(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
[vladimir, russia] I don't believe that those who carried out the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, 7. October last year, now arrested.
When the names of the criminals are published not only before the verdict falls, but before the investigation is completed, I believe even less of them. We journalists will be tried in Russia if we name the criminals before the sentence falls. But here the state attorney himself stood in front of the television cameras, breaking both written and unwritten rules. You get the impression that this is too much politics and too little professional and thorough work.
Recently, the television channels showed a resemblance to an operetta. When I looked at the faces of the party members sitting in the hall, I almost had to rub my eyes: Here was the same admiration and submissive horror that characterized those who worshiped Stalin in the movie newspapers! It became clear to me that we have seen the flowering in the last seven years. The fruits will come in the future.
The greatest obstacle to the freedom of the press is our president. It is an accident for the country that he has no plans to relinquish power. The election of new president in March 2008 becomes a well-directed play where the end is known. Therefore, the darkest period in the country's post-communist history is still ahead of us.
The second obstacle is the media owners' fear of power. The journalists simply have no place where they can publish articles where things are called by their proper names. In this situation, he or she is forced to either change profession or write articles that are hoping to be published.
The third obstacle is the journalists themselves. Those who were honest and freedom loving were kicked, convicted, persecuted, harassed and killed. There are only a handful left. When the TV channel NTV was suffocated, I tried to get the journalist club in Vladimir to support his colleagues in Moscow. But they refused: “The capital's journalists have always looked down on us. Let them get what they deserve! ”I said that when the shark is killed, the authorities will hunt for the small fish, the provincial press.
The Russian Federation of Journalists did not know its visiting hours under President Boris Yeltsin. Then they had the chance to become a strong organization. Now it's too late. Today, anyone in the government can get rid of a journalist with the help of an obedient judiciary. When a journalist is convicted, neither the readers, for whom he risked his life, nor his colleagues are present in the courtroom.
Here lies the fourth obstacle to the freedom of the press – Russian society. It is unsympathetic, selfish, cowardly, thoughtless, power-hungry and unfamiliar with following the laws. People do not see the connection between freedom of the press and their own standard of living. They are trained to put responsibility on the shoulders of power. The result is that this puppet life is perceived as the only right one; the main thing is that it is carefree. When an opposition newspaper or television channel is closed, there is no wave of protest through the people. The power knows that.
So what can the Rafto Foundation and other human rights organizations do to support freedom of the press in Russia? What you are doing now. Distribute prizes. Influence public opinion in their own country, influence their own authorities and business.
As long as Western leaders accept Putin and shake his hand, our vampire is invincible. As long as the economies of the other countries feed on Russia's oil and gas, our vampire will remain victorious. As long as that is the case, Russian journalists will be killed.
Natalia Novozhilova is an award-winning journalist in the newspaper Tomiks. She has written this text for the Rafto Foundation in collaboration with Ny Tid.
