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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 132, 00-07-12

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 132, 12 July 2000 Caucasus Report," Vol. 33, No. 22, 1 June

2000). Neither

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION INTO ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SHOOTINGS
  • [02] ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS TO MEET IN CRIMEA
  • [03] AZERBAIJAN, TURKEY REAFFIRM 'SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP'
  • [04] GEORGIA, ABKHAZIA AGREE ON STABILIZATION MEASURES...
  • [05] ...IN SPIRIT OF 'PRAGMATISM'
  • [06] LITHUANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS GEORGIA
  • [07] NEW GEORGIAN ANTI-CORRUPTION BODY CREATED
  • [08] GEORGIAN OPPOSITIONIST CALLS FOR PRE-TERM ELECTIONS
  • [09] U.S., KAZAKHSTAN DISCUSS OIL EXPORTS, DOMESTIC POLITICS
  • [10] KYRGYZSTAN DETAINS 'ISLAMISTS'
  • [11] TURKMENISTAN REGISTERS SOLID ECONOMIC GROWTH

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [12] DJUKANOVIC: MILOSEVIC PUSHING MONTENEGRO TOWARD INDEPENDENCE
  • [13] MONTENEGRIN PARTY INVITES SERBIAN OPPOSITION
  • [14] MILOSEVIC, DUMA DELEGATION CALL FOR ABOLITION OF HAGUE
  • [15] YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER HAILS COUNTRY'S 'PRESTIGE'
  • [16] BOSNIAN MUSLIM LEADER CALLS FOR 'JUSTICE'...
  • [17] ...WHILE HOLBROOKE SEEKS 'RECONCILIATION'
  • [18] KOSOVA'S SERBS CALL FOR HARMONY
  • [19] HARADINAJ AIDE KILLED IN KOSOVA
  • [20] KOUCHNER NAMES RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN...
  • [21] ...REBUFFS THACI
  • [22] TENSIONS MOUNT IN CROATIAN COALITION
  • [23] CROATIAN SOLDIERS DESERT
  • [24] ROMANIA'S LIBERALS TO FORSAKE PNTCD ALLIANCE?
  • [25] RUSSIAN STATE DUMA SPEAKER IN ROMANIA
  • [26] MOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL STALEMATE EMERGING
  • [27] MOLDOVAN PRISONER CASE TO BE EXAMINED BY EUROPEAN COURT

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [28] RUSSIAN JOURNALISTS NOT UNITED TO DEFEND PRESS FREEDOM

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION INTO ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SHOOTINGS

    COMPLETED

    The Armenian Military Prosecutor's office formally

    announced on 11 July that the preliminary investigation into

    the 27 October parliament shootings has been completed,

    RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Fourteen people have been

    charged with either perpetrating the killings, aiding and

    abetting the five gunmen, or illegal possession of arms. The

    accused, their defense lawyers, the parliament deputies

    injured in the attack or held hostage during the night of 27-

    28 October, and the relatives of those murdered have 50 days

    to acquaint themselves with the details of the case. On 10

    July, the Military Prosecutor explained to the parliament his

    rationale for terminating criminal proceedings against five

    people originally charged in connection with the killings,

    including presidential aide Aleksan Harutiunian. LF

    [02] ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS TO MEET IN CRIMEA

    Armenian

    Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian told journalists in Yerevan

    on 11 July that Armenian President Robert Kocharian and his

    Azerbaijani counterpart, Heidar Aliev, will meet in Yalta on

    15 August to resume their discussion of approaches to

    resolving the Karabakh conflict, Interfax and RFE/RL's

    Yerevan bureau reported. Meanwhile the OSCE Minsk Group will

    meet in Vienna on 12-14 July to discuss the mediation process

    ahead of OSCE Chairwoman in Office Benita Ferrero-Waldner's

    visit to Armenia and Azerbaijan on 18 July. Naira Melkumian,

    the foreign minister of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh

    Republic, has been invited to Vienna, but it is not clear

    whether she will attend the Minsk Group talks. Oskanian said

    that the Minsk Group co-chairmen did not propose any new

    approaches to resolving the conflict when they visited the

    region last week but that they hope next month's talks

    between Kocharian and Aliev will yield new proposals that

    give fresh impetus to the peace process. LF

    [03] AZERBAIJAN, TURKEY REAFFIRM 'SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP'

    New

    Turkish President Ahmed Necdet Sezer was in Baku on 11 July

    on his first foreign visit, thereby underscoring what he

    termed the "special relationship" between the two countries,

    Reuters reported. During two hours of talks, Sezer and

    President Aliev discussed the prospects for expanding

    bilateral economic relations and for resolving the Karabakh

    conflict. Aliev urged Sezer to commit Turkey to import gas

    from Azerbaijan's off-shore Shah Deniz field, noting the

    delays in implementing earlier plans for Turkey to import gas

    from Turkmenistan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 July 2000).

