HOW PUBLICATION TYPE, EXPERIENCE, AND OWNERSHIP AFFECT SELF-CENSORSHIP AMONG MOSCOW NEWSPAPER JOURNALISTS by ELENA RODINA A THESIS Presented to the Department of Russian and East European Studies and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of Master ofArts June 2010 "How Publication Type, Experience, and Ownership Affect Self-Censorship among Moscow Newspaper Journalists," a thesis prepared by Elena Rodina in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Department of Russian and East European Studies. This thesis has been approved and accepted by: Date ii Committee in Charge: Accepted by: Dr. Caleb Southworth, Chair Dr. Julie Hessler Dr. Carol Silverman Elena A. Rodina An Abstract of the Thesis of for the degree of 111 Master of Arts in the Department of Russian and East European Studies to be taken June 2010 Title: HOW PUBLICATION TYPE, EXPERIENCE AND OWNERSHIP AFFECT SELF-CENSORSHIP AMONG MOSCOW NEWSPAPER JOURNALISTS Approved: This thesis examines how social and economic factors shape the behavior of Russian journalists. Although the state does not practice legal censorship today, Western experts compare Russian media with the Soviet period, and Russia is commonly ranked in the bottom 10% of all countries in terms of press freedom. While scholars identify free press as a necessary condition for a democratic society, Russian media are influenced by flak directed at editors and reporters, which results in self-censorship. The central question is: What is the relationship between the ownership structure ofthe media, a reporter's experience, and the occurrence of self-censorship? A random sample of40 journalists was drawn from ten prominent national newspapers. Interviews focused on instances when reporters had been asked to remove facts critical of the government. The data show that self-censorship is significant in Russian journalism; it comes both from the editors and from the journalists themselves. CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF THE AUTHOR: Elena Rodina PLACE OF BIRTH: Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia DATE OF BIRTH: December 21, 1982 GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain Kazan State University, Kazan, Russia DEGREES AWARDED: Master of Arts, Russian and Eastern European Studies, 2010, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, Romanic-Germanic Philology, 2004, Kazan State University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Contemporary Russian Printed Press Urban Subcultures Ethnic tensions in Russia PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Special correspondent, Esquire (Russian edition), Moscow, Russia, 2007-2008 Editor, La Costa magazine, Moscow, Russia, 2007 Correspondent, Ogonek weekly magazine, Moscow, Russia, 2004-2007 Journalist, Linea D'L magazine, Kazan, Russia, 2003-2004 Journalist, Kurazh magazine, Kazan, Russia, 2000-2003 iv GRANTS, AWARDS AND HONORS: Best Article Award, Ogonek magazine, for the article "Komandantskii chas" (The Hour of Comandante), 2006 Best Article Award, Ogonek magazine, for the article "Kak my im pomogli? 40 dnei posle Beslana" (How did we help them? 40 days after the Beslan siege), 2004 v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my sincere appreciation to my advisor and Committee Chair Caleb Southworth for his guidance during the preparation of this manuscript. His expertise was essential to my preparation preceding the writing of this thesis, and his assistance and suggestions contributed greatly to the strength of this work. I would also like to acknowledge the contributions ofDepartment Chair Julie Hessler, who has been a source of inspiration for me during my time at the University of Oregon. I express my gratitude to Professors Yelaina Kripkov and Katya Hokanson, whose instruction was invaluable on several occasions, and Professor Jenifer Presto, whose advice and encouragement has helped me through many academic challenges. Special thanks are due to Professor Carol Silverman for her encouragement and generous support. I would like to acknowledge Professor Keli Yerian for her insightful comments on the manuscript. I am also very thankful to the journalists of the Russian edition of Esquire magazine, and its editor-in-chief, Philipp Bakhtin, for being great colleagues and friends. Working with Esquire team was one ofmy greatest professional experiences. Finally, I am extremely grateful to the Russian and East European Studies Center for awarding me a Graduate Teaching Fellowship, which provided me with the opportunity to write this thesis. Special thanks to fellow REESC students, faculty and staff for all their efforts in creating a supportive and friendly academic environment. I cannot end without thanking my family, for their immeasurable love and support. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I. INTRODUCTION Page 1 Research Questions............................................................................ 3 Literature Review 4 Methodology 12 Tenninology 14 Summary 18 II. RUSSIAN MEDIA AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION 20 III. MEDIA OWNERSHIP IN RUSSIA (PRINTED PRESS) 31 IV. HYPOTHESES 41 V. DATA ANALYSIS 49 Sample 49 General Overview........................................................................................ 49 Hypothesis 1: Soviet-era Journalists are More Predisposed Towards Self-censorship than Post-Soviet Era Journalists 53 Hypothesis 2: Self-censorship is Caused by Editorial Censorship 55 Hypothesis 3: Journalists Who Practice Self-censorship When They Write Articles for the Newspapers They Work for Publish More Courageous Articles On-line............................................................................................ 60 Chapter viii Page Hypothesis 4: Media Qwnership Directly Affects the Level of Self-censorship Among Journalists 62 VI. CONCLUSIONS 64 APPENDICES 69 A. SURVEY: SELF-CENSORSHIP IJ~ RUSSIAN PRWTED PRESS........... 69 B. TABLES OF SURVEY RESULTS............................................................. 75 BIBLIOGRAPHY 86 1CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Post-Soviet Russia has often presented a puzzle to Western analysts and their theories of social transformation. At the time of the Soviet collapse, it was widely held that incipient elections would lead to the construction of a democratic state and that the elimination of state ownership and creation of free prices would lead to the development of capitalism.! These predictions proved at best only partially correct, and substantial theorizing has attempted to explain what happened instead and why. An equally puzzling element of the transformation has been the legal abolition of state censorship in 1991. Newspapers are now in the hands of private owners and legal censorship has been outlawed, yet it is routine for analysts to describe press freedoms as under the direct control of the state apparatus in a way that is detrimental to free speech. In 2009 "Reporters Without Borders" ranked Russia 153rd out of 175 countries in their "Index on Censorship," after Venezuela, Afghanistan and Iraq.2 This thesis aims to empirically measure censorship and self-censorship among print journalists in contemporary Russia in an effort to understand the current state of I Anders Aslund, Building capitalism: the transformation ofthe former Soviet bloc (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002); Daniel Treisrnan, After the deluge: regional crises and political consolidation in Russia (Ann Arbor, Mich: University ofMichigan Press, 1999); Adam Przeworski, Sustainable democracy (Cambridge, [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1995). 2 Reporters Without Borders, "Obarna effect in US, while Europe continues to recede Israel in free fall, Iran at gates ofinfemal trio," Press Freedom Index 2009, http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index- 2009,l001.html (accessed May 2, 2010). 2affairs and how the press might be controlled in the absence of formal state governance. I also have a personal motivation for choosing this particular topic. For eight years I worked as ajournalist in Russia, first for the weekly magazine Ogonek, then for Esquire (Russian edition), a monthly publication. My articles focused primarily on social and socio-political issues. Although I do not agree with the assumptions of many ofmy Western colleagues that being a journalist in Russia is exceptionally dangerous, I did feel certain limitations in the choice of topics that I could cover. The question of what was allowed and what was not allowed to write about was always there, but the mechanism of content regulation worked on a much subtler level than is often portrayed by Western journalists and human rights activists. The claim that freedom of speech does not exist in Russia undermines the efforts of thousands ofjournalists who criticize the Russian government on a daily basis. However, it cannot be said that the level of freedom in the printed press is equal to that in the West, or even that what constitutes as an understanding of freedom of the press is the same in Russia as it is in the West. The central research question is: What is the relationship between, on the one hand, ownership, editorial control and governmental flak, and, on the other, self- censorship on the part of Russian journalists? Are journalists obeying "the rules of the game" and acting on informal norms and their interpretation of the political atmosphere, or do owners and their editorial staff directly limit journalist writings on politics? 3Research questions While pursuing the goal of measuring and identifying the significance of editorial and self-censorship in the contemporary Russian printed media, this thesis examines a number of questions: 1) What is the extent of self-censorship in the contemporary Russian printed press? That is, how often do journalists from the ten most popular Moscow-based newspapers report self-censorship? 2). What factors shape the phenomenon of self-censorship among Russian journalists? 3). Are journalists who started their careers during the Soviet period more likely to practice self-censorship than later generations? 4). To what extent does censorship originate from the editors of the newspapers and how significant is the extent of self-censorship that the journalists practice on their own initiative? 5). Are articles that are deemed too critical of the state published elsewhere, such as in online publications? Before answering these questions in Chapter V, I examine the current state of the media laws in Russia and look back at the history of the printed media starting with the early nineties, particularly 1991, when censorship in Russia was officially outlawed. 4Literature review Censorship and freedom of speech in Russia have been widely debated in the fields ofjournalism, public policy, history, in politics, as well as within the rubric of civil society? However, previous research - both Russian and Western - have not adequately explored the problem of self-censorship. The relative brevity of the post-Soviet period, combined with the Russian media's unstable and rapidly changing state, partly explains this lack of attention. At the same time, it is common for both Western and Russian analysts to refer to the Russian media as censored and to compare it to the media ofthe Soviet period. Western analysis of the Russian press frequently refers to the Four Theories o/the Press,4 which classified the world media into four types: "authoritarian," "libertarian," "social responsibility" and "Soviet-totalitarian,"s and subsequently turned into a very popular theory.6 The authors of the book offer a geo-political view of the world's media 3 For the thorough analyses of the contemporary Russian press structure, see Alex Lupis, "Increasing Press Repression in Russia." Nieman Reports 59, no. 22 (2005); Kaarle Nordenstreng, Elena Vartanova, and lassen N. Zassurskii, eds. Russian media challenge (Helsinki: Aleksanteri Institute. Kikimora publications, 2001); Birgit Beumers, Stephen C. Hutchings, and Natalia Ryleva, eds. The post-Soviet Russian media: conflicting signals (London: Routledge, 2009); H. De Smaele, "Limited Access to Information as a Means of Censorship in Post-Communist Russia." Javnost - The Public 11, no. 2 (2004); David Dadge, Silenced: International Journalists Expose Media Censorship (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2005); V.R. Firsov, Tsenzura v Rossii: Istoriia i Sovremennost': sbornik nauchnykh trudov (Sankt-Peterburg: Rossiiskaia natsionalnaia biblioteka, 2001). 