"Russian media is dead," said a commentator on CNBC this morning.
The Moscow government has decreed that any news outlet report that contradicts official policy and action in Ukraine will face criminal charges.
To maintain their own safety, correspondents for international media no longer put their names on their dispatches, and several outlets have recalled staffers to their home countries.
Result: The only information available to the Russian people will be government propaganda. (Remember the origin of the word: It's from the verb "propagate," as in to spread a message.)
In effect, a free press no longer exists in Russia. Some will say it has not existed there for years, but there have been a few news outlets that carry straight news that can be critical of government policy, and foreign operations have been somewhat free to spread their reports to the rest of the world. Now, if those reports conflict with government policy, the reporters will be jailed.
In short, a free press no longer exists in Russia, and that includes news media based in other countries, and their correspondents. They face jail time for writing anything that the government doesn't like.
The Moscow government has taken to branding reports that contradict its policies as "fake news."
Sound familiar?
America led the world some 200 years ago in guaranteeing a free press as critically important for a free nation. History has shown that the first thing a dictatorial regime does to control its people is to control the news media.
The Moscow government has decreed that any news outlet report that contradicts official policy and action in Ukraine will face criminal charges.
To maintain their own safety, correspondents for international media no longer put their names on their dispatches, and several outlets have recalled staffers to their home countries.
Result: The only information available to the Russian people will be government propaganda. (Remember the origin of the word: It's from the verb "propagate," as in to spread a message.)
In effect, a free press no longer exists in Russia. Some will say it has not existed there for years, but there have been a few news outlets that carry straight news that can be critical of government policy, and foreign operations have been somewhat free to spread their reports to the rest of the world. Now, if those reports conflict with government policy, the reporters will be jailed.
In short, a free press no longer exists in Russia, and that includes news media based in other countries, and their correspondents. They face jail time for writing anything that the government doesn't like.
The Moscow government has taken to branding reports that contradict its policies as "fake news."
Sound familiar?
America led the world some 200 years ago in guaranteeing a free press as critically important for a free nation. History has shown that the first thing a dictatorial regime does to control its people is to control the news media.
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