    Interfax quoted Sezer as agreeing in principle to that

    proposal and to Aliev's request to expedite the start of

    construction of the planned Baku-Ceyhan export pipeline for

    Caspian oil. LF

    [04] GEORGIA, ABKHAZIA AGREE ON STABILIZATION MEASURES...

    At a 11

    July meeting in Sukhum of the Coordinating Commission

    established in 1997 under the aegis of the UN, Georgian

    Minister of State Gia Arsenishvili and Abkhaz Premier

    Vyacheslav Tsugba, together with UN Special Representative

    Dieter Boden and the commander of the CIS peacekeeping forces

    in the conflict zone, Lieutenant General Sergei Korobko,

    signed a protocol outlining measures to prevent new

    destabilization in southern Abkhazia, Caucasus Press

    reported. The two sides undertook to refrain from seeking to

    resolve the conflict by force and agreed to reduce to no more

    than 600 the number of police and troops each side deployed

    in the conflict region and create special groups charged with

    cracking down on cross-border smuggling and crime. The two

    sides signed similar undertakings aimed at preventing

    hostilities in summer 1997, spring 1998, and earlier this

    year (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 August 1997, 26 May 1998 and

    20 January 2000). LF

    [05] ...IN SPIRIT OF 'PRAGMATISM'

    Abkhaz President Vladislav

    Ardzinba on 12 July characterized the previous day's meeting

    as a victory for pragmatism over politics, Caucasus Press

    reported. Arsenishvili said the two sides agreed to focus on

    practical issues such as economic reconstruction in

    Abkhazia's southernmost Gali Raion. Arsenishvili also said

    that he received a favorable impression of Ardzinba, whom he

    had met on 11 July for the first time. He noted Ardzinba's

    respect for President Shevardnadze. In a related gesture of

    reconciliation, the central Georgian government has donated a

    consignment of rare books to the Dmitri Gulua Abkhaz

    Institute of Humanitarian Studies, which Ardzinba formerly

    headed, Caucasus Press reported on 12 July. LF

    [06] LITHUANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS GEORGIA

    Visiting Tbilisi

    on 10-11 July, Algirdas Saudargas discussed with his Georgian

    counterpart, Irakli Menagharishvili, parliamentary speaker

    Zurab Zhvania, and President Shevardnadze prospects for

    expanding bilateral relations and cooperation between the

    Baltic and Black Sea regions, Caucasus Press reported.

