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Russia media takes a turn for the worse

MOSCOW - Russia is set to lose one of its few relatively objective news outlets as the Kremlin moves to tighten its grip on the country's media. In an unexpected move last week, President Vladimir Putin ordered the closure of the RIA Novosti news agency and the creation of a new global news agency - Rossia Segodnya - to be run by one of the most pro-government figures in the media.

The Kremlin said the decision was taken for financial reasons. But critics say the development means that the new station will almost certainly become just a tool for government propaganda.

Tatiana Gomozova, a journalist and political analyst with Kommersant FM radio station, told IPS: "It's another media outlet

being turned into a propaganda bureau with all RIA's facilities now to be used for propaganda."

Although state-owned, RIA Novosti was seen as one of Russia's most objective news services in a media landscape which is heavily regulated and largely under government control.

Almost all the country's TV channels are controlled by the state, while most regional newspapers are, mainly because of financial ties, in the hands of local authorities. Among national newspapers, there is some degree of independent and critical reporting on various issues.

Johann Bihr, head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Bureau at Reporters Without Borders, told IPS: "The national press is slightly different in that it is probably the most critical of the government - ie some criticism can be found there at least, and certainly among some of the online news outlets."

But individual journalists also face problems doing their work. While self-censorship is a problem among journalists - although Reporters Without Borders says that this practice has been waning in recent years - independent journalists reporting critically on the state, especially in areas such as human rights, can often find themselves facing intimidation, or worse.

According to the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI), 62 journalists have been killed in Russia since 1997, making it the sixth-deadliest country for reporters in the past 16 years. The group says that the real figure could be higher as impunity for attacks on journalists in Russia remains the general rule and the vast majority of cases go unsolved.

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Russia media takes a turn for the worse