[Media-watch] Putin tells reporters to fight terror

[Sigi D]

Hello there, 
here in Britain we hear that  terrorists are abusing
the media.
Well, people in Russia hear similar things from Putin.
An interesting article from the Moscow Times - some of
his arguments sound familiar.
All the best
S
http://www.worldpress.org/link.cfm?http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2004/09/27/001.html
http://www.worldpress.org/link.cfm?http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2004/09/27/001.html
Monday, September 27, 2004 
Putin Tells Reporters to Fight Terror
By Anatoly Medetsky 
Staff Writer 
 	

 
President Vladimir Putin urged journalists to stop
being simply observers and join the fight against
terrorism, apparently by making sure that news
coverage does not help terrorists achieve their goals.


"Terrorists cynically use the capabilities of mass
media, and democracy on the whole, to multiply the
psychological and informational impact in the course
of hostage-taking or conducting other terrorist acts,"
Putin told more than 100 representatives of
international news agencies at a conference Friday.

"The news community can create a model of work that
could make the media an effective tool in the fight
against terrorism and that could exclude any, even
involuntary, form of assistance to terrorists," he
said, according to a transcript of his speech posted
on the Kremlin web site.

Putin spoke at the conference, organized by state news
agency Itar-Tass, in the wake of the Sept. 1-3 hostage
crisis at School No. 1 in Beslan, in which more than
330 people were killed.

"I am convinced that in the conditions of a global
terrorist threat, when people die, the media cannot be
simply observers," Putin said.

One element of the fallout from major acts of
terrorism in recent years has been new pressure on the
media, which have faced increasing restrictions since
Putin came to office in 2000.

Following the hostage crisis at the Dubrovka theater
in Moscow in 2002, the State Duma passed a bill that
would have severely limited the media's ability to
report on terrorism. Putin vetoed the bill, but media
leaders then adopted a charter that repeated many of
its provisions, including pledges not to publish or
air comments from terrorists or to report on the
actions of special forces.

In response to Beslan, the Duma plans to consider new
counterterrorism legislation, which Duma Speaker Boris
Gryzlov said would include new restrictions on how the
media cover terrorist attacks.

Putin said the government should not curb the media or
control news coverage even for the sake of fighting
terrorism, but that the media themselves should make
sure they do not assist terrorists.

He said one goal of terrorists is to destroy a free
press and democratic institutions.

"What was said could be considered an attempt to play
journalists and terrorists off against each other,
perhaps prejudice them against each other," Kremlin
observer Andrei Kolesnikov wrote in Kommersant on
Saturday.

"What, for example, does involuntary assistance to
terrorism mean?" he wrote.

Putin lashed out at some media's choice of terms, such
as "rebels" and "siege," in describing the Beslan
school seizure.

"If a person seeks to achieve his goals by means like
these, we should all have the same definition of such
a person -- a murderer and a terrorist," he said.

"If we don't learn to speak the same language, we
won't achieve our common goals and won't be able to
protect our people," he said.

Putin told his immediate audience, the representatives
of news agencies, that they had an even greater
responsibility. "You transmit real-time information
that is awaited by millions of people," not only at
newspapers and television stations but also in state
agencies, international organizations and financial
institutions, he said.

Putin used his speech to respond to the considerable
criticism, particularly from the West, about the
restrictions on press freedoms. "The freedom of the
press is one of the pillars of our democratic
foundation," he said.

More than two dozen members of the Academy of Russian
Television, however, signed an open letter published
in newspapers Friday saying that Russian television is
no longer free. "Instead of timely and objective
information, they try to force us to report the
official version; instead of free discussion,
propaganda," it said.

Putin said the government is trying to become more
open and transparent, and in return expects
"responsibility and truthfulness" from the media. "I
believe only mutual fulfillment of these obligations
by both government bodies and the mass media can be
productive," he said.

Putin also defended his latest initiatives to change
election practices drastically, after critics,
including the European Union and the United States,
said they could mean a retreat from democracy.

He said the planned reforms -- an end to popular
elections for governors and the elimination of
single-mandate seats in the Duma -- were meant to
provide more stability without harming democracy.

"Democracy and stability are equally important for
us," he said in response to a question. "I am sure
that Russia will be able to implement a plan for its
development that will allow it to develop in
conditions of stability and democracy."

Putin said the United States and other countries have
also made major changes to counter the threat of
terrorism and that many democratic nations do not
follow the U.S. model of direct elections for regional
leaders.

He said governors traditionally were appointed in
Russia because of its huge territory and large number
of ethnic groups. The appointment of governors, after
consultation with regional legislatures, provides the
major ethnic groups in a given republic with the
opportunity for equal representation, he said.

Putin defended his proposal to have Duma members
elected only on the basis of party lists as a move to
strengthen the development of a multi-party system. 

 At Friday's conference, Putin urged Iran to meet all
the demands of the UN nuclear watchdog and added that
he was "deeply convinced" that Iran has no need for
nuclear weapons.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has demanded
that Iran freeze uranium enrichment and all related
activities within two months, but Iran has called the
demand "illegal." Russia is completing work on an $800
million nuclear reactor in Iran, which has raised
concerns that Tehran may use the tech





	
	
		
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