.Putin's opponents are made to vanish from TV
MOSCOW: On a talk show last autumn, a prominent political analyst named Mikhail Delyagin offered some tart words about Vladimir Putin. When the program was televised, Delyagin was not.
His remarks were cut and he was digitally erased from the show, like a disgraced comrade airbrushed from an old Soviet photo. (The technicians may have worked a bit hastily; they left his disembodied legs in one shot.)
Delyagin, it turned out, has for some time resided on the so-called stop list, a roster of political opponents and other critics of the government who have been barred from television news and political talk shows by the Kremlin.
The stop list is, as Delyagin put it, "an excellent way to stifle dissent."
It is also a striking indication of how Putin has relied on the Kremlin-controlled television networks to consolidate power, especially in recent elections.
Opponents who were on television a year or two ago all but vanished during the campaigns, as Putin won a parliamentary landslide for his party and then installed his protégé, Dmitri Medvedev, as his successor. Putin is now prime minister but is still widely considered Russia's leader.
Onetime Putin allies such as Mikhail Kasyanov, his former prime minister, and Andrei Illarionov, his former chief economic adviser, disappeared from view. Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion and leader of the Other Russia opposition coalition, was banned, as were members of other parties. Even the Communist Party, the only remaining opposition party in Parliament, says its leaders are kept off television.
And it is not just politicians. Televizor, a rock group whose name means television set, had its booking on a St. Petersburg television station canceled in April, after its members took part in an Other Russia demonstration.
When some actors cracked a few mild jokes about Putin and Medvedev at Russia's equivalent of the Academy Awards in March, they were expunged from the telecast.
Political humor in general has been exiled from television here. One of the nation's most popular satirists, Viktor Shenderovich, once had a show that featured puppet caricatures of various politicians, including Putin. It was canceled in Putin's first term and Shenderovich has been all but barred from television.
Senior government officials deny the existence of a stop list, saying that people hostile to the Kremlin do not appear on television simply because their views are not newsworthy.
Journalists said in interviews that they did not believe that the Kremlin kept an official stop list, but that the networks keep their own and that they all operate under informal guidelines - an understanding of the Kremlin's likes and dislikes.
Vladimir Pozner, host of "Times," a political talk show on the top national network, Channel One, said the pressure to conform to Kremlin dictates had intensified over the last year and had not eased up even after the campaign.
"The elections have led to almost a paranoia on the part of the Kremlin administration about who is on television," said Pozner, who is president of the Russian Academy of Television.
In practice, Pozner said, he tells Channel One executives who he wants to invite on the show and they weed out anyone they think is persona non grata.
"They will say, 'Well, you know we can't do that, it's not possible, please, don't put us in this situation. You can't invite so and so' - whether it be Kasparov or Kasyanov or someone else," Pozner said.
He added: "The thing that nobody wants to talk about is that we do not have freedom of the press when it comes to the television networks."
Vladimir Solovyov, another political talk show host, said Pozner was complaining only because his ratings were down and he was looking for someone to blame if his program was canceled. Solovyov, a supporter of Putin, said he had never been bullied by the Kremlin.
But last year, his show, "Throw Down the Gauntlet," regularly featured members of opposition parties. This year, the only politicians to appear have been leaders of Putin's party, United Russia, and an allied party. Asked why he had not invited opposition leaders lately, Solovyov said, "No one supports them. They have nothing to say."
Vladimir Ryzhkov, a liberal and former member of Parliament who used to appear on the show, said Solovyov was covering up for the Kremlin.
"He lies, of course," Ryzhkov said. "My programs with him were among the highest rated programs of any in the history of his show."
Ryzhkov said he is usually allowed to appear in lengthy segments on only one major channel: Russia Today, the English-language news station that the Kremlin established to spread its viewpoint around the world. "I can go on Russia Today only because they want to make it seem that in Russia there is freedom of the press," he said.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, several national and regional television networks arose that were owned by oligarchs. Although they operated with relatively few restrictions, their owners often used them to settle personal and business scores. NTV, for instance, won attention for its investigative reporting and war dispatches from Chechnya.
The Kremlin effectively took over the major national networks in Putin's first term, including NTV. NTV's owner, Vladimir Gusinsky, was briefly arrested and then fled the country after giving up the network. From that point on, executives and journalists at Russian networks clearly understood that they would be punished for resisting the Kremlin.
All the major national and regional television networks are now owned by the government or its allies. And since the presidential election in March, neither Putin nor Medvedev has indicated any interest in loosening the reins.
