By Chloe Arnold.
MOSCOW, May 29, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- An international congress of journalists is convening in Moscow this week as concerns about media freedom in Russia continue to grow.
In a separate session before the opening of the congress, participants discussed a global campaign against the continuing murders of journalists in Russia.
In chilling footage shown at the start of the session, a female television journalist can be seen stumbling as she chases after a soldier while gunshots are fired overhead.
Participants at the May 28 discussion were convinced of the need to challenge the Russian government and its failure to adequately protect journalists.
But with no government officials present, some speakers said the debate was unlikely to change anything.
“Our journalists have no protection, and that tells you that journalism is a very risky profession and that there is a great deal of unhappiness in society," said Vladimir Ryzhkov, an independent State Duma deputy. "There are so many differing facts, so much corruption, so much crime committed in our country, that journalists who write about these things then find themselves at enormous risk.”
No-Shows
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which holds its world congress every three years, chose Moscow for its 2007 session at a location just a few steps from the White House. But despite repeated invitations, government officials, including President Vladimir Putin, did not attend the event.
Dmitry Muratov, the editor in chief of “Novaya gazeta" newspaper -- where journalist Anna Politkovskaya worked before she was murdered in October 2006 -- was scathing in his doubts about what the preliminary session dedicated to impunity could achieve.
"There’s been a lot of talk of ‘condemnation’ and ‘discussion’ and the need to send a message to the authorities at this session," Muratov said. "That is, we're talking about people’s deaths in a session that’s not part of the congress itself. It’s optional -- it’s the warm-up act, as rock musicians would say. There’s no one here representing the government, who are the ones who should be listening to the presentations that are being given. Or maybe you think they’ll be able to watch this later on Russian television?”
According to the IFJ, Russia is now the most dangerous place to be a journalist, after Iraq. John Crowfoot, an analyst with the IFJ, has produced a database that outlines the deaths and disappearances of 289 journalists in Russia since 1993.
According to the IFJ, Russia is now the most dangerous place to be a journalist, after Iraq. John Crowfoot, an analyst with the IFJ, has produced a database that outlines the deaths and disappearances of 289 journalists in Russia since 1993.
The youngest to have died is a 19-year-old reporter killed last September; the oldest, a retired journalist of 80, was stabbed to death in his home a few years ago. Forty-seven of those killed were women.
The figures are staggering. But Crowfoot says the deaths are one of just numerous indicators of how dangerous it is to be a journalist in Russia.
“There are attacks on journalists, there are attacks on editorial offices, there is cyber-warfare against websites, there are all kinds of different means of pressure," he said. "In some parts of the country, it's said that you don’t need to actually commit much violence because there are already so many levers -- control over printing presses and so on, which remain in the hands of the local authorities.”
“There are attacks on journalists, there are attacks on editorial offices, there is cyber-warfare against websites, there are all kinds of different means of pressure," he said. "In some parts of the country, it's said that you don’t need to actually commit much violence because there are already so many levers -- control over printing presses and so on, which remain in the hands of the local authorities.”
Unsolved Cases
The IFJ used the May 28 forum to launching a commission to investigate impunity in the killings of five journalists in Russia whose cases remain unresolved. (The journalists are Valery Ivanov, Aleksei Sidorov, Eduard Markevich, Dmitry Kholodov, and Vladimir Kirsanov.)
Miklos Haraszti, a representative for media freedom at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the lack of government action in defending journalists has created an atmosphere in which violence can flourish.
“There is only one thing more intimidating for free speech than harassment, physical attacks and murder of media workers -- and that is when governments tolerate harassment, attacks and murders,” Haraszti said.
The guest of honor at the preliminary session -- and one with at least a tentative link to the current government -- was to have been former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. But minutes before the opening, he telephoned to say he would not be attending.
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