    Zhvania noted that the two countries' approaches to greater

    integration into European structures coincide, while

    Shevardnadze said that Lithuania's experience in that field

    may prove valuable to Georgia. Saudargas told journalists

    after his meeting with Menagharishvili that Lithuania's

    accession to the GUUAM alignment is "out of the question" at

    present, but he did not exclude that his country might join

    GUUAM sometime in the future. LF

    [07] NEW GEORGIAN ANTI-CORRUPTION BODY CREATED

    In accordance with

    a presidential decree. a working group has been set up that

    will be chaired by Supreme Court Chairman Lado Chanturia and

    will draft a national program for fighting corruption,

    Caucasus Press reported on 11 July. Once that program is

    completed, a new anti-corruption agency will be established

    in late September. Speaking on national television the same

    day, President Shevardnadze said corruption in Georgia has

    reached the stage where it poses a threat to statehood and

    undermines the authority of the country's leadership,

    according to Reuters. Shevardnadze said that the anti-

    corruption policy will target primarily bureaucrats who abuse

    their official position. LF

    [08] GEORGIAN OPPOSITIONIST CALLS FOR PRE-TERM ELECTIONS

    Opposition Labor Party chairman Shalva Natelashvili told

    journalists in Tbilisi on 11 July that the Georgian

    Constitution should be amended to provide for the creation of

    a Constituent Congress on which the present parliament and

    government, authorities, opposition political parties and

    movements, and the government and parliament of deceased

    President Zviad Gamsakhurdia should all be represented,

    Caucasus Press reported. Natelashvili said that congress

    should then adopt a new constitution that would introduce a

    cabinet of ministers and a bicameral parliament. He also

    called for pre-term parliamentary and presidential elections

    to be held on 29 April 2001. Natelashvili had argued last

    month that pre-term elections are needed in order to bring to

    power "patriotic forces" that can create improve social

    conditions and prevent what he termed an impending split in

    society. LF

    [09] U.S., KAZAKHSTAN DISCUSS OIL EXPORTS, DOMESTIC POLITICS

    Stephen Sestanovich, who is special adviser on the CIS to the

    U.S. secretary of state, said in Astana on 11 July after

    talks with Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev

    that the U.S. supports Kazakhstan's commitment to multiple

    oil export pipelines, Russian agencies reported. President

    Nursultan Nazarbaev last November signed an agreement to

    export some of Kazakhstan's oil via the planned Baku-Ceyhan

    pipeline (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 November 1999). ITAR-TASS

    quoted Toqaev as saying that "the more pipelines we have to

    export Kazakh raw materials, the better it is for

    Kazakhstan." Sestanovich and Toqaev also discussed

    Kazakhstan's relations with international financial

    organizations, its planned entry into the World Trade

    Organization, regional security issues, and the domestic

    political situation. Sestanovich expressed the hope that the

    Kazakh authorities will begin a dialogue with the opposition

    this fall. LF

    [10] KYRGYZSTAN DETAINS 'ISLAMISTS'

    Three citizens of Uzbekistan

    have been detained in the southern Kyrgyzstan city of Osh on

    suspicion of engaging in clandestine activities on behalf of

    Djuma Namangani, one of the leaders of the banned Islamic

    Movement of Uzbekistan, Interfax reported on 11 July. LF

    [11] TURKMENISTAN REGISTERS SOLID ECONOMIC GROWTH

    Turkmenistan's

    GDP and industrial output both increased by 14 percent during

    the first six months of this year compared with the same

    period in 1999, Interfax reported on 11 July. Output in the

    fuel and chemical sectors rose by 18 percent during that

    period. Revenues targets for the first half of the year were

    met by 100 percent. LF


    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [12] DJUKANOVIC: MILOSEVIC PUSHING MONTENEGRO TOWARD INDEPENDENCE

    Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic said in Dubrovnik on 11

    July that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's recent

    constitutional changes have led to a rise in pro-independence

    sentiment in his republic (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 11

    July 2000). He argued that holding a "referendum on

    independence is a constitutional right of Montenegrin

    citizens.... And unfortunately, because of the irresponsible

    acts of the authorities in Belgrade, we are every day closer

    to using that [possibility]. But as you can see from the

    overall policies of the Montenegrin government, we haven't

    rushed to make that move," an RFE/RL correspondent reported.

    After meeting with his Czech, Slovenian, and Croatian

    counterparts, Djukanovic said: "Montenegro will in any case

    do all it can to avoid a new conflict in the Balkans, [but]

    we will fight and defend ourselves" if a conflict breaks out,

    AP reported. PM

    [13] MONTENEGRIN PARTY INVITES SERBIAN OPPOSITION

    Djukanovic's

    Democratic Socialist Party (DPS) has invited representatives

    of "democratic" parties in Serbia to Sveti Stefan on 14 July

    to "exchange opinions on current political developments in

    Montenegro and Serbia, especially following the latest [acts

    of] political violence by the Belgrade regime against the

    constitutional structure of the state," Miodrag Vukovic of

    the DPS steering committee said in Podgorica on 11 July. In

    Belgrade, several Serbian opposition leaders expressed

    support for Montenegro, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

    reported. "We will discuss the strategy how to preserve the

    joint state but only as a reformed, democratic union," said

    Zoran Djindjic of the Democratic Party. Observers note that

    the question of Montenegro's political status has been of

    only minor importance in Serbian politics. There is little

    enthusiasm among Serbs for tiny Montenegro's demand to be

    treated as the constitutional equal of much larger Serbia.