4 Fred Siebert, Theodore Peterson and Wilbur Schramm, Four Theories ofthe Press: the Authoritarian, Libertarian, Social Responsibility, and Soviet Communist Concepts of What the Press Should Be and Do. 5 Fred Siebert, Theodore Peterson and Wilbur Schramm, Four Theories ofthe Press: the Authoritarian, Libertarian, Social Responsibility, and Soviet Communist Concepts of What the Press Should Be and Do, 2. 6 Myung-Jin Park, and James Curran, eds., De-Westernizing media studies (London: Routledge, 2000), 3. 5as divided into three camps: the "free world of the liberal democracy,,7 (America, Great Britain, European countries), the Soviet-totalitarian sphere (USSR) and the third world, or "authoritarian societies"S (Fascist Germany, some Latin American countries, etc.) Although the USSR has ceased to exist, the definitions established by the Four Theories are still being referred to in journalistic research. However, in recent years several scholars such as James Curran, Myung-Jin Park,9 John C. Nerone, and others!O have questioned the validity of such definitions. It is common for the Western press to publish articles that highlight the atrocities committed by the Russian government in an effort to control the press. For example, The New York Times frequently writes about the dangers of working in Russia as ajournalist, the vindictiveness of Putin's administration!! and the horrors of the Russian censorship,12 7 Myung-Jin Park, and James Curran, eds., De-Westernizing media studies, 4. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid.; Myung-Jin Park, and James Curran, eds., De-Westernizing media studies. 10 John C. Nerone, ed., Last rights: revisiting/our theories o/the press. The history 0/communication (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995). 11 Clifford J. Levy, "Putin's Iron Grip on Russia Suffocates Opponents," The New York Times, February 24, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/world/europe/24putin.html (accessed April 29, 2010). 12 David Carr, "A Most Dangerous Profession in Russia," The New York Times Media Decoder Blog, entry posted on September 15,2009, http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/a-most- dangerous-profession-in-russia/?scp=1&sg=Russia%20press%20censorship&st=cse (accessed April 29, 2010). 6comparing its intensity to the one in Communist China,13 and claims Russia to be "the third most dangerous country for the press, after Iraq and Algeria.,,14 Not only newspaper articles contribute to the creation of a neo-Soviet image of the contemporary Russian media. Numerous reports published in specialized journals also support this idea. Alex Lupis in his article "Increasing Press Repression in Russia" writes about the "Kremlin's growing authoritarianism" 15 and "press repression,,16 that provokes the dismissal as well as murder ofjournalists. l ? H. De Smaeli in "Limited Access to Information as a Means of Censorship in Post-Communist Russia" states that the contemporary Russian press is "very much like Soviet Press,,18 and cites a report from Freedom House,19 in which the status of Russian mass media was lowered from "partly 13 David W. Dunlap and James Estrin, "Press control- censorship - is something that happens in Communist China, in Russia," The New York Times Blog by David W.Dunlap and James Estrin, posted on September 23, 2009, http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/archive-5/?scp=2&sq=Russia%2Opress%20censorship&st=cse (accessed April 29, 2010); Clifford J. Levy, "Russia's Leaders See China as a Template for Ruling," The New York Times, October 17, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/1 0/18/worldleurope/ l8russia.html?scp=20&sq=Russia%20freedom%2Oofllo 20speech&st=cse (accessed April 29, 2010). 14 Clifford 1. Levy, "Press Group Seeks Inquiry Into Killings in Russia," The New York Times, September 16,2009.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/ l6/worldleurope/ l6russia.html?scp=42&sq=censorship%20Rus sia&st=cse (accessed April 29, 2010). 15 Alex Lupis, "Increasing Press Repression in Russia." Nieman Reports 59, no. 22 (2005): 118. 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid., 118-120. 18 H. De Smaele, "Limited Access to Information as a Means of Censorship in Post-Communist Russia," Javnost- The Public 11, no. 2 (2004): 66. 19 Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States that conducts research and advocacy on conceptions of human rights and political freedom. For more information about Freedom House, see http://freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=265#3 (accessed May 2,2010). free" in 2002 to "not free" in 2003.20 Lucas Edwards in his article "The Big Squeeze,,21 writes that Putin's regime "has destroyed, castrated or sidelined all the institutions that might have been a check on its greed and ruthlessness: the courts, the civil service, civil society, political parties, the legislature, local government and the institutions of the outside world.,,22 He continues, "Putin and his ex-KGB friends have systematically closed down the independent media that matters - national television - and bullied and browbeaten the rest. ,,23 On the other hand, there are authors who question the conventional Western approach towards Russian media. Thus, in the books Putin 's Russia: Past Imperfect, Future Uncertain,24 Vladimir Putin and the New World Order: Looking East, Looking West?25 and Putin: Russia's Choice,26 the authors, speaking of the press, state that there are still some Russian outlets that are independent from the government. At the same time they acknowledge that Russian media remains "semi-muzzled,,,27 with Putin controlling most of it. They claim that, as opposed to Gorbachev's glasnost', Putin's 20 Ibid. 21 Edward Lucas, "The Big Squeeze," Index on Censorship 37, no 1 (2008): 26-34. 22 Ibid., 26. 23 Ibid., 27. 24 Dale R. Herspring, Putin's Russia: past imperfect, future uncertain (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). 25 J. L. Black, Vladimir Putin and the new world order: looking east, looking west? (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield 2004). 26 Richard Sakwa, Putin: Russia's choice (London: Routledge, 2004). 27 J. L. Black, Vladimir Putin and the new world order: looking east, looking west?, 346. 7 ---------------- -------- 8 Russia exists in a state of neglasnost'. 28 The authors give only a partial explanation for how exactly the independent media outlets function within this system. Some authors, such as Peter Baker and Susan Glasser in Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End ofRevolution,29 while analyzing contemporary Russian media, prefer to discuss only Russian television, which is controlled by the Russian authorities to a greater extent than any other media. They draw their conclusions about the freedom of the Russian press using data regarding only one media, which happens to be the most rigorously censored. Russian publications that reach a wide audience in the West are, as a rule, ones that are written by oppositional writers and journalists. Although they contain factual information about today's Russia, they are frequently based on the personal experiences f h · h P . hk' 30 P l' k k' 31 P 32 T b 33o t e wnters, suc as amus In, 0 It ovs ala ,ozner, regu ova, Ko1esnikov,34 who are famous journalists with unique backgrounds that differ from those of the majority of everyday Russian journalists. These sources do not enable us to 28 Ibid., 106. 29 Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, Kremlin rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the end ofrevolution (New York: Scribner, 2005). 30 V. A. Paniushkin, Mikhail Khodorkovskii: Uznik tishiny: Istoriia pro to, kak cheloveku v Rossii stat' svobodnym i chto emu za eto budet (Moskva: ZAO Izdatelskii dom "Sekret fInny," 2006). 31 Anna Politkovskaia and A. L. Tait, A Russian diary: ajournalist'sjinal account oflife, corruption, and death in Putin's Russia (New York: Random House, 2007). 32 Vladimir Pozner, Parting with illusions (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990). 33 Elena V. Tregubova, Baiki kremlevskogo diggera (Moskva: Ad Marginem, 2003). 34 Andrei Kolesnikov, "Freedom of expression: for what? It's written in to the Russian constitution but no one takes it for real," Index on Censorship 32 (2003): 21-22. 9evaluate the overall condition of the Russian press or to understand the significance of self-censorship among journalists. While mentioning the existence of self-censorship, and the fears that exist among Russian journalists, they do not attempt to measure this phenomenon or to explain how it functions on a daily basis. They do not explain how self-censorship is reflected in the texts of everyday Russian journalists. Various questions arise: Do all journalists who write about politics receive death threats? Are they unable to write anything without consulting the higher authorities? Are they all afraid of any critical comments about the government, or is criticism allowed? I will address these questions later in my analysis in the survey results. In recent years, there have been several studies that provide a more complete and varied picture of the contemporary Russian press. For example, The Post-War Russian Media: Conflicting Signa[s35 is a collection of essays dedicated to the post-Soviet press, television, and radio. The fragmentary structure of the book is explained by the fact that the Russian media itself can be better understood through an interdisciplinary approach; utilizing sociological, political, literary, and cultural-anthropological methodologies. Instead of claiming that Russian media is undemocratic, they answer the question: Why does the Russian media not fit into a Western concept of democracy? One of the contributing authors, Samuel A. Green, in his essay "Shifting media and the failure of 35 Birgit Beumers, Stephen C. Hutchings, and Natalia Ryleva, eds. The post-Soviet Russian media: conflicting signals. 10 political communication in Russia,,,36 argues that one of the key puzzles in contemporary Russia is "the inability of the civil society to mobilize around (...) the massive common grievances.,,3? He states that the Post-Soviet media, although having enough freedom of expression, failed to play "the aggregating and galvanizing role described by Hume and de Toqueville,,,38 and to be capable ofdropping "the same thought into a thousand minds at the same moment.,,39 Green sees the inability to communicate with the reader, not the governmental restrictions, as the most important problem of the Russian press. In De- Westernizing Media StudieiO the authors look at conventional Western theories of the press and argue that they were initially based on concepts that negated the significance of national cultures, history and the pluralistic character of the media system. The authors claim that, although free media exists in Russia, it faces certain limitations, such as the lack of "accumulated experience of objective or independent journalism,'>'!l mistrust of the audience, and "underdeveloped professionalism rather than dictatorial law.,,42 36 Samuel A. Green, "Shifting media and the failure of political communication in Russia," in The post- Soviet Russian media: conflicting signals, edited by Birgit Beumers, Stephen C. Hutchings, and Natalia Rulyova (London: Routledge, 2009), 56-70. 37 Ibid., 56. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid. 40 Park, Myung-Jin, and James Curran. De-Westernizing media studies. London: Routledge. 41 Ibid., 91. 42 Ibid., 91-92. 11 Andrei Rikhter, the director and founder of the Moscow Media Law and Policy Institute, and Professor at the School of Journalism at the Moscow State University, in his article "Post-Soviet Perspective on Censorship and Freedom of the Media,,43 sums up various types of "soft censorship" in Russia. In his work he refers to self-censorship as one of the most important factors in today's media development. Various Russian journalists, media analysts and human rights activists also discuss self-censorship. Among them are 01eg Panfi10v, the head ofthe Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations,44 Andrei Piontkovkii, journalist and po1itician,45 and Sergei Parkhomenko, journalist and editor.46 These discussions, however, do not provide us with any evidence of self-censorship or any tool to measure it. The primary sources referred to in this research can be divided into several categories. First of all, I use Russian newspapers as sources of the articles that might be affected by self-censorship. The choice of the outlets was based on the rating of the printed press made by Ex Libris in the end of2009 (this rating is discussed in detail in the methodology section below). 