In U.S., liberal media = Democrat controlled press
In Russia, liberal media = free press
Is that really what you think?
the splendor and misery of the Russian press
"Actually, most of the pressure against journalists in Russia is exerted by two forces, both of which might be called baronial: the industrial barons known as the oligarchs, representing Yel’tsin-era bandit capitalism; and the regional barons–the political machines of governors, presidents of ethnic republics, mayors, and other administrative heads. It is these political machines, as often as not corrupt and linked to criminal circles, that are largely responsible for the violence in the media environment."
"We, who have lived under the Soviets, know a thing or two about strangulation of free speech by the state apparatus; we know what it takes. Currently registered in Russia are 22,181 papers and 12,726 magazines. To keep them in check, the state would have to cancel the appropriate article of the Constitution, the 1990 U.S.S.R. Law on the Press and the 1991 R.F. Law on Mass Media, all of which ban any type of censorship. It would have to build up again the multi-layered censorship structure thatcomprised, under the Soviets, not just Glavlit with all its ubiquitous branches that watched over every scrap of paper with words printed on it, but also the one-party system with a watchful Party bureau at the editorial offices of each paper, magazine, publishing house, radio station, etc."
"I, too, have worked in the media environment since perestroika. I know dozens of journalists well enough, and not one of them has ever complained about their materials being suppressed by some secret state censorship organ or anyone linked to the state apparatus. God knows we have enough problems without this nonsense. Very serious problems—like economic survival."
"The media business lives in Russia, as everywhere else, by the same laws as any other kind of business: Big fish eat little fish. But the closure of any of these publications is accompanied inevitably by loud howls about an onslaught on the freedom of speech, in which the free-speech "tourists" lustily join.
"The greatest ill afflicting freedom of the press in Russia is the fact that there are no independent, self-sustained media outlets left around. All the media have been bought, they cannot exist without huge subsidies, and they do the bidding of their masters."
"If, or rather when, I am kicked out of my present position as editor-in-chief of Moscow News, this will not be due to the totalitarian onslaught on the free press in Russia. In the minds of anyone even remotely familiar with the media situation in Russia, the incident automatically will be chalked up to Russia’s oligarchs’ freedom, and wherewithal, to buy the formerly free press–and mold it to their liking."
You see everything, as the press here does, from an American viewpoint. Russia has not been a country long enough to be free of extreme corruption, which Yeltsin assisted and encouraged. Russia is not America.
It makes far more sense to view the changes in Russia as being about corruption, not tyranny. It is a difficult concept for Americans to understand, when they are not in a country where ordinary tourists are being hit on for all of their cash by local policemen, in the center of Moscow.
Become "remotely familiar" and pay close attention to the lines above - "the closure of any of these publications is accompanied inevitably by loud howls about an onslaught on the freedom of speech, in which the free-speech "tourists" lustily join".
Those loud howls should be very familiar to you as a conservative. I still cannot understand how so many freepers are missing the boat.
You are so totally wrong. In Russia, the murderous oligarchs bought all of the "media" to further their political ends, which got Yeltsin re-elected back in the 1990s and further entrenched the oligarchs. Putin was the only politician who was powerful enough to take on the oligarchs. He sent Berezovki and Gusinski into exile in the U.K.; Abromovitz followed voluntarily after seeing the writing on the wall (buying the Chelsea soccer team and living the good life). Khodorkovski decided to try his hand at politics, and now is paying the price for his hubris. There is a lot of history that needs to be understood before criticizing Putin.