    Djukanovic and other Montenegrin leaders have expressed

    support for the Serbian opposition but stressed that change

    in Serbia must be the work of Serbs themselves. PM

    [14] MILOSEVIC, DUMA DELEGATION CALL FOR ABOLITION OF HAGUE

    TRIBUNAL

    Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic met in

    Belgrade on 11 July with a Russian State Duma delegation

    headed by Dimitrii Rogozin, who is the chairman of the Duma's

    foreign affairs committee. The guests and their host agreed

    "on the need to abolish the Hague[-based war crimes]

    tribunal, which is an instrument of defense of interests of

    the United States and NATO," ITAR-TASS reported. Few foreign

    visitors have called on Milosevic since the Hague tribunal

    indicted him for war crimes in May 1999. His most recent

    prominent guest was Chinese parliamentary speaker Li Peng

    (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 June 2000). PM

    [15] YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER HAILS COUNTRY'S 'PRESTIGE'

    In

    Belgrade on 11 July, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin

    Jovanovic said that "Yugoslavia's ties and cooperation with

    three-quarters of the world's nations--which accept it as a

    valid, reliable, and equal partner--and its achievements in

    reconstruction and development" prove that sanctions against

    Belgrade have failed, Reuters reported. The Milosevic-run

    daily "Politika" wrote that "the international position and

    reputation [of Yugoslavia] are growing by the day." PM

    [16] BOSNIAN MUSLIM LEADER CALLS FOR 'JUSTICE'...

    Mustafa Ceric,

    who heads the Islamic religious community in Bosnia, said at

    a memorial prayer service near Srebrenica on 11 July that "we

    do not come here for revenge, but neither to forgive. We are

    here so that everyone may know that we haven't-- and that we

    won't-- abandon our search for justice," an RFE/RL

    correspondent reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 July 2000).

    PM

    [17] ...WHILE HOLBROOKE SEEKS 'RECONCILIATION'

    Speaking at the UN

    on 11 July, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke

    praised the "brave" Muslims who attended the prayer meeting

    in Serb-held Srebrenica. He added that the "butchers"

    responsible for the deaths of thousands of Srebrenica's males

    in 1995 must be brought to justice. The architect of the 1995

    Dayton peace agreement added, however, that "Srebrenica must

    not be forgotten, and people must learn from it. But at the

    same time, we must have reconciliation in the region," AP

    reported. He added that "the world meanwhile has shown that

    Srebrenica must not be forgotten, that the name Srebrenica

    will go down into history books along with Babi Yar, Lidice,

    Oradour, and other places of horrible massacres in the late

    20th century," Reuters reported. Meanwhile at a conference

    sponsored by Bosnian Ambassador to the UN Muhamed Sacirbey, a

    report concluded that "the cardinal lesson of Srebrenica is

    that a deliberate and systematic attempt to terrorize, expel

    or murder an entire people must be met decisively with all

    necessary means." PM

    [18] KOSOVA'S SERBS CALL FOR HARMONY

    A broad-based delegation of

    Serbs from Kosova discussed the situation in the province

    with leaders of the Serbian opposition in Belgrade on 11

    July. The Kosovar Serbs said in a statement that "the biggest

    responsibility and the gravest blame for the current tragic

    status of the Serbs and other ethnic groups in Kosovo lie

    with Slobodan Milosevic, his regime, and Albanian

    extremists," Reuters reported. The statement added that "as a

    part of the democratic opposition in Serbia, all

    representatives of the Kosovo Serbs present agreed to avoid

    internal clashes and verbal attacks [against each other] in

    the future." The delegation included hard-liners, such as

    Oliver Ivanovic, and moderates, such as Serbian Orthodox

    Archbishop Artemije. The archbishop noted that the two groups

    of Kosovar Serbs have the same goals but differ on the means

    to achieve them. PM

    [19] HARADINAJ AIDE KILLED IN KOSOVA

    A KFOR spokesman said in

    Prishtina on 12 July that a gunman killed Sadri Ahmet Sheraj

    near Decan the previous day, dpa reported. Witnesses told UN

    police that they recognized the killer. Sheraj was close to

    political leader and former Kosova Liberation Army (UCK)

    commander Ramush Haradinaj. There has been a series of

    violent incidents in recent months involving former UCK

    commanders who are now political rivals. Haradinaj himself

    was injured in a grenade attack on 7 July (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 10 July 2000). PM

    [20] KOUCHNER NAMES RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN...