43 Andrei Rikhter, "Post-Soviet Perspective On Censorship and Freedom of the Media," International Communication Gazette 70, no. 5 (2008): 307-324. 44 Bishkek Press Club, "Otkrytaia Lektsiia Olega Panfilova: Tsenzura i Samotsenzura v Sovremennoi Zhumalistike," BPC Events, January 6, 2009, http://www.bpc.kg/events/26l (accessed May 2,2010). 45 Andrei Piontkovskii, "Samaya effektivnaia forma tsenzury - samotsenzura," Index. Dosie Na Tsenzury, 20 (2004), http://www.index.org.ru/joumal/20/piontk20.html (accessed May 2,2010). 46 Radio France Intemacionale, "Sergei Parkhomenko: V Rossii est' samotsenzura - ochen' razvitaia, ochen' izoshchrennaia, ochen' glubokaia: ludi sami znaiut, chego im nelzia," RFI in Russian, August 24, 2008, http://www.rfi.fr/acturu/articles/104/article l12l.asp (accessed May 2, 2010). 12 Secondly, I refer to the laws and regulations on the freedom of the press that were issued in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia, such as the law "On the Counteraction against Terrorism," "On the Fight against Terrorism," "On the Application of the Changes into Particular Legislative Actions of the Russian Federation in the Context of the Improvement of the Governmental Administration in the Area of the Counteraction against Terrorism," Russian Criminal Code, Constitution of the Russian Federation (adopted at National Voting on December 12, 1993), and the Mass Media Law of the Russian Federation (1991).47 Thirdly, I refer to the data on censorship and freedom of the press provided by international press organizations such as Reporters Without Borders, World Press Freedom Committee and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). Finally, I conduct a telephone survey ofa sample of Moscow newspaper journalists. This survey is focused on questions of regulation within the workplace, as well as restrictions that the journalists impose upon themselves while reporting and writing. Methodology The frequency of self-censorship and hypotheses about its causes are examined using a random sample of Moscow-based journalists interviewed by telephone. It is possible that my experience working as a journalist for eight years in Kazan and in 47 Russian Federation, Law of the Russian Federation: «On the Mass Media», No 2124-1, December 27, 1991, Chapter 3, http://www.medialaw.ru/e pages/laws/russian/massmedia eng/massmedia eng.html (accessed May 2, 2010). 13 Moscow was an asset to me during the survey process; the respondents were perhaps more receptive to answering potentially sensitive questions regarding censorship when being questioned by a colleague, rather than by someone who is not personally familiar with the unique characteristics ofjournalism in Russia. The selection of the newspapers for the survey was based upon the rating of the Russian socio-political daily and weekly newspapers for the fourth quarter of2009 created by the Russian agency of media research Ex Libris.48 Ex Libris is a member of the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC). They provide a popularity rating that is independent from expert opinions or organizations and is based upon publicly available data. The rating covers five different categories of publications: business newspapers, socio-politica1 newspapers, socio-po1itica1 magazines, business magazines and popular "yellow" newspapers (tabloids). In this research I focus exclusively on socio-po1itica1 newspapers, considering that that the outlets in this group are the ones most likely to publish articles that are related to Russian politics on a daily and weekly basis. Therefore, the journalists who are working in those outlets; specifically in the political and social news' departments, are the ones most likely to be experiencing self-censorship. The rating is based on the following data: 1). The size of the audience (the rating of the popularity among readers); 2). The price of the advertisement (the rating of the popularity among advertisers); 3). The frequency of quotation level in other publications 48 Ex Libris, "Title Popularity Rating - IV Kvartal2009," Ex Libris TPR, http://www.exlibris.ru/ru/stats/tpr.htrnl?date=10010l.htrnl (accessed May 2, 2010). 14 or media outlets (the rating of the popularity among external journalists); 4).The frequency of quotation in the publications in social media, such as blogs, internet- sources, etc. (the rating of the popularity and significance in the socially active circles of society). The size of the audience is defined by the average issue readership (AIR), the data is based on the information provided by TNS Gallup and Comcon.49 Terminology In this work I refer to the definition of self-censorship given by Arlen Blium as "self-limitation in the process of the creation of the text, when the author bases his decisions on certain taboos that are imposed by the government, society, the peculiarities of the readership or his personal aesthetic tastes or moral principles."so I narrow my empirical focus to self-censorship aimed at avoiding government criticism. Therefore, while discussing aspects of self-censorship, I refer to "political self-censorship," not taking into account any other types of censorship, such as attempts by businessmen to limit the release of potentially detrimental information, or the censoring of publications in order to avoid inciting ethic tension or conflict. I use the term "editorial censorship" to define the limitations imposed upon the journalist by the editor of the department or the editor of the magazine, when the editor 49 Ibid. 50 Arlen V. Blium, Sovetskaia tsenzura v epokhu total'nogo ferrora, 1929-1953 (S.-Peterburg: Akademicheskii proekt, 2000): 14. 15 either eliminates phrases or words that are critical of the government, or prevents the entire article from being published because of its critical content. It is quite common for authors who write about censorship in Soviet Russia to refer to the problem of self-censorship.sl Indeed, while Glavlit and other departmentsS2 were created for imposing official state censorship upon Soviet writers and journalists, this was not the only form of censorship that existed at the time. Self-censorship played a big role in Soviet journalism and literature. As Dewhirst puts it, there did not necessarily need to be "an official censorship body for regular and rigorous censorship to exist."s3 Anatolii Kuznetsov, a prominent Soviet and Russian writer, described the self- censorship that existed in the Soviet period as "an inner censor," without which writing "required a tremendous effort."s4 He stated that "Everything, without exception, that was 51 For more information about self-censorship in Soviet Russia, see A.V. Blium, Sovetskaia tsenzura v epokhu total'nogo terrora, 1929-1953; Martin Dewhirst and Robert Farrell, The Soviet censorship (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1973); G. V. Zhirkov, Istoriia tsenzury v Rossii XIX-XX vv.: uchebnoe posobie dlia studentov vysshikh uchebnykh zavedenii (Moskva: Aspekt Press, 2001). 52 Censorship in Soviet Russia was legally enforced by Glavlit, or the Main Administration for Safeguarding State Secrets, formed in 1922. This organ was in charge of safeguarding state secrets. Besides Glavlit, Goskomizdat censored the publication of the books; Goskino was in charge of the cinema; Gosteleradio of radio and television broadcasting. Many institutions had the First Departments which were responsible for controlling the informational flow. Censorship of the media was also guaranteed by the fact that the state owned all publishing houses, TV stations and other production facilities, so all the journalists were employees of the state. For more information about Soviet censorship, see Goriaeva, Politicheskaia tsenzura v SSSR: 1917-1991, 146-147; N.Korenev, "Oratoriia Laboratorii 17-a," Liki Rossii [2004]. http://www.1iki-rossii.ru/LETI/17NChlSecret%282%29.htm (accessed April 24, 2010); P. Steiner "Introduction: On Samizdat, Tamizdat, Magnitizdat, and Other Strange Words That Are Difficult to Pronounce". Poetics Today 29, no. 4 (2008): 614. 53 Martin Dewhirst, "Censorship in Russia, 1991 and 2001," Journal ofCommunist Studies & Transition Politics 18, no. 1 (2002): 22. 54 Martin Dewhirst and Robert Farrell, The Soviet censorship, 26. 16 published in the Soviet Union bears the stigma of two censors: first the internal self- censor and then the external official censor.,,55 When official censorship ceased to exist, it might be expected that self-censorship would disappear as well. Yet within Russia self-censorship continued and became one of the major problems in post-Soviet journalism. Moscow-based journalist and publisher, Sergei Parkhomenko, in an interview with Radio France claimed that the "Russian people... know themselves, what they are allowed and what they are not allowed to do.,,56 Parkhomenko states: ...The problem ofRussian society today, in particular for those who are rich, educated, advanced, and to a certain degree intelligent and creative, is that the people are scared. They are not scared to be punished, they are just scared, so to say, for themselves... For instance, I am sure that there is no censorship in Russia. There is self-censorship in Russia - very well-developed, very sophisticated, very deep: people know themselves, what is not allowed. They remember that themselves. They... can say to their colleague, 'Hey, what are you writing? This is not allowed! You'll be punished!' And he believes that. You can ask various bosses, why so- and so- is not allowed to be on the TV, why this and that topics are not being discussed, why this and that text is not being published. And these bosses will honestly reply, 'And why is it my fault? I have not given any commands, I have not asked, I have not banned anything.' They do it themselves. People understand on their own, what is "good" and what is "bad.,,57 A famous journalist and human rights activist Oleg Panfilov, during his press conference in Bishkek Press club also discussed the problem of self-censorship in today's press in 55 Ibid., 27. 56 Radio France Intemacionale, "Sergei Parkhomenko: V Rossii est' samotsenzura - ochen' razvitaia, ochen' izoshchrennaia, ochen' glubokaia: liudi sarni znaiut, chego im nel'zia," RFI in Russian, August 24, 2008, http://www.rfi.fr/acturu/articles/104/article 112l.asp (accessed May 2,2010). 57 Ibid. 17 the post-Soviet space. In emphasizing the importance of creating a civil society in which the freedom of the speech without self-censorship is the norm, he stated that "the quality ofjournalism and the questions of censorship depend not as much on the journalists, but on the society," 58 and that it is important to create. Russian political journalist Andrei Piontokovskii in his interview for the magazine Indeks in 2004 stated that "we cannot speak about a wonderful independent press that was suppressed by Putin and FSB. It has been a much more complicated process.,,59 He argued that "we are all educated people... and we all understand what will lead to our own economic success and what wi11lead to the opposite results... today, with a formal ban on censorship, flourishes the most effective form of censorship - self-censorship.,,60 As we can see, there are many discussions about the nature of self-censorship in Russia, especially in the circles of the intellectuals and media workers, but there have been no attempts to measure to what degree it is present in the Russian press. Another thing that is not quite clear is to what extent the journalists censor themselves, and what role the editor plays in this process. Journalists and media analysts, discussing censorship and self-censorship, frequently use these terms as interchangeable. However, these terms are quite different: while "censorship" requires the existence of a censor and a specialized censoring apparatus, "self-censorship" does not. I use the terms "self-censorship" and 58 Institute for War and Peace Reporting. «The biggest problem of the Kyrgyz journalism is its politicization," November 5, 2009, http://www.iwpr.net/ru/report-news/<KYPHaJIllCTllKll--B-ee-rrOJIHTH3HpoBaHHocTll»-0 59 Andrei Piontkovskii, "Samaia effektivnaia forma tsenzury - samotsenzura," Index. Dos 'e Na Tsenzuru, 20 (2004), http://www.index.org.ru/journal/20/piontk20.html (accessed May 2,2010). 