Independent Broadcasting Takes a Backseat in Russia

By Rabin Man Shakya. Ph D

Russia has definitely made a successful comeback as a formidable sports powerhouse in the Winter Olympics in Sochi, but with Dozhd, Russia's only liberal independent news station on the verge of closing, the independent broadcasting takes a backseat in Russia.

Dozhd is an independent TV station of Russia and therefore it can not  and should not work like NTV of Russia and other pro-government TV channels. Dozhd's coverage of a secret dacha owned by a top aide to President Putin is reflective of the independent reporting. And Dozhd can not be chastised for its  independent reporting on Ukraine crisis

Likewise, many of the discussions that Dozhd was covering about corruption at the Sochi Olympics are intrinsically positive for the cause of independent Russian broadcasting journalism.

In one of its programmes, it asked the audience whether the former Soviet leaders should have surrendered Leningrad to the German Fascists in order to save hundreds of thousands of human lives from a crippling, 900-day siege during  World War II. I think this was where Dozhd screwed up. There is no such thing as unlimited press freedom.

When we talk about press freedom, we also should think about the vulnerabilities of the people, the sacrifice, pain and ordeal the people faced during the painful days. 27 million Soviet people were killed during the World War II, also called "Great Patriotic War" in the former Soviet Union. Later on, the TV channel apologized for the wrongful 'poll' and that should be it. The episode should not be dragged on to take a political vendetta against the independent TV station.

There is no doubt the Russian TV journalism has made tremendous strides in the journalistic professionalism after the fall of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, it would  just be futile to imagine about the press freedom in the former Soviet Union. But there there was professionalism even in the Soviet media system, albeit that 'professionalism'  was used to champion the cause of communist propaganda. Still in 1970s, the "Pravda" daily was simultaneously published in 42 different cities of the Soviet Union and it was the largest circulated daily newspaper in the world.

Still in 1970s, the state-owned Soviet TV broadcast pro-Soviet news from the Western capitals on a live basis through satellites, a job BBC, ABC, CBS could not afford at that time. The Soviet correspondents of the TASS news agency and the Pravda were stationed across the world including  in Nepal, that also is something the AP, AFP, the Reuters, The New York Times etc can not afford.

Meanwhile, in press freedom sector, because of harassment and legal entangling of journalists, Russia has slipped from a ranking of 'partly free' to 'not free'. There is no doubt that Russia should take several measures to improve the press freedom scenario. True, improving press freedom scenario especially in a volatile country like Russia is a daunting task and cannot be carried out overnight.

But the latest bid to close Dozhd is an attempt to fish in troubled water at a time when Russia is still in a painful transition. In terms of press freedom, Russia is still going through a painful period of prolonged transition after the downfall of the former USSR in 1992. 29  journalists were killed in Russia during the period from 1995 to 2005, thereby  making Russia one of the most dangerous countries for journalists in the last decade. Notorious journalistic deaths like that of Anna Politkovskaya should not be allowed to happen again.

Finally, Myanmar Making Tremendous Strides in Newspaper Industry

By Rabin Man Shakya. Ph D

I had the opportunity of getting acquainted with couple of journalists from Myanmar. Guess where? In the former USSR? In the United States here? Nope. It was in 1994 in New Delhi at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication where yours truly and Jagadish Pokhrel of The Rising Nepal were sent for five months course on Non-aligned News Agency Journalism. Altogether there were 24 participants from, at least, 19 different countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Two of them were from Myanmar and both of them represented the government media of Myanmar.

Remember, it was 1994 and Nepal was already a democratic country but Myanmar was still in the grip of military junta. For that matter, even when Nepal was not a democratic nation and was ruled by kings under the authoritarian Panchayat system, the private sector newspapers were allowed in our country, whereas the military junta had imposed state monopoly on the newspaper industry since the 1960s. During the interactions, the two participants from Myanmar would, pretty much, endorse and echo the policies and perspectives of the military junta badly reflecting the lack of freedom of expression as well as press freedom in that country.

The sad reality of press freedom scenario in Myanmar was that the government-controlled newspapers, radio station and television broadcasting were not in a position to raise a voice against the military junta and other responsible ministers and government officials.

Judging by the magnitude of the press freedom, Freedom House, an international press freedom watchdog had identified Myanmar as one of the world's blackest spots for free journalism. It goes without saying that during the entire 50-years of rule by the military junta, Myanmar maintained its long notoriety as a country which used the mass media as a vehicle for political propaganda.

Finally, the unassailable grip of the military junta has been snapped at the hand of Thein Sein who became the head of an elected civilian government in March 2011 and, subsequently, press freedom was restored in Myanmar, paving the way for it to become, at least, a partly free nation.

The press censorship which was lifted in 2012 allowed the journalists to print and publish news stories that would have been unimaginable under the rule of the generalissimo. As a result, after 50 years of junta regime, dozens of private sector newspapers are being published in Myanmar: Golden Fresh Land,  The Voice, The Union and The Standard Time Daily, just to mention few of them.

Therefore, at a time when the newspaper business is on the decline in advanced countries like the US and Canada, it looks like, after 50 years of struggle, the private sector newspaper industry has made a comeback in Myanmar.

Nevertheless, although Myanmar has seen some qualitative changes in the newspaper industry, the government still continues to tighten its grip on other means of mass media, such as, radio, television broadcasting and news agency.