    Bernard Kouchner, who

    heads the UN's civilian administration in Kosova, said in

    Prishtina on 12 July that he has appointed Polish lawyer

    Marek Antoni Nowicki as human rights ombudsman for the

    province, dpa reported. The previous day, Kouchner appointed

    British journalist Richard Lucas to head Radio-Television

    Kosova. PM

    [21] ...REBUFFS THACI

    Kouchner said in Prishtina on 11 July he

    will soon sign legislation on setting up local government

    offices in mainly Serbian areas, Reuters reported. He argued

    that Kosovar leader Hashim Thaci's decision to "suspend" work

    with Kouchner's civilian advisory council over the issue was

    merely a ploy aimed at winning votes in the local elections

    slated for the fall (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 July 2000). PM

    [22] TENSIONS MOUNT IN CROATIAN COALITION

    Political differences

    between Social Democratic leader and Prime Minister Ivica

    Racan and Social Liberal leader Drazen Budisa over changes in

    the cabinet slated for the fall have developed into an "open

    conflict," "Vecernji list" reported on 12 July. Budisa said

    that Racan has wrongly accused him of planning to form a

    coalition with the late President Franjo Tudjman's Croatian

    Democratic Community (see "RFE/RL South Slavic Report," 22

    and 29 June 2000). Racan, for his part, reminded the Social

    Liberals and his smaller coalition partners that his party is

    the largest one, adding that "our patience has its limits,"

    "Jutarnji list" reported. He suggested that he might call

    early elections if the feuding within the six-party coalition

    continues. PM

    [23] CROATIAN SOLDIERS DESERT

    Some 42 Croatian soldiers deserted

    their unit in Pula, dpa reported on 12 July. The men told

    reporters that their superiors had mistreated them. A

    lieutenant who allegedly stole from the recruits also

    disappeared from the barracks. An Defense Ministry spokesman

    said that authorities are investigating the two incidents. PM

    [24] ROMANIA'S LIBERALS TO FORSAKE PNTCD ALLIANCE?

    National

    Liberal Party (PNL) Chairman Mircea Ionescu-Quintus on 12

    July said the two "realistic" options for the PNL in the fall

    elections are an alliance or merger with the Alliance for

    Romania (APR) or running on separate lists. He spoke after a

    meeting of the PNL Central Standing Bureau. The bureau

    directed the negotiating team, led by First Deputy Chairman

    Valeriu Stoica, to continue talks with the APR but said it

    backs former Premier Theodor Stolojan--not APR chairman

    Theodor Melescanu--as presidential candidate. Earlier on 12

    July, Stolojan repeated that he will join the alliance only

    if the two parties merge. In a letter to PNL members made

    public the same day, Stoica said a return to an alliance with

    the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD) must

    be ruled out. He described the PNTCD as a "sick party,

    lacking vision, vigor, and imagination." MS

    [25] RUSSIAN STATE DUMA SPEAKER IN ROMANIA

    Gennadii Seleznev, who

    is on a two-day visit to Romania, is to meet with President

    Emil Constantinescu on 12 July. The previous day Seleznev met

    with Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu, Foreign Minister Petre

    Roman, and the chairmen of Romania's parliamentary chambers.

    Seleznev said the pending bilateral treaty between the two

    countries is unlikely to be concluded before the campaign for

    the fall elections in Romania is over. He said experts

    representing the two sides should deal with the problem of

    the Romanian state treasure held in Moscow since World War I

    but emphasized that Russia "does not want to set a precedent"

    that could affect problems with other states. Both sides

    agreed that commercial ties are unsatisfactory. MS

    [26] MOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL STALEMATE EMERGING

    The

    Constitutional Court on 11 July ruled that the amendment to

    the basic law proposed by President Petru Lucinschi does not

    infringe on the constitution. The amendment grants the

    president the right to call plebiscites on constitutional

    amendments and thus contradicts the parliament's recent

    decision to transform Moldova into a parliamentary republic.

    Under the proposed legislation, the president could call a

    referendum within six months after the parliament approves

    the initiatives. Lucinschi's term in office ends in December

    2000, and observers say the parliament may not even discuss

    the initiative until then. The proposed constitutional

    amendment also calls for electing 70 percent of parliamentary

    deputies in single constituencies and 30 percent on party

    lists. At present, a proportional system based on party lists

    is used to elect the entire parliament, RFE/RL's Chisinau

    bureau reported. MS

    [27] MOLDOVAN PRISONER CASE TO BE EXAMINED BY EUROPEAN COURT

    The

    European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has notified the

    Moldovan and Russian governments that it intends to consider

    the case of the "Ilascu group" detained in Tiraspol. It asked

    both governments to present their official position on the

    case. Members of the detained group and their families

    requested that the court make a ruling. They consider both

    Moldova and Russia responsible for the acts of the

    internationally unrecognized Tiraspol separatists, Flux

    reported. MS


    [C] END NOTE

    [28] RUSSIAN JOURNALISTS NOT UNITED TO DEFEND PRESS FREEDOM

    by Floriana Fossato

    According to opinion polls, public trust in the Russian

    media has plummeted over the past 10 years. A 1990 survey

    conducted by the Commission for Freedom of Access to

    Information--a Russian NGO--found that more than two-thirds

    (70 percent) of respondents believed what the media reported.