60 Ibid. ------ ----------------- 18 "editorial censorship" to distinguish between the two different types of non-governmental (not imposed directly by the government or governmental institutions) censorship. For the sake ofconvenience I use the verb "to censor" while referring to the general act of eliminating any text critical of the government from the article, either by the editor or by the journalist. Summary By interviewing contemporary Russian journalists and analyzing their answers and comments to the questions posed to them regarding a general overview of the Russian press, this thesis seeks to answer the question: To what extent does self- censorship exist in the Russian printed media? To achieve the goal of answering this research question, the following chapters examine various aspects of censorship and self- censorship in Russian press, provide a general analysis of the media in Russia, and analyze extensive survey data. Chapter II - Russian media after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This chapter examines the evolution of the Russian press since 1991, the year when the Soviet Union collapsed and censorship was proclaimed illegal. I look at a number of events, such as the War in Chechnya and terrorist acts in Russia, and analyze how they affected freedom of press in Russia, legally and officially (introduction of new laws restricting freedom of speech) as well as unofficially. This chapter helps us to understand how official governmental decisions about press regulations, even those that were never implemented, affected the general mood of society and journalists, and thus creating self-censorship. 19 Chapter III - Media ownership in Russia. Media ownership in Russia has gone through several stages in the past 50 years. First it was owned by the government of the Soviet Union, then belonged to a handful of the oligarchs during the 90s, and finally it was consolidated under governmental ownership once again after Vladimir Putin became president of Russia in 2000. In this chapter I give an overview of the ownership of Russian media, and provide an analysis of the ownership of the ten most popular Russian newspapers (according to data collected and analyzed by the media agency Ex Libris in the last quarter of 2009). Chapter IV - Hypotheses. In this chapter I propose five hypotheses about self- censorship in the contemporary Russian printed press, which will subsequently be tested in the survey. Chapter V - Data Analysis. This chapter examines the interrelationship ofthe different types of censorship and what social conditions (such as the type of newspaper, particular generation ofjournalist, or ownership structure) make self-censorship more likely. The survey results reflect journalists' views of state control, repression and freedom within their profession. Chapter VI - Conclusions. This chapter draws together the various findings and theories developed in the preceding chapters which, taken as a whole, answer the primary research question. In the conclusion I also identify other pertinent research questions about censorship in Russia, and what direction future investigation might take. 20 CHAPTER II RUSSIAN MEDIA AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION According to the Media Law of the Russian Federation (1991),61 and the constitution of the Russian Federation (adopted at Vsenarodnoe Golosovanie [National Voting] on December 12, 1993), censorship in Russia is illega162. A series of events significantly affected press freedom after 1991: war in Chechnya, and a series of domestic terrorist attacks. As a consequence of these events, the Russian government issued a number of laws and regulations restricting press freedom. These regulations, as we will see, were not followed uniformly throughout Russia and, in fact, were applied selectively. Therefore, the effect of these regulations upon legal restrictions of press freedoms was not altogether significant. The significance of these regulations can be found in the affect they had on the general level of self- censorship among Russian journalists, contributing to the creation of unofficial lists of "banned" topics. Understanding the nature of these official restrictions will help us see what factors might have been essential in the process of the journalistic self-regulation, 61 Russian Federation, Law of the Russian Federation: «On the Mass Media», No 2124-1, December 27, 1991, Chapter 3, http://www.medialaw.ru/e pages/laws/russian/massmedia eng/massmedia eng.html (accessed May 2,2010). 62 Russian Federation, Constitution of the Russian Federation, December, 12, 1993, Chapter 2, article 29, http://www.constitution.ru (accessed May 2, 2010). 21 and justify the selection of the topics that are considered to be an absolute taboo among the journalists (we will discuss this in detail in Chapter V). The First War in Chechnya started in 1994 and ended in 1996. As a result, the Russian army was defeated, and Chechnya gained independence and the self-appointed status of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeriia. 63 Russia sought to avenge itself for its defeat in the first Chechen engagement and renewed hostilities in 1999. This Second Chechen War officially ended ten years later, in April 200964. The terrorist attacks in Russia, which Russian officials attributed to the Chechen separatists, started in the late 90s and went through the 2000s. Therefore, the second Chechen war was officially named "operation to suppress terrorism.,,65 It created the popular assumption that everyone who was fighting on the Chechen side was a terrorist.66 The most tragic terrorist acts were widely covered in the press. They are: the explosion in the underground passageway near Pushkin square in 2000 (13 people died); siege on Dubrovka theatre (known as Nord-Ost by the name of the musical that was performed at the time), when nearly 175 people died, and the school siege in Beslan, 63 GlobalSecurity.org, "First Chechnya War 1994-1996," http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/chechnyal.htm (accessed May 2, 2010). 64 Aleksandr Ivanov, "The Counter-Terrorist Operation Regime Belongs to History," RIA-Novosti, April 16,2009, http://rian.ru/defense safety/20090416/168286167.html (accessed May 2,2010). 65 Emil Pain, and Robert R. Love, "Regional Studies - The Second Chechen War: The Information Component," Military Review 80, no 4 (2000): 59. 66 Interestingly, a very similar ideology was held in the U.S., when the war in Iraq was called "operation Iraqi freedom" and the war captives were given the status of the "unlawful combatants" and therefore were not considered to be defended by the Geneve convention on the war prisoners. For more information, see Knut Dormann, "The Legal Situation of "Unlawful- Unprivileged Combatants," International Review of the Red Cross 849 (2003): 45-47. 22 Northern Ossetia (when approximately 350 people, a significant number of children among them, were killed). Changes in public attitude towards Chechnya occurred throughout both wars. When the first war in Chechnya began in the early 90' s, Russia was still in a state of a relative chaos after the rapid change of the governmental regime from Soviet totalitarianism to nascent democracy.67 Therefore, there were no strict rules regarding the covering of the war by the press, and journalists had wide access to the battlefields and war zones. 68 Subsequently, at the end of the first war the government literally accused the press of engendering defeat. When the second war began, the administration significantly limited access to information about the war.69 Public opinion underwent many changes from the early 90's to the late 2000's. Polls show that in the beginning of the first war most Russian citizens were against the war in Chechnya and were in favor ofChechen independence. In September 1994 (1602 people polled), when war was yet to be declared but the possibility of the commencement of hostilities was clear, 42% of respondents agreed that "Russia should stay away from the conflict in Chechnya."7o In December of the same year, 36% of the respondents (1600 people polled) to the question "What actions should Russia conduct towards Chechnya?" 67 Kerstin Olofsson, "The Cultural Debate on Abolishing Censorship," Russian Reports (2000): 31. 68 Andrei Soldatov, Irina Borogan, Marina Latysheva and Anna Stavitskaia, "The Year of 1999: The Beginning of the Second Chechen War," Journalists and Terrorism (2008): 18. 69 Ibid., 8-19. 70 Dukhovnoe Nasledie, "The Reflexions of the First and the Second Chechen Campaigns in the Minds of Our Compatriots," Nasledie.ru, http://www.nasledie.ru/politvnt/19 38/article.php?art=62 (accessed May 2, 2010). 23 replied that there should be a search for a "peaceful resolution to the problem," 23% of the respondents were in favor ofa "withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya." In January 1995, 62% of the respondents (1547 people polled) expressed doubts about the capability of Russian troops to establish peace and order in Chechnya; 42% of the respondents blamed the failure ofRussian troops in Chechnya on an unskilled command and operation planning, 77% of the respondents did not support the bombing attack of the capital ofChechnya, Groznyi.71 The poll that was held in March of the same year showed that 44% of respondents (2000 people polled) did not know the reason for the war in Chechnya, while 22% believed that the reason was "to conceal illegal business."n But in 1999 and later the attitude of Russian citizens towards the war was quite different. This can partially be explained by the terrorist acts that were taking place all across Russia and were attributed directly to Chechen separatists. The general perception of Chechens and Chechnya became very negative. More than 60% of those polled agreed that they felt the need for revenge and hatred towards Chechen separatists, many stated that "Chechens get what they deserve.,,73 The public widely supported Putin's policies and military actions in Chechnya. In November 1999, 61 % of those polled agreed with the continuation of military intervention in Chechnya, 55% disagreed with the plan of cessation of hostilities proposed by Grigorii Yavlinskii.74 71 Ibid. 72 Ibid. 73 Ibid. 74 Ibid. 24 By the end of2002, 46% ofRussian citizens who were asked the question "How do you think the conflict in Chechnya should be resolved?" answered "By continuation of the war.,,75 One possible reason for the deteriorating of the image of Chechnya and Chechens was the tightening of control over the television in its coverage of the war. The late 90s and early 2000s were marked by an increase of governmental control of the press. The owner of the TV-channel NTV, created in 1993 and considered to be the most independent socio-political channel,76 was forced to give stocks of the company to the government-owned Gazprom.77 The director of the company was fired and most of the staff left. It was widely considered to be an act of censorship, where President Putin played a direct role. Before the takeover he had repeatedly expressed his disagreement with the policy of the channel.78 The events surrounding NTV are considered to be a symbolic landmark that defined the new course of the government. The main 75 Mariia Tsvetkova, "Russians Want War in Chechnya Again," Gazeta.ru, October 30,2002, htto://www.gazeta.ruJ2002/l0/30/rossianesnov.shtml (accessed May 2,2010). 76 Gene Mater, "Once-independent Russian TV-channel in turmoil again," freedomforum.org (October 15, 2001), http://www.mediastudies.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=15149 (accessed May 2,2010). 77 Gazprom is the largest extractor of natural gas in the world and the largest Russian company; after the collapse of the Soviet Union the company was privatized, but the government still holds a controlling stake. For mor information about Gazprom, see its official site, www.gazprom.com (accessed May 2, 2010). For information about the changes in NTV ownership, see CNN, "NTV: Timeline of Events," CNN.com, April 10,2001, http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/04/09/ntv.time1ine/index.htrnl (accessed May 2, 2010). 78 Yevgeniia A1'bats, "Cry for Russia's Lost Press Liberty," The Guardian, May 11,2001, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/200l/may/11/russia.comment (accessed May 2, 2010). 25 characteristic of this course is an increase of governmental control over television.79 A number of TV-companies (TNT, TV6, TVS) became government-owned and changed their tone from oppositional to pro-governmental. 80 Therefore, the gap between the television and the printed media increased. While the TV was rapidly becoming more and more loyal to the government, printed press retained its right to criticize the state or remain neutral. There were a number of cases when print journalists were fired after publishing information on the Chechen conflict. Raf Shakirov, the editor in chief of the newspaper Izvestia, was dismissed when the newspaper put a big photograph of the victims of Beslan soon after the Beslan siege in 2004. 