On the way to Samizdat

On March 13, Roskomnadzor blocked the sites “Grani.ru”, “Kasparov.ru” and “Daily Journal”. The day before, the owner of the Site "Lenta.ru" fired the editor -in -chief Galina Timchenko. In response, several dozen journalists wrote statements about the departure

Editors of Lenta.ru on the day of dismissal of editor -in -chief Galina Timchenko. March 12, 2014

“The trouble is not that we have nowhere to work. The trouble is that you seem to have nothing more to read, ”the employees of Lenta.ru wrote in a farewell appeal to readers. The next day, Roskomnadzor introduced a number of other Internet publications in the register of prohibited information-for "calls for illegal activities and participation in mass events conducted in violation of the established procedure." And at the same time, he closed access to the LJ of Alexei Navalny - for "violation of the provision of a court decision on the election of a preventive measure to a citizen."

The stripping of the information field in Russia did not begin yesterday. But until recently, the closure of the publication or the change of leadership was customary to somehow explain-as a rule, by economic reasons. There were those who believed that the whole thing was not at all in politics. So far, it has not reached the media, whose financial successes are obvious.

The Council of Shareholders of Echo of Moscow dismissed the general director Yuri Fedutinov, who over 20 years of the leadership made a radio station one of the few profitable media. There were already few people doubted: this decision is not in the economic plane. Therefore, there was no explanation. And they also did not consider it necessary - at least so far - to explain the resignation of Timchenko in all respects to the team in all respects.

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Independent media are not needed: they demonstrate a gap between a picture painted by propaganda, and a real picture of life

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The same story is with blocked sites. In Roskomnadzor, they did not explain to their chief editors what exactly the materials and why were regarded as “calls for illegal activities”.

The time has come when the need to explain something disappeared. The signal is extremely clear: in order to get under the blow, it is not necessary to belong to the vulnerable oligarch and be a major disloyal edition. It is enough to be just a disloyal publication.

The ruler, who “lost touch with reality”, is not needed by independent media: they only demonstrate a gap between the picture painted by his propaganda and the real picture of life. But Russian society, unlike the president, is vital for independent media. And they need to fight for them.

Yesterday, talking about returning to the era of Samizdat were perceived as a joke. Today, in social networks, at full seriousness, they exchange step -by -step instructions for access to “prohibited” sites. And under the appeal of “dear readers” to the Timchenko team “we are ready to throw yourself so that you work in this composition and further” on the website of Change.org, almost 10 thousand people sign up per day.

Photo: Evgeny Feldman/New Gazeta