"Our television is very often criticized," Medvedev said last month. "They say it is boring, it is pro-government, it is too oriented toward the positions of state agencies, of those in power. You know, I can say that our television - in terms of quality, in terms of the technology used - is, I believe, one of the best in the world."
Valery Komissarov, a former television host on a state channel who is now a ruling party leader in Parliament, said television coverage was a convenient scapegoat for opposition politicians and antagonistic commentators.
"These are people who are not interesting for society, who are not interesting for journalists," Komissarov said. "But they want publicity and perhaps they want to explain away their lack of creative and political success by the fact that they are persecuted, that they are included on the so-called stop list."
While the Kremlin has focused on television because it has by far the largest audience, many radio stations and newspapers also abide by the stop list, either ignoring or belittling the opposition.
There are exceptions: a few national and regional newspapers regularly publish critical news and commentary about Putin and comments from those on the stop list. In addition, the Russian Internet is not censored and contains plenty of criticism of the government.
A small national network, Ren TV, pushes the boundaries, as does a radio station, the Echo of Moscow, which has become the voice of the opposition even though Gazprom, the government gas monopoly, owns a majority stake in it.
The Kremlin seems to tolerate criticism in such outlets because they have a limited reach compared with the television networks. The nightly news on Channel One, for example, is far more popular than any of its counterparts in the United States. It regularly is one of top 10 most-watched programs.
Delyagin, the analyst edited out of the show on the network TV Center last autumn, said he was surprised to have been invited in the first place. He said he last appeared on a major network several years ago, before he began attacking the Kremlin and supporting the opposition. "I thought that maybe she forgot to look at the stop list," he said, referring to Kira Proshutinskaya, the host of the program "The People Want to Know."
In an interview, Proshutinskaya conceded that Delyagin had been erased from her program. She said she had been embarrassed by the incident, as well as the one with Ryzhkov, explaining that the network was responsible. The Kremlin had so intimidated the networks, she said, that self-censorship was rampant.
"I would be lying if I said that it is easy to work these days," she said. "The leadership of the channels, because of their great fear of losing their jobs - they are very lucrative positions - they overdo everything."
The management of her network would not comment. But the network's news director, Mikhail Ponomaryov, said journalists and hosts of talk shows had no choice but to comply with the rules. "It would be stupid to say that we can do whatever we want," he said. "If the owner of the company thinks that we should not show a person, as much as I want to, I cannot do it."
Herald Tribune
His remarks were cut and he was digitally erased from the show, like a disgraced comrade airbrushed from an old Soviet photo. (The technicians may have worked a bit hastily; they left his disembodied legs in one shot.)
Delyagin, it turned out, has for some time resided on the so-called stop list, a roster of political opponents and other critics of the government who have been barred from television news and political talk shows by the Kremlin.
The stop list is, as Delyagin put it, "an excellent way to stifle dissent."
It is also a striking indication of how Putin has relied on the Kremlin-controlled television networks to consolidate power, especially in recent elections.
Opponents who were on television a year or two ago all but vanished during the campaigns, as Putin won a parliamentary landslide for his party and then installed his protégé, Dmitri Medvedev, as his successor. Putin is now prime minister but is still widely considered Russia's leader.
Onetime Putin allies such as Mikhail Kasyanov, his former prime minister, and Andrei Illarionov, his former chief economic adviser, disappeared from view. Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion and leader of the Other Russia opposition coalition, was banned, as were members of other parties. Even the Communist Party, the only remaining opposition party in Parliament, says its leaders are kept off television.
And it is not just politicians. Televizor, a rock group whose name means television set, had its booking on a St. Petersburg television station canceled in April, after its members took part in an Other Russia demonstration.
When some actors cracked a few mild jokes about Putin and Medvedev at Russia's equivalent of the Academy Awards in March, they were expunged from the telecast.
Political humor in general has been exiled from television here. One of the nation's most popular satirists, Viktor Shenderovich, once had a show that featured puppet caricatures of various politicians, including Putin. It was canceled in Putin's first term and Shenderovich has been all but barred from television.
Senior government officials deny the existence of a stop list, saying that people hostile to the Kremlin do not appear on television simply because their views are not newsworthy.
Journalists said in interviews that they did not believe that the Kremlin kept an official stop list, but that the networks keep their own and that they all operate under informal guidelines - an understanding of the Kremlin's likes and dislikes.
Vladimir Pozner, host of "Times," a political talk show on the top national network, Channel One, said the pressure to conform to Kremlin dictates had intensified over the last year and had not eased up even after the campaign.