81 A popular and successful news anchor and editor of the program Namedni (NTV), Leonid Parfenov, wanted to show in his program an interview with the widow of Yandarbiev, the former president of the self-appointed republic of Ichkeriia, supposedly killed in Qatar by employees of the Russian embassy. Parfenov was not allowed to show this interview, and afterwards gave a detailed interview about it to Kommersant newspaper. 82 Subsequently, he was fired. Although state regulations affected a relatively limited number ofjournalists, the importance of 79 Alex Lupis, "Russia Briefing: Domino Effect," Committee to Protect Journalists, April 2004, http://cpj.org/reports/200l/04/russia-apr01.php (accessed May 2,2010). 80 Viktor Shenderovich "Zdes' bylo NTV, TV6, TVS. Obstoiatelstva Nepreodolimoi Sily, " Tvoi Golos, June- November 2003, http://tvoygolos.narod.ru/klio/text1.htm (accessed May 2,2010). 81 BBC, "Viewpoint: Soviet Grip in Russia," BBC News - Europe, November 26,2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4043389.stm (accessed May 2,2010). 82 Maria-Luisa Tirmaste, "Pros'ba byla iz razriada tekh, v kotorykh nel'za otkazat' ," Kommersant, May 31, 2004, http://www.Kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=478840 (accessed May 2,2010). 26 these events is not to be underestimated. Both Shakirov and Parfenov are very famous personas in journalistic circles, so their dismissal was widely discussed by journalists, who, as a consequence, drew conclusions about "what is allowed" and "what is not allowed," which could have led to the further increase in self-censorship. In 2004, the newspaper Nezavisimaia Gazeta published an article about the list of words that were supposedly banned by the government on the governmental TV-channel Rossiia (Russia). Among these words was "Chechnya." Stories were to refer to the "Republic of Chechnya" instead (which stresses that Chechnya is not a separate unit but a part of Russia). It was also prescribed to say ''poias shakhida" (shakhid's belt) instead of just shakhid. 83 Interestingly enough, in April 2010, not long after the terrorist attack in the Moscow metro, Sovet Federatsii (Federation Council) proposed to legally ban the use of the words "shakhid" and the "Jamaat" in the media in relation to terrorist activity.84 The main "antiterrorist" law in Russia is the Federal Law of the Russian Federation N35-FZ issued on March 6, 2006, "On Counteraction against Terrorism." It replaced the law "On the Fight against Terrorism" of December 17, 2004, which, in its tum, replaced a number of previous laws. 85 83 Sergei Varshavchik, "Na televidenii zachishchaiut terrninologiiu," Nezavisimaia Gazeta, August 2, 2004, http://www.ng.ruIpolitics/2004-08-02/2 tv.html (accessed May 2,2010). 84 Newsru.com, "Sovet Federacii hochet zapretit' SMI ispolzovat' slova «shakhid» i <," RBK Daily, August, 30, 2006, http://top.rbc.ru/econornics/30/08/2006/86806.shtml (accessed May 2,2010). 113 Ibid. 114 Open Source Center, "Russia - Source Descriptors ofKey Russian Media," Open Source Center Media Aid, December 6,2007, www.fas.org/irp/dni/osc/russian-media.pdf(accessedMay 2,2010). 115 Russia Profile, "Kommersant Newspaper, Business-Oriented," Russia Profile, Culture Now, February 25, 2009, http://www.russiaprofile.org/resources/culture/Kommersant (accessed May 2, 2010). 34 Argumenty i Fakty (Ai£) AiF was founded in 1978 and "quickly gathered a strong following, with a reported circulation of more than 33 million in 1990.,,116 Its readership is smaller now than it used to be, but AiF still remains among the most read general interest newspapers, whose content is often characterized as a combination of "political analysis and speculation, patriotic sentiment, high-profile interviews, regional supplements and consumer advice."II? AiFbelongs to ZAG Argumenty i Fakty, and Promsviaz 'bank, one of the biggest banks in Russia. I18 It describes its readers as "working people, businessmen, intellectuals, politicians and managers" 119 and is known for "often taking a nationalist line.',120 AiF's official webpage presents the newspaper as the one that is "read by the President Medvedev himself," and a photograph of Medvedev reading AiF with an 1 . d c. • h' 121apparent y mtereste lace accompames t IS statement. Vedomosti Vedomosti is a daily business newspaper published in conjunction with the Wall 116 BBC, "The Press in Russia," BBC Monitoring, May 16,2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4315129.stm(accessedMay 2,2010). 117 Ibid. 118 Ibid.; Open Source Center, "Russia - Source Descriptors ofKey Russian Media," Open Source Center Media Aid, December 6, 2007, www.fas.org/irp/dni/osc/russian-media.pdf(accessed May 2, 2010). 119 BBC, "The Press in Russia," BBC Monitoring, May 16,2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4315129.stm(accessedMay 2,2010). 120 Open Source Center, "Russia - Source Descriptors ofKey Russian Media," Open Source Center Media Aid, December 6, 2007, www.fas.org/im/dni/osc/russian-media.pdf(accessed May 2,2010). 121 Argumenty i Fakty, "Nasha Istoriia," ID AiF, http://com.AiF.ru/page/4 (accessed May 2, 2010). 35 Street Journal and the Financial Times. It belongs to ZAG Business News Magazine whish is owned by the Independent Media Sanoma Magazines publishing house, which is the property of Finland's Sanoma media group. Therefore, Vedomosti is not directly owned by any Russian corporation. Vedomosti states its purpose as "to inform readers on a daily basis about the most important economic, political, financial and corporate events, offering in-depth analysis and forecasts." 122 Komsomol 'skaia Pravda This newspaper is a daily tabloid that received its name during Soviet times, when it was a leading Soviet paper (its title can be translated as The Komsomol Truth). In 1999 "it reached the height of its popularity,,,123 when its daily circulation reached almost 22 million. It is considered to be a newspaper that combines a "firm backing for Kremlin policy,,124 and "keen interest in celebrity news and scandal from home and abroad.,,125 The newspaper belongs to ZAG Publishing House Komsomol'skaia Pravda, the major shareholder ofwhich is the Russian energy group YeSN owned by Grigorii Berezkin.126 122 Vedomosti, "About Vedomosti," ID Vedomosti, http://www.Vedomosti.ruIengi (accessed May 2,2010). 123 BBC, "The Press in Russia," BBC Monitoring, May 16, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4315129.strn(accessedMay 2,2010). 124 Ibid. 125 Ibid. 126 Marina Noskovich, "«Kornsomolka» ne dostalas' «Gazpromu»," RBK Daily, January 22,2007, http://www.rbcdaily.ruI2007/01/22/media/263943 (accessed May 2,2010). 36 Unofficial sources127 claim that Berezkin has close ties with government-owned Gazprom, the largest extractor of natural gas in the world. Rossiiskaia Gazeta Established by the government in 1990, Rossiiskaia Gazeta is the main government-owned newspaper. 128 It publishes all new laws in their entirety, as well as news and analytical articles on political and social issues in Russia and abroad. The newspapers website cites the surveys that define its readers as "even -tempered adults inclined to conservative views.,,129 Moskovskii Komosomolets (MK) MK is a mass-circulation daily newspaper that tends to criticize the Federal government but to support the Moscow administration, Mayor Yurii Luzhkov in particular,130 towards whom it "expresses broad support".l31 The informational-analytical Group SOYA accused it ofpublishing of xenophobic articles and of extensively using "the 127 N. Nikiforov, "High Voltage," Pravda.ru, 22 December, 2003, http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/89/355/11615 Gazprom.html (accessed May 2,2010). 128 BBC, "The Press in Russia," BBC Monitoring, May 16,2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4315129.stm(accessed May 2,2010). 129 Rossiiskaia Gazeta, "About," ID Rossiiskaia Gazeta, http://www.rg.ru/about.html (accessed May 2, 2010). 130 Open Source Center, "Russia - Source Descriptors of Key Russian Media," Open Source Center Media Aid, December 6, 2007, www.fas.org/irp/dni/osc/russian-media.pdf(accessedMay 2,2010). 131 BBC, "The Press in Russia," BBC Monitoring, May 16,2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4315129.stm(accessedMay 2,2010). 37 language of racial hatred.,,132 These accusations were based on annual monitoring of the language of the Russian Media in terms of the usage of xenophobic words and expressions. 133 The newspaper belongs to ZAG Moskovskii Komsomolets. The newspaper's editor-in-chief, Pavel Gusev, is believed to be the owner of the publishing house. 134 Novaia Gazeta It is a newspaper that is published three times a week and is considered to be liberal and openly oppositional to the Russian government. 135 It is well known for its investigative journalism136 and critical coverage of Russian political and sociallife. 137 In the last eight years, four journalists from Novaia Gazeta have been murdered,138 among them - famous investigative journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaia. The newspaper belongs to the ANoJ39 Novaia Gazeta. According to the BBC Press Monitoring 132 Galina Kozhevnikova, 2007. Iazyk vrazhdy i vybory: federalnyi i regionalnyi urovni. Po rnaterialam monitoringa materialov oseni 2007. On-line at: http://xeno.sova-center.ruJ213716E/21728E3/B2A44F2 133 http://xeno.sova-center.ruJ213716E (accessed May 2,2010). 134 BBC, "The Press in Russia," BBC Monitoring, May 16, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4315129.stm (accessed May 2,2010). 135 Russia Profile, "Novaia Gazeta," Russia Profile, Culture Now, April 26 2010, http://www.russiaprofile.org/resources/culture/novaya gazeta (accessed May 2, 2010). 136 BBC, "The Press in Russia," BBC Monitoring, May 16, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4315129.stm(accessed May 2,2010). 137 Russia Profile, "Novaia Gazeta," Russia Profile, Culture Now, April 26 2010, http://www.russiaprofile.org/resources/culture/novaya gazeta (accessed May 2,2010). 138 Ibid. 139"ANO," or "avnonomnaia nekommercheskaia organizatsiia" is translated as "autonomous non- commercial organization." data, the ANO Novaia Gazeta was previously owned solely by employees, but in June 2006 "former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and wealthy businessman Alexandr Lebedev purchased a 49% stake,,,140 becoming the newspaper's minority owners. !zvestiia !zvestiia, a daily newspaper, was established in the Soviet Union. It is a part of OA0141 !zvestiia, which was bought in 2005 by the governmentally owned Gazprom- Media. This event, according to some observers, resulted in the newspaper "adopting a clear pro-Kremlin line.,,142 In 2008 its majority stake was sold to the SOGAZ insurance company, owned by St. Petersburg-based Bank Rossiia, whose co-owner Yurii Kovalchuk "is widely reported to be a close associate of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.,,143 Nezavisimaia Gazeta (NG) NG is a daily Moscow newspaper focused on the analysis of political and social issues. It used to belong to the oligarch Boris Berezovskii, who is now in exile. ZAO Nezavisimaia Gazeta, that publishes the newspaper, was bought by Konstantin 140 BBC, "The Press in Russia," BBC Monitoring, May 16, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hiJeurope/4315129.stm(accessedMay 2,2010). 141"OAO," or "otkrytoe aktsionemoe obshchestvo," is translated as "open joint-stock company." 142 Ibid. 143 Ibid. 38 39 Remchukov in 2005, who at the time was a Russian government adviser, 144 and who in 2007 became Gazeta's editor-in-chief. Vremia Novostei This newspaper is published five times a week and is focused on Russian politics and social life. It is officially owned by NP (non-commercial partnership) Publishing house Vremia. Vremia Novostei is believed to be tied to Alexandr Voloshin,,,145 chairman ofNorilsk Nickel who served as the head of the Russian presidential administration from 1999 until his resignation on October 29,2003. Nevertheless, it is considered to be a liberal newspaper that "sometimes criticizes the government.,,146 As we have seen from this brief media ownership overview, these foremost leading Russian newspapers have different ownership structures and also differ in the frequency of their publication. Most ofthe outlets (six out often) are owned by ZAD's (c1osedjoint stock companies). One newspaper is officially owned by the government (Rossiiskaia Gazeta), another by DAD (open joint stock company), another by AND (autonomous non-commercial company), and another by NP (non-commercial partnership). Seven out the ten companies that own the newspapers, however, according 144 Ibid. 145 Aleksei Makarkin, "Lichnyi politicheskii defoll. Voloshin: Politik-innovator," Kompromat.ru, December 2001, On-line at: http://www.comprornal.ru/pagel1381.htm (accessed May 2,2010); Andrei Zolotov, Jr., "Gazprom Gives Jordan the Boot," The Moscow Times, 20 January 2003, http://www.themoscowtimes.comlbusiness/article/gazprom-gives-jordan-the-bootl240999.html (accessed May 2,2010). 