all content including coverage of upcoming Parliamentary elections. Masha Lipman is the deputy editor of a weekly magazine called Journal. The magazine she used to write for was shut down by the government. She says this personnel move was an intimidation play, and don't be fooled that they don't call it the KGB any more.

MASHA LIPMAN: We call it FSB, and of course it's no longer the omnipotent monster, the intimidating body controlling every step and imposing government control over every person in the country. However Alexander Zdanovich himself as top spokesman of FSB, the, the KGB successor, has never concealed his feelings about free press. For instance he said FSB will fight everything that threatens Russia-- Russia's interests including in the world of the media. He likened to terrorists those reporters who dared cover the Chechan War not the way that pleased the government. He said that the interests of the public are identical to the interests of the state, a statement that-- to me smells of Soviet propaganda.

BOB GARFIELD:Well I would say that it was a case of the fox guarding the henhouse except that RTR wasn't exactly the brave voice of independent journalism to begin with. It's state-run, state-owned and has been, well shall we say, very friendly towards the Putin government. Why would RTR need this kind of hard liner?

MASHA LIPMAN: Actually I don't have an answer to this question. I don't think there is a need for a hard liner because the channel is perfectly loyal to the government as it is. This does not mean that every word is censored. Far from it. This just means that sensitive subjects are covered in the quote/unquote "right way" -- the way it suits the Kremlin. To me this appointment is all the more outrageous because there's no government need for this.

BOB GARFIELD:The last two years have been very difficult for independent media in Russia --particularly independent television. How has RTR fared during this period? Does it have any credibility left with the Russian people? Are they buying the government line?

MASHA LIPMAN: Yes, I would say the simple answer is yes. A very small minority of the public cares about, about free press, about press being not controlled by the state, and today we do not have a single national TV channel that is fully uncontrolled. When the government took over the privately owned national TV channel, NTZ [sp?] about a year ago, only about 4 percent of the Russian public thought this was infringing on the freedom of the press. Unfortunately, the public is all for more government control today.

BOB GARFIELD:Let me ask you one more thing. In covering what you cover for Journal, are you looking over your shoulder at the government and the security apparatus to make sure that you don't run afoul of them or are you left alone to do what you do?

MASHA LIPMAN: For the time being we are [solely ?] left alone, I'm, I'm happy to say. Nobody interferes with our coverage. However the Kremlin of today, when it wants to crack down on, on the press uses more sophisticated ways than [sending ?] security people and interfere with your coverage. There's a whole variety of fairly sophisticated methods that stop short of, of interfering indirectly.

BOB GARFIELD: Well, for example.

MASHA LIPMAN:You can always squelch a medium using business disputes, and this was what happened to NTV, the privately-owned television channel. The government took advantage of the debts that the previous owner had. What I mean is if the Kremlin is after you, he has a whole range of methods that would not look -- at least on the surface -- as harassing reporters or editors -as imposing censorship.

BOB GARFIELD: I understand. Well I, I hope that soon you will not be so small and marginal as to be off of Putin's radar.

MASHA LIPMAN: [LAUGHS] Well, I would hope so too.

BOB GARFIELD: Masha Lipman, thank you very much.

CHRISTOPHER LYDON: Pleasure.

BOB GARFIELD: Masha Lipman is deputy editor of the news weekly Journal and a monthly columnist for the Washington Post. [MUSIC]