"The elections have led to almost a paranoia on the part of the Kremlin administration about who is on television," said Pozner, who is president of the Russian Academy of Television.
In practice, Pozner said, he tells Channel One executives who he wants to invite on the show and they weed out anyone they think is persona non grata.
"They will say, 'Well, you know we can't do that, it's not possible, please, don't put us in this situation. You can't invite so and so' - whether it be Kasparov or Kasyanov or someone else," Pozner said.
He added: "The thing that nobody wants to talk about is that we do not have freedom of the press when it comes to the television networks."
Vladimir Solovyov, another political talk show host, said Pozner was complaining only because his ratings were down and he was looking for someone to blame if his program was canceled. Solovyov, a supporter of Putin, said he had never been bullied by the Kremlin.
But last year, his show, "Throw Down the Gauntlet," regularly featured members of opposition parties. This year, the only politicians to appear have been leaders of Putin's party, United Russia, and an allied party. Asked why he had not invited opposition leaders lately, Solovyov said, "No one supports them. They have nothing to say."
Vladimir Ryzhkov, a liberal and former member of Parliament who used to appear on the show, said Solovyov was covering up for the Kremlin.
"He lies, of course," Ryzhkov said. "My programs with him were among the highest rated programs of any in the history of his show."
Ryzhkov said he is usually allowed to appear in lengthy segments on only one major channel: Russia Today, the English-language news station that the Kremlin established to spread its viewpoint around the world. "I can go on Russia Today only because they want to make it seem that in Russia there is freedom of the press," he said.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, several national and regional television networks arose that were owned by oligarchs. Although they operated with relatively few restrictions, their owners often used them to settle personal and business scores. NTV, for instance, won attention for its investigative reporting and war dispatches from Chechnya.
The Kremlin effectively took over the major national networks in Putin's first term, including NTV. NTV's owner, Vladimir Gusinsky, was briefly arrested and then fled the country after giving up the network. From that point on, executives and journalists at Russian networks clearly understood that they would be punished for resisting the Kremlin.
All the major national and regional television networks are now owned by the government or its allies. And since the presidential election in March, neither Putin nor Medvedev has indicated any interest in loosening the reins.
"Our television is very often criticized," Medvedev said last month. "They say it is boring, it is pro-government, it is too oriented toward the positions of state agencies, of those in power. You know, I can say that our television - in terms of quality, in terms of the technology used - is, I believe, one of the best in the world."
Valery Komissarov, a former television host on a state channel who is now a ruling party leader in Parliament, said television coverage was a convenient scapegoat for opposition politicians and antagonistic commentators.
"These are people who are not interesting for society, who are not interesting for journalists," Komissarov said. "But they want publicity and perhaps they want to explain away their lack of creative and political success by the fact that they are persecuted, that they are included on the so-called stop list."
While the Kremlin has focused on television because it has by far the largest audience, many radio stations and newspapers also abide by the stop list, either ignoring or belittling the opposition.
There are exceptions: a few national and regional newspapers regularly publish critical news and commentary about Putin and comments from those on the stop list. In addition, the Russian Internet is not censored and contains plenty of criticism of the government.
A small national network, Ren TV, pushes the boundaries, as does a radio station, the Echo of Moscow, which has become the voice of the opposition even though Gazprom, the government gas monopoly, owns a majority stake in it.
The Kremlin seems to tolerate criticism in such outlets because they have a limited reach compared with the television networks. The nightly news on Channel One, for example, is far more popular than any of its counterparts in the United States. It regularly is one of top 10 most-watched programs.
Delyagin, the analyst edited out of the show on the network TV Center last autumn, said he was surprised to have been invited in the first place. He said he last appeared on a major network several years ago, before he began attacking the Kremlin and supporting the opposition. "I thought that maybe she forgot to look at the stop list," he said, referring to Kira Proshutinskaya, the host of the program "The People Want to Know."
In an interview, Proshutinskaya conceded that Delyagin had been erased from her program. She said she had been embarrassed by the incident, as well as the one with Ryzhkov, explaining that the network was responsible. The Kremlin had so intimidated the networks, she said, that self-censorship was rampant.
"I would be lying if I said that it is easy to work these days," she said. "The leadership of the channels, because of their great fear of losing their jobs - they are very lucrative positions - they overdo everything."
The management of her network would not comment. But the network's news director, Mikhail Ponomaryov, said journalists and hosts of talk shows had no choice but to comply with the rules. "It would be stupid to say that we can do whatever we want," he said. "If the owner of the company thinks that we should not show a person, as much as I want to, I cannot do it."
Herald Tribune
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