    Six years later, a poll by the same organization found that

    only 40 percent trusted journalists. Today, that figure is 13

    percent.

    Iosif Dzyaloshinskii, the commission's founder and a

    Moscow University journalism professor, told RFE/RL that

    several factors explain the Russian media's loss of public

    trust and interest. In most Western countries, he notes, news

    media developed parallel to a flourishing class of traders

    willing to make decisions based on information. Historically,

    he says, this was not the case in Russia.

    "The press in Russia developed, from the beginning,

    among thinkers. They were writers, they were opposition

    activists or, on the contrary, they were people close to the

    government. These people started publishing newspapers,

    writing in newspapers, not because they wanted to disseminate

    information, but because they wanted to influence the

    situation. [Since then] a journalist in Russia cannot simply

    act as an informer. It is an accepted fact that a journalist

    [is somebody who] must teach how to live."

    When Russia started its experiment with democracy after

    the breakup of the Soviet Union, journalists were eager to

    meet the challenge, although they were poorly prepared for

    it. Many journalists regard the period from 1989 to 1992 as a

    golden age of the Russian press. They say that in the turmoil

    when the communist state apparatus was crumbling, reporters

    had unprecedented access to all kinds of sources. But,

    according to Dzyaloshinskii, this was also a period of great

    confusion and superficiality, when few journalists could

    figure out what kind of information was out there and who

    would be interested in it.

    Gradually, a new wave of promising young journalists

    appeared. They were interested in presenting facts gathered

    in a professional way. The sector of the public most

    interested in their product was the elite, the new

    businessmen, and economic reformers.

    There followed the rise of large media companies

    controlled by business and political leaders who were

    interested in hiring professionals and were willing to

    sustain money-losing newspapers and broadcast stations in

    order to acquire tools of influence. Journalists, in turn,

    were interested in finding financial backers. It seemed a

    fair exchange, but some now say it turned to the journalists'

    disadvantage. Leading journalists started being associated--

    both in the eyes of the authorities and of the public--with

    their outlets' owners and backers. Many were regarded as

    little more than well-paid propagandists engaged in slander

    and disinformation.

    According to Dzyaloshinskii, until very recently most

    Russian journalists took little notice of the public's

    negative perception. But when the government last year began

    moves to control the press--banning certain coverage of

    Chechnya, using the granting of licenses to pressure the

    media, raiding a prominent media company-- journalists

    realized that the public was not on their side. Yet few

    exhibited solidarity toward their colleagues.

    "At the moment, everyone believes that he or she is

    personally good. [In this view] there are some negative

    figures, but it's up to them to justify their conduct. [But]

    what we are now witnessing is how [people's negative]

    reaction to the bad work or to the immoral conduct of some

    journalists falls on all journalists," Dzyaloshinskii

    comments.

    Dzyaloshinskii also argues that to defend themselves,

    journalists should unite and act as a professional class--

    especially if the government starts to tar them all with the

    same brush. But he says this has yet to happen. A huge gulf

    between Moscow-based journalists and their colleagues in the

    regions has not been overcome. Egregious cases of

    intimidation by local authorities against regional

    journalists have received publicity in Moscow but have not

    led to solidarity among journalists. Moscow journalists often

    show disdain for the skills of their regional colleagues. In

    turn, journalists outside the capital resent what they call

    the "rich Moscow caste."

    Sergei Parkhomenko, the editor-in-chief of the Moscow-

    based weekly "Itogi," says Russian journalists are wary of

    banding together because of Russia's bad experience with

    solidarity.

    "In Soviet times," he says, "solidarity among workers

    was compulsory and false. Everybody was aware of this. That

    created antibodies that will last for a long time." In recent

    times, Parkhomenko adds, Boris Yeltsin called on Russians to

    show solidarity for the new cause of creating capitalism and

    democracy. Many felt they had been misled.

    After all those developments, Parkhomenko says,

    solidarity among people belonging to the same professional

    category or solidarity in society on humanitarian issues,

    democratic freedoms, and access to information is next to

    impossible.

    The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in London.

    12-07-00


    Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
    URL: http://www.rferl.org


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