146 Open Source Center, "Russia - Source Descriptors of Key Russian Media," Open Source Center Media Aid, December 6,2007, www.fas.org/irp/dni/osc/russian-media.pdf(accessed May 2,2010). to the unofficial sources (articles in the newspapers, media databases, such as BBC Monitoring, etc.), belong to businessmen who have direct ties with the current government. Therefore, what should be considered are not the official structures of the media (ZAD, DAD, NP) but the level ofloyalty towards the government of the businessmen who de facto own the publishing houses, and the extent to which they personally interfere with the work process of the newspapers that belong to them. 40 41 CHAPTER IV HYPOTHESES The assumptions from the analysis ofRussian media laws, publications in newspapers, and internet sources can be reduced to a set of formal hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Soviet-era journalists are more predisposed towards self-censorship than post-Soviet era journalists Many social and media analysts have hypothesized that people in Russia, journalists in particular, can be divided into "Soviet" and "post-Soviet," with "Soviet" journalists being more commonly predisposed to being controlled by the state due to their previous experience of working and living under the Soviet censorship, and "post-Soviet" journalists being less inclined to tolerate governmental oppression. Thus, Svetlana Juskevits, in her research "Professional Roles of Contemporary Russian Journalists," in writing about "two generations of the journalists" (Soviet and post-Soviet), states that Soviet journalists are "shaped by the State and were under its complete control," and therefore they are less accustomed to freedom ofthe speech and are more easily restricted by the government than "post-Soviet" journalists.147 147Svetlana Juskevits, "Professional Roles of Contemporary Russian Journalists," presented in the 15th Nordic Conference on Media and Communication Research, Reykjavik Iceland, II-13th August 200 I, www.nordicom.gu.se/mrliceland/papers/nine/SJuskevits.doc (accessed May 2,2010). 42 Antony Jones, speaking ofjournalists who proceeded from the Soviet era, points out that they cannot be called professional journalists due to the lack of experience of writing without being censored by the govemment. 148 Journalists Aleksandr Podrabinek and Anna Politkovskaia have written that it is hard to get rid of the "Soviet mentality" and "hereditory memory"149 of the Soviet times, especially for those who were educated in Soviet Russia. Colin Sparks, speaking of the contemporary Russian broadcasting system states that "the old state broadcasters of the communist epoch have survived as institutions, and many of their staff remain the same.,,150 At the same time, previously analyzed data about the laws and regulations passed in the post-Soviet period, under Putin's presidency, show that Soviet influence is not necessarily the primary factor in the formation of self-censorship among journalists. In my survey I will test the hypothesis that Soviet journalists are more inclined to exercise self-censorship than post-Soviet journalists. Journalists are considered "Soviet" if they started their careers before 1991, and "post-Soviet" - if they became journalists after 1991. Testing this hypothesis will help us understand whether self-censorship should be seen as the consequence of a Soviet mentality, or whether it can be analyzed 148 Antony Jones, "Professionalization," Russia in Flux, 85. 149 Alexandr Podrabinek, "Ne nado podrazhat vlasti!" Gazeta.ru, March 5th, 2009, http://www.gazeta.ru/comments/2009/03/05 a 2952859.shtml (accessed May 2,2010). 150 Colin Sparks, and Anna Reading, Communism, capitalism, and the mass media (London: SAGE Publications, 1998), 174. 43 within the framework of the post-Soviet era, with contemporary events and regulations as the main basis for its existence. Hypothesis 2: Self-censorship is caused by editorial censorship According to the "totalitarian" approach towards the Russian media, developed by Siebert et all 51, there is a strong interdependence between censorship imposed by the editor of the outlet and self-censorship practiced by the journalists themselves; when censorship "works itself down the chain,,152 Following this theory, we can assume that the higher the percentage of information critical of the government that is censored by the editor, the higher the percentage of material that a journalist would delete from his article of his own will. In Richter's research we read that journalists are "forced to self- censor,,,153 and with self-censorship being defined as "constraints that journalists apply in-house under external pressure as they determine to what extent they can exercise freedom of expression in the coverage of political events.,,154 Kolesnikov, describing the relationship between editor and journalist, assumes that while "an editor-in-chief always makes sure that his heads of departments do not deviate from the official line, they, in 151 Fred Siebert, Theodore Peterson and Wilbur Schramm, Four Theories ofthe Press: the Authoritarian, Libertarian, Social Responsibility, and Soviet Communist Concepts of What the Press Should Be and Do, 134. 152 Daniel Scheschkewitz, "Critical reporting? No thanks - Russian media under state and self-censorship," March 5, 2010, Deutsche Welle, http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0..5518566.00.html (accessed May 2, 2010). 153 Andrei Rikhter, "Post-Soviet Perspective On Censorship and Freedom of the Media," 315. 154 Ibid., 314. 44 tum, have no desire to lose their jobs over a political mistake and comb their journalists' pieces obsessively," and journalists, subsequently, "weigh every word, every thought, everyexpression.,,155 Hypothesis 3: Journalists who practice self-censorship when they write articles for the newspapers they work for publish more courageous articles on-line Recent studies of the Russian media have indicated the internet as a niche that is relatively free from censorship and self-censorship. Robert Sanders, in his article "New Media, New Russians, New Abroad,,,156 writes about the Russian cyberspace, or Runet," and its "capacity to provide unfiltered access to information and news.,,157 Sanders states that the internet in Russia is the only forum of media with "freedom of information" which cannot be controlled by the government. He also mentions that Russian web use is steadily growing due to several factors, such as "the increasing convergence of mobile telephony and Internet access,,,158 as well as "the increasing prosperity of Russians.,,159 The author compares Russian cyberspace with the popularity ofblogging in Russia to the Soviet-time samizdat, a phenomenon that "appeared in the 1950s and was simultaneously 155 Andrei Kolesnikov, "Freedom of expression: for what? It's written in to the Russian constitution but no one takes it for real," 21. 156 Robert Sanders, "New Media, New Russians, New Abroad" in The post-Soviet Russian media: conflicting signals, edited by Birgit Beumers, Stephen C. Hutchings, and Natalia Rulyova (London: Routledge, 2009), 191-207. 157 Ibid., 199. 158 Ibid., 200. 159 Ibid. 45 a mechanism for reproduction of and institution for dissemination of unavailable texts.,,160 Calling internet a contemporary samizdat, Sanders claims that they have many common features - a "self-made" character" and an absence of "interference of government censorship, editorial review boards or any other information-regulating entity.,,161 There are also more modem features that can be attributed to the new, "virtual" samizdat - its consumption is possible without regard for geographic location, and it is available to everyone, which has created an informational field where oppositional articles and blog posts that criticize the government are neighboring with pro- governmental propaganda or nationalistic lozenges. Vlad Strukov in his work "Russia's Internet media policies,,162 writes about the dominant state official's attitude towards the internet, "general misapprehension as regards the Web's extraterritorial and ephemeral nature; the complexity of notions of authorship; and their general lack of authority pertaining when it comes to new, digital technologies.,,163 Strukov looks at possible ways of governmental control over Russian cyberspace, writing that with the rapid development of technologies there appears more ways of controlling internet space. For instance, now it is possible to track "a user's internet activity through the "digital trace," that is, a record of online movements and 160 Ibid., 203. 161 Ibid. 162 VIad Strukov, "Russia's internet media policies" in The post-Soviet Russian media: conflicting signals, edited by Birgit Beumers, Stephen C. Hutchings, and Natalia Rulyova (London: Routledge, 2009), 208- 222. 163 Ibid., 209. 46 publications."164 There have already been a number of governmental attempts to control internet-publications by applying to them criminal, civil and media laws. For example, in 2007 a 23-year old Russian blogger named Dmitrii Shirinkin from Perm posted a fictional story on his blog inspired by the Virginia Tech Shooting. In this story, which was written as an angry satire, he wrote about buying a gun and going to shoot people. He also wrote that he "hated Putin, hated Kasparov, hated McDonald's, hated Dom-2 (popular reality show), hated metro, hated Russian provincialism." Shirinkin was accused of "falsely warning of a terror threat." He was found guilty for the false announcement of a planned terrorist act based on his post, and a fine of20.000 rubles (approximately $800 USD) was imposed upon him. The court came to the conclusion that "the resource (a site on the internet) can be considered to be a part of the mass media... in these circumstances the court comes to the conclusion that the announcement of Shirinkin was made in the mass media". Although cases like this are not numerous, they cause worry among human rights activists and journalists in Russia. Another Russian blogger was accused of "inCiting hate" against the police. According to the Komi regional prosecutor, the blog post of the 21-year old musician Savva Terent'ev contained "a direct call aimed at inciting hatred or hostility, as well as harming the dignity of ... a particular social group - policemen."165 In February, 2007, 164 Ibid., 210. 165 Marianna Tipshchenko, "Blogger Handed Suspended Sentence," July 8, 2008, The Moscow Times, http://www.themoscowtimes.comlnews/articlelb10gger-handed-suspended-sentence/368793 .html (accessed May 2,2010). 47 Savva wrote a post in his friend's blog166 that the police are "dumb, uneducated representatives of the animal world" and should be burnt periodically in town squares "like at Auschwitz.,,167 Terent'ev was summoned to the local prosecutor's office almost immediately after his comment appeared and was accused of "inciting hatred or enmity.,,168 The blogger's ten month-long criminal trial resulted in a guilty verdict. The musician received a year-long conditional probation169. While the internet appears to be an important component of the media which is less restricted than traditional media, there are also dangers of being prosecuted for what have been published on-line. In this thesis I would like to answer a specific question - do journalists who practice self-censorship in the newspapers tend to publish articles critical of the state on-line? Hypothesis 4: Media ownership directly affects the level of self-censorship among journalists The analysis of media ownership conducted in Chapter III shows that there are the three types of newspapers: joint-stock companies, non-commercial organizations and 166 Boris Surano's BIog, http://suranov.livejouma1.com(accessed May 2,2010). 167 "Terent'ev is being sued for his LJ commentary," Lenta.ru (accessed May 2, 2010); available from http://lenta.ruIstorY!terentvev/ (accessed May 2, 2010). 168 Mike Eckel, "Incendiary Blogger's Case Is Sent to Court," March 14, 2008, "The St. Petersburg Times," http://www.sptimes.ruIindex.php?action id=2&story id=25320&highlight=russian%20blogge (accessed May 2,2010). 169 Ibid. 48 governmental property. However, de facto almost all of these outlets belong to individual owners close to the Russian government. The only exceptions are Novaia Gazeta, 51 % of which is owned by the employees, and Vedomosti, that belongs to a foreign corporation. The question is - what is the interrelation between the media ownership and self- censorship? Media analysts widely discuss the affect of ownership on Russian media since it ceased to be the sole property of the government, which, in the end, resulted in the re- consolidation of the media in the hands of businessmen loyal to the government. 170 At the same time, nothing has been said about the affect of media ownership upon the level of self-censorship amongjoumalists. The findings of the current survey will allow us to examine this aspect of Russian media and test the hypothesis that a connection exists between the ownership of a given newspaper and self-censorship. [70 Andrei Zolotov, "The Roots ofNTV's Difficulties Dig Deeply into Political Turf," Nieman Reports 55, no. 2 (2001), 85-87; Romesh Ratnesar, Mike Billips, Barry Hillenbrand, Jane Walker, Yurii Zarakhovich, "Putin's Media Blitz." Time Europe, 157, no. 17 (2001), 26-27. 49 CHAPTER V DATA ANALYSIS Sample The data used to assess hypotheses about the prevalence of self-censorship come from my own survey of Moscow newspaper reporters. A sampling frame was developed by listing all the journalists, who work in the departments of politics, society, urban life and investigations at each of the top ten Moscow newspapers from March 2009 to March 2010. Next, a random sample of 55 journalists was chosen and I attempted to contact them each by phone. 40 agreed to participate, a response rate of73%. At most papers I spoke with more than one political reporter (See Appendix I for the questionnaire). All journalists were told that the information they provide would be confidential and their names would not be disclosed. All interviews were conducted in Russian. No audio records of the interviews were taken, only shorthand notes, which I transcribed and translated. General overview In this survey, journalists were asked questions which can thematically be divided into two main groups. The first group was designed to promote discussion about the journalists' working experience. Basic descriptive statistics show how long a given journalist has been at work in his profession and the type of work that he does (Table 1; all tables are in Appendix II) 50 The length of working experience of the journalists helps us to understand whether the journalist received his education in the Soviet or post- Soviet period. The second set of questions elicits the journalists' responses concerning editorial censorship and self-censorship. The questions were formulated in such a way that the words "censorship" and "self-censorship" are avoided due to their ambiguous nature and the possibility of subjective interpretation. Therefore, in order to define whether journalists experienced editorial censorship, they are asked two questions: 1). In the last four years, has it occurred that the editor eliminated from your article any words or phrases criticizing the Russian government? 2). In the last four years, has it occurred that the editor refused to publish your article that contained information critical of the Russian government? In regard to self-censorship, journalists are asked a single question: In the last four years, has it occurred that, in order to publish your article, you yourself decided not to include facts that negatively characterize the Russian government? Most of the respondents (60%), stated that they write articles as well as edit texts written by other journalists, with remaining 40% stating that they only write articles and do not work as editors (Table 1). However, most of the latter journalists commented that they have tried editing and did not like it, so although they were offered work as an editor, they decided not to pursue it. It is very common for journalists in Russia to combine writing and editing, because an editor's job is higher paid. The fact that most of the journalists interviewed have previous experience in editing articles written by others proves that they are familiar with the editing process and can recognize when the editing of an article has a purely stylistic basis and in which cases it is based on eliminating 51 phrases, words, or facts that are critical of the state; a process that is similar to censorship. The majority of the interviewees (80%) publish articles every day (52.5 %) and every week (27.5%).20% publish their texts monthly or less than once a month. 70% of those interviewed write about politics on a daily or weekly basis, 27.5 % - monthly or less than monthly (Table 2). Some of the interviewees explained the lower frequency of their political writing by the fact that they work as investigative journalists and it takes a month or more to write one investigative article. Another explanation for the lower frequency of publications is their editing work, which requires a lot oftime and interferes with writing articles. Several journalists commented that the borders between "political" and "non-political" writing are sometimes blurred. One of the interviewees stated that while he was not specializing in politics and was mainly writing about the city planning, and real estate, he commonly had to deal with political issues because real estate business in Moscow is closely affiliated with the Moscow and Federal government. He stated that, as far as the owner ofthe biggest construction company in Moscow is the wife of the mayor, "criticizing the construction of a certain building means criticizing some high-end state bureaucrat." Another interviewee mentioned that "today, whatever you write about is politics; although I am trying not to get into politics too much, it is almost impossible to stay away from it, unless you are working for the yellow press and write about celebrities." Most journalists (94.9%) have stated that they have criticized the government in their articles (Table 3). Several journalists admitted that they have criticized the 52 government in their articles by quoting direct speech of the oppositional commentators, or just stating facts that by themselves critique the government, but did not comment on those facts or direct quotations. They explained their behavior by citing the necessity of being "careful" in order to be able to publish in the outlets that they are working for. The results of the survey show that self-censorship is prevalent among journalists; more than half ofjournalists (51.3%) affirmed that in the last four years they have practiced self-censorship, deciding not to include certain facts that are critical of state authorities in their articles in order to have their articles published (Table 4). Editorial censorship occurs, but it is less frequent. While 40% ofjournalists stated that in the last four years of work their editors have eliminated from their articles words or phrases criticizing the state (Table 4), only 30% agreed that their editor in the last four years refused to publish their articles because they contained information critical ofthe Russian government (Table 5). This is consistent with the idea that a significant level of self-censorship and "soft" editorial censorship (when an editor eliminates parts of an article), makes it unlikely for the editor to reject the whole article for its political "incorrectness." Therefore, in further analysis I will speak mostly of "soft" editorial censorship, considering that "hard" editorial censorship occurs in the same circumstances as "soft" censorship, but less frequently. 53 Hypothesis l: Soviet-era journalists are more predisposed towards self-censorship than post-Soviet era journalists The results of the survey are not consistent with the hypothesis that journalists who started their career in the Soviet era are practicing more self-censorship than their younger colleagues who began working after the collapse of the Soviet system and, consequently, at the time when censorship was no longer legal. According to the data, 54.5% of "Soviet" journalists have not practiced self- censorship, while 45.4% have. At the same time, 46.1 % of "post-Soviet" journalists have not practiced self-censorship, while 53.8% have (Table 6). Therefore, the difference between "Soviet" and "post-Soviet" journalists in terms of their willingness to exercise self-censorship is insignificant, and even this small difference indicates that journalists of the Soviet era practice less self-censorship than their "post-Soviet" colleagues. The same is true of the relation to censorship that proceeds from the editor of the outlet. Overall results show that there is very little difference between the percentage of "Soviet" and "post-Soviet" journalists who agreed that their editors eliminated parts of their articles in order to prevent the publication of information critical of the government. In this case, as in the previous one, the little difference in the percentage shows that "Soviet" journalists experience slightly more pressure from their editors, which is consistent with the idea that their articles contain more information critical of the government than that of their younger colleagues. 54 One respondent commented that journalists who were most active in the early nineties are much more oppositional in their judgments than those who started later. Another journalist said, "I am a journalist of the old school, so my articles are sometimes too much... I still write as I was in the nineties." As I discussed in Chapters II and III, the 2000s are an era marked by the Second Chechen War, war against terrorism, and are characterized by the appearance of legal restrictions imposed upon the printed press. Therefore, it is possible to suggest that these facts partially explain why the older journalists act with less self-restriction than the younger ones, who started their careers in the late 90s and early 2000s. Another explanation for "Soviet" journalists exercising less self-censorship than their younger colleagues is that the former can be characterized as members of intelligentsiia, or Soviet intellectuals. Many of them were oppositional to state authorities even in the Soviet era. Although very few were brave enough to explicitly express their protest, after the collapse of the Soviet Union these people were more willing to openly criticize the government. One of the examples is Vladimir Pozner, a famous Russian journalist who worked for the magazine "Soviet Life" and wrote articles about the greatness ofRussia during the Soviet period. As Pozner describes in his memoirs "Parting with Illusions," although he experienced censorship from his editor, he did not dare to argue with him. 171 He explains that he did not believe the government to be entirely wrong, and that he had illusions about the Soviet system, although understood 171 Vladimir Pozner, Parting with illusions (New York: Atlantic MontWy Press, 1990). 55 some of its faults. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, Pozner became a very famous oppositional journalist who challenges governmental decisions in his TV programs, books and articles, arguing that "the press still should not trust the government."l72 Another world-famous oppositional Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaia, who openly criticized Russian government and was killed in 2006, also started her journalistic career in the Soviet era, becoming ajournalist for Izvestiia newspaper in 1982. 173 Hypothesis 2: Self-censorship is caused by editorial censorship The survey shows that there is a complex interrelation between editorial censorship and journalistic self-censorship, which does not prove that editorial censorship affects the level of self-censorship among journalists. The percentage ofjournalists who exercise self-censorship is roughly the same both in outlets where editors censor their articles, and in outlets whose editors do not impose any censorship (Table 4). At the same time, there is a very strong correlation between those journalists who prefer not to publish any articles critical of the state and editorial censorship (editor eliminated parts of their articles that criticized the state). Those journalists who have claimed to have experienced strong editorial censorship prefer not to publish any articles critical of the government (Table 7). 172 Vladimir Pozner, and Irina Karpenko, ""I Will Not 'Go After' Anyone". Russian Politics and Law 39, no. 1 (2001),92. 