Igor Yakovenko: “The media in the Russian Federation have ceased to serve as a platform for the exchange of opinions”

On April 27, 2006, the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation and the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations of Russia presented the project "Political Parties and Authorities in Monitoring News Releases of Russian TV Channels".

The monitoring carried out within the framework of the project showed that the Russian central TV channels in their information programs talk almost only about the authorities: 90% of the time is devoted to the president, government, parliament and the United Russia party. There are no noticeable differences in the presentation of information between different media: they actively and exclusively positively cover the activities of Putin, the government and the ruling party.

At the same time, television evaluates the activities of the government only positively or neutrally. As for the opposition, it is almost non-existent on the screens. Perhaps only the Russian television channel Ren-TV allows itself to talk about the opposition.

As Igor Yakovenko, head of the Union of Journalists of Russia, noted, the media in the Russian Federation have ceased to serve as a platform for the exchange of opinions, public discussions, confrontation and criticism and do not give the public the opportunity to understand the opinions of opposition parties. In his opinion, there are practically no journalists left in Russia, they have turned into propagandists and agitators. There is forceful pressure from outside and inside in the Russian media, which seeks to edit and correct information in order to create a positive image of the existing government and a negative image of opposition political organizations. There is censorship, threats and biased, discriminatory barriers to reporting during an election campaign.

Sources

• 90% of the Russian media praise the authorities a lot // New policy. 2006. April 27.
• 90% of the broadcast of information TV programs is devoted to the positive activities of the authorities // East Siberian news. 2006. April 28.