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Aurel Stratan, editor of the Moldovan site, Agenda, has translated a recently published "Glasnost Map" for this site. The Glasnost Defense Foundation (GDF) released the map to show the different levels of media freedom in Russia. The Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recently placed Russia 147th out of 168 countries in its annual press freedom rankings.

The GDF presented its Glasnost Map on November 14 in Moscow in an effort to provide a fuller picture of the media freedom situation in russia. 

The foundation prepared the map based on media-related incidents reported by its own monitoring service, combined with reports from media experts in Russia’s various regions. It reflects a six-month period from March to August 2006. The following is the translation provided by Aurel Stratan.

Glasnost Map

Degree of freedom in the print and electronic media across the regions of the Russian Federation

1. Free - 0

2. Partly (relatively) Free
(signs of a free press can be seen) - 21

Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow region, Altai country, Perm region, Nizhnigorod region, Sverdlov region, Altai Republic, Murmansk region, Leningrad region, Smolensk region, Tver region, Chuvash Republic, Novgorod region, Irkutsk region, Novosibirsk region, Yaroslavl region, Kirov region, Kamchatka region, Sakhalin region, Tomsk region.

3. Partly (relatively) Unfree
(signs of a free press can be hardly seen) - 43

Arkhangel region, Kaliningrad region, Primorsk country, Voronezh region, Omsk region, Volgograd region, Krasnodar country, Saratov region, Stavropol country, Ivanov region, Vladimir region, Vologodsk region, Astrakhan region, Tuva Republic, Chelyabinsk region, Krasnoyarsk country, Chechen Republic, Rostov region, Tyumen region, North Ossetya Republic, Ulyanovsk region, Bryansk region, Kostroma region, Buriatya Republic, Lipetsk region, Orlov region, Belgorod region, Nenetsk autonomous district, Samara region, Udmurtya Republic, Khakasya Republic, Adigeya Republic, Komi Republic, Kurgan region, Kursk region, Orenburg region, Yakutia Republic, Tula region, Khanty-Mansyisk autonomous district, Chita region, Magadan region, Tambov region, Ryazan region.

4. Not Free - 17

Kabardin-Balkar Republic, Karachayevo-Cherkess Republic, Ingushetya Republic, Dagestan Republic, Kalmyk Republic, Bashkortostan Republic, Tartarstan Republic, Maryi Ell Republic, Mordovia Republic, Karelya Republic, Kemerov region, Penza region, Kaluga region, Pskov region, Khabarovsk country, Amur region, Jewish autonomous region.

What is your opinion about the media freedom in the region?

Deteriorating, like everywhere in Russia. The Smolensk region is not an exception. The freedom of speech is "melting". I hope it will not disappear for good " The same stuff in the Bryansk region.

Overall, the situation regarding the freedom speech in the Altai Republic can be described as "Relatively free".

Unfortunately, the oldest private newspaper in the Altai Republic - "Postskriptum", has no longer been what it used to be – more or less free ground for free discussion.

Not free. (Kemerov region). "In the Tomsk and Novosibirsk regions, the authorities are more tolerant towards the media.

Not free. (Karelia). "In the neighbouring regions to Karelia - Murmansk or Arkhangelsk - there are no "free" or "relatively free" media organisations. Perhaps, the Internet publications only are outside the state control. Internet-based media outlets of this type are more developed in the Arkhangelsk region.

In large cities of regional subordination the press is relatively unfree. In rural areas it is not free at all (Volgograd region).

There is no use of talking about the media freedom in the Kostroma region! We simply don’t have it. And, perhaps, we shall never have it. Therefore life in this region is just the way you can see. Forget about a competition of ideas!

Formally, most media organizations are independent from government, but everyone gets fed from the hands of the authorities. This is valid in the Pensa regional office of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, which only imitates independence in its information policy.

The majority of media organisations and journalists are willingly serving the government. However, there yet can be found some independent reports in some newspapers, on the Internet, at the radio and TV (St. Petersburg).

We have to mention that the local publications in the Leningrad region (especially at district level and in cities) are closely linked with the government, and they depend on it at various extents! Electronic media outlets are linked with the government directly! This way, the media in the Leningrad region (except for St. Petersburg) are relatively unfree.

Electronic media are not free at all. Print media are placed better, because it is harder to exert pressure on them. Anyway, those who wish to have a meal in the evening will keep silent. Nevertheless, the print publications are experiencing an increasing deal of pressure from the government (Primorsky country).

There is no sense of speaking about Glasnost in Nakhodka, because the new government there has no idea it that means. It actually has no idea about many things. The mayor and deputies, who are changing very often, are not inclined to meet with the journalists, because they have to be proficient about what to tell the press, while in Nakhodka, doing municipal duty is a hard nut to crack for the sitting authorities.

Not Free. (Tartarstan Republic). The situation in Maryi Ell is even worse.

Relatively unfree. (Khakhasya). About the Krasnoyar country I can tell you that the press there is all controlled by the local authorities. They prefer to publish the relatively critical materials in the neighbouring regions. The media in Krasnoyarsk hire journalists from Khakhasya; they even publish the criminal investigations about Khakhasya.

All state-owned newspapers publicly admit the presence of censorship. The most notable episodes: the firing of the editor-in-chief of the municipal newspaper "Третья столицы" (The Third Capital) and the acquisition of the formerly independent "Вечерний Омск" (Evening Omsk) by the regional administration of Omsk.

Interference in editorial policy, especially in cities and at district level, almost permanently (Stavropol country).

The Vologodsk region is best pictured in the trials of journalist Rassov and his newspaper by the governor, over the harming of honour and dignity by publishing scandalous cartoons in the newspaper "Наш регион" (Our Region).

From the GDF monitoring: in March - August 2006, as many as 181 lawsuits began against the media and journalists, with claims for 789,211,039 roubles.

70 lawsuits completed.
41 lawsuits ended in condemnation.
17,098,500 roubles was paid.

From the ruling of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation since 24 February 2005 "About judicial practice concerning lawsuits related to the defence of honour and dignity of citizens, and the business reputation of citizens and firms ": "The Court, while deliberating about the size of moral damage, must take into consideration the nature and content of the publication, as well as the degree of penetration of untrue information. The amount claimed in the form of compensation for moral damage must correspond the damage, but not lead to infringement of the liberty of the mass media."

The map was drafted with the financial support from the D. & K. Mc Arthurs.

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