173 Sergei Tepliakov, "Za chto ubili Anny Politkovskyiu?" Izvestiia, October 9,2006, http://www./zvestia.ru/incidentJartic1e3097332/ (accessed May 2,2010). 56 On the one hand, these results are consistent with the possibility that contemporary Russian journalists who work in popular Moscow newspapers know well the policies that are practiced within each outlet, and in the case of strong editorial censorship prefer not to contradict these policies and not to raise any issues critical ofthe government in their articles. On the other hand, journalists who do publish articles critical of the government seem to know well the "rules of the game" and are aware of the particular topics that are not supposed to be raised in the Russian media. They efficiently self-censor their texts according to these rules, which are not directly related to their editor's preferences, but based on their personal and social experience. This theory can find support in the comments that the respondents give on self-censorship. For example, one ofthe interviewees commented that there is a number of established topics that are not supposed to be discussed in press, and "everyone knows them," so when it comes to writing, journalists know what they can and what they cannot write about. They either avoid writing on this topic or carefully camouflage it so that it does not attract too much attention. The topics that are not to be written on are the following: 1). Putin's personal life (absolute taboo); 2). Personal life of Medvedev and other first-rank bureaucrats; 3). Weapon trade (a good example is the situation with the ship Arctic Sea); 4). Ramzan Kadyrov and the situation in Chechnya (it is dangerous for one's life); 5). Baturina's business (Elena Baturina is the richest woman in Russia, the owner ofthe constructing company Inteko, and the wife ofYurii Luzhkov, the mayor ofMoscow since 1992 (Baturina is famous for her (successful) lawsuits against journalists and outlets that 57 publish any criticism of her company or herself)174; 6). Investigation of terrorist acts. The same author stressed the fact that if a journalist covers a "tabooed" topic in his or her article, the other newspapers would not follow suit, even if the journalist discloses something revealing about the misconduct of the state. Such behavior, according to the journalist, leads to the "death" of a topic, when it is mentioned once and then forgotten. The journalist explains this phenomenon as "the lack of solidarity between journalists." On the other hand, solidarity in keeping silence can also be an explanation. All journalists, no matter what outlet they are working for, share more or less the same informational space and follow similar sets of rules. Therefore, journalists share solidarity in what they are not supposed to publish, and at the same time lack solidarity in working together towards an investigation of a common problem. Hence, the level of self-censorship that they practice is very much their personal choice. The topic that was stated by many journalists as the most "problematic" is the private life and personal qualities of either the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin or the President Dmitrii Medvedev. Both editors and journalists avoid this topic, and many journalists refer to it as to the "absolute taboo." Journalists confirmed that their editors had eliminated parts of their articles that contained personal criticism of either Putin or Medvedev. Examples of "personal criticism" ofPutin and Medvedev thatjoumalists eliminate from their articles demonstrate the extent of the banned topics. One of the 174 Among the most well-known court cases iniciated by Baturina's Inteco are the ones against The Sunday Times and Forbes (Russia); see "Russia's Richest Woman Sues Forbes Magazine," February 14,2007, Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, http://www.rferl.org/contentlBackgrounderEmbedded/107471O.html (accessed May 2,2010); Roy Greenslade, "Sunday Times Sued for Libel," 29 November 2009, Greenslade Blog, Guardian.co.uk, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/nov/29/sundaytimes-medialaw (accessed May 2,2010). 58 journalists stated that he decided not to publish an article with information about the height of the President ofRussia in comparison to the height of the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The journalist noticed that although Putin was two centimeters shorter than Berlusconi during the Summit of the G8 he somehow managed to look taller than the Italian leader. He edited this piece and it never went to print. Among other cases of "dangerous" topics that the respondents claimed to deliberately cut from their own materials or not mention are the personal wealth of Putin, Putin's and Medvedev's "tandem" and its political strangeness, Putin's family life, his wife and daughters, criticism ofPutin's politics towards Russian sport, foreign politicians' negative comments about Putin, newsmakers' comments on the political actions ofMedvedev and Putin. The phenomenon of the taboo on the personal criticism of the leading politicians is an interesting topic for further research; the most logical conclusion that we can make on the basis of this finding is that Russian politics are formed around strong personalities and not that much around the laws, what Shevtsova, Hale and McFaul call "superpresidential regime" or "superpresidency."] 75 Having analyzed the comments ofthe journalists, 1 can roughly divide them into three groups. The first one includes those who prefer not to engage in self-censorship, although they know that their editors may delete text or kill stories. As one of the interviewees stated, "let the editor himself spoil his karma." Another respondent commented, "I write what 1 feel, and then the editor corrects it, making it look right." 175 Liliia Shevtsova, "The Problem of Executive Power in Russia," Journal ofDemocracy 11, no. 1 (2000), 32-39; Henry Hale, "Iabloko and the Challenge of Building a Liberal Party in Russia," Europe-Asia Studies 56, no. 7 (2004), 993-1020; Michael McFaul, "Russian Democracy: Still not a Lost Cause," The Washington Quarterly 23, no. 1 (2000), 161-172. 59 One journalist stated, "I know that 1 sometimes become unnecessarily critical of the state, when my criticism is not based on facts but on my emotions, so 1 accept the editor's corrections." The second group includes those who prefer to avoid writing anything that they think their editor would cut or rewrite out of convenience and for the faster publication of an article. These journalists prefer to exercise self-censorship when it comes to problematic topics. For them, self-censorship has two principal methods: first, not mentioning certain facts, or eliminating pieces from a text; second, trying to fonnulate critical materials and facts in a way that makes it look less "extreme." Journalists often describe the latter method as "softening the angles," "being more accurate" or "trying to be more cautious," as well as "tricking the editor through the fonnulation of "banned" facts and trying to disguise them and sneak them in." There are other ways that journalists use in order to publish controversial infonnation, such as publishing "problematic" articles in other outlets or publishing them on-line (I address this below). The third group includes those who cease to write any criticism about the government. This group is the least numerous, while the number ofjournalists in the first and second group is roughly the same. The director of communications at the World Association of Newspapers, Kilman, when speaking about the relationship between censorship and self-censorship, affinned that "censorship leads to self-censorship because it causes reporters to question 60 what is 'allowed' and what is not.,,176 The conclusions drawn from the data obtained in this survey take towards further step of self-censorship. It appears to exist independently from editorial censorship, and even those journalists who work in different newspapers share information on "dangerous" topics. Therefore, there is an informational space that provides a list of "dangerous" topics. It is not editorial censorship, but this space, common for the journalists who work in the popular Moscow dailies and weeklies, that defines the current topics which are chosen to be censored. Journalists who are exposed to censorship from their editors, and those who are not practice self-censorship to the same extent. As we can see from the comments, it is a matter of personal working techniques and methods, and a matter of convenience. The most common reaction to editorial censorship is either ignoring it, letting the editor make any changes he wants; or reacting by only changing the form but not the content. Hypothesis 3: Journalists who practice self-censorship when they write articles for the newspapers they work for publish more courageous articles on-line In this survey I am answering the following questions: Do journalists prefer to publish articles critical of the state on-line? Is there any relationship between the level of self-censorship that they apply to their writings and their willingness to publish something on-line? Does it feel safer to publish information critical of the government on the internet rather than in the outlets they work for? 176 As cited in Simons, Greg, and Dmitrii Strovskii, "Censorship in Contemporary Russian Journalism in the Age of the War Against Terrorism,"European Journal o/Communication 21, no. 2 (2006): 191. 61 Journalists were asked whether they published in their blogs or other internet- sources (such as on-line newspapers and news agencies), any articles critical of the government that could not be published in the newspapers they work at. 12.8% of the journalists answered "yes" to this question (Table 8). Two main explanations were given for the negative answers. Roughly half of the journalists claim that their contract does not allow them to publish any article on-line without the approval of the newspaper that they work for. Another half explains this by the fact that they are too "old-fashioned" to publish anything on the internet. However, a significant number of the latter express their wish to start up their own blog or to publish something on-line in the future. Although the percentage ofjournalists who publish on-line is small, the data show that 80% of those who posted their articles on the internet practice self-censorship, while only 40% experienced censorship from their editors (Tables 10 and 11). This suggests that journalists use different standards when writing for the outlets where they work then for internet sources, news agencies, and blogs. They are more cautious in the printed press and avoid writing critical notions about the government, while on the internet they are more explicit in their opinions about state authorities. Journalists who published articles on-line said that in that medium they could more explicitly express their opinions and attitudes, while in the printed press they were required to use a neutral tone. Most of the journalists interviewed stated that the decisive factor for publishing something critical about the government is the ability to name the source. In other words, as one journalist explained, "You cannot write: 'Minister ofFinance Ivanov is incompetent, he cannot 62 count,' - said one of his classmates'; you can only write: 'Minister Ivanov is incompetent, he cannot count,' - said one of his classmates, Petr Petrov." Most of the journalists have noticed that in the last several years the necessity to reveal all the sources of information that criticizes the state has significantly lowered their ability to publish any criticism at all, as far as it is hard to get information without promising anonymity to the source. As one of the journalists said, "sometimes we prefer not to publish the comment because we do not want to harm our source." He added that "in Russia, the sources almost never speak for the record, and all Russian journalism is basically built upon anonymous sources, which lowers its quality." Internet publications allow journalists to publish critical information and be more evasive about their sources, although the fact that the government applies criminal and media laws to articles and blog posts published on-line makes most of the journalists treat internet publications with caution. Hypothesis 4: Media ownership directly affects the level of self-censorship among journalists The results show that there is no significant relationship between self-censorship, editorial censorship and the official ownership structure (ZAG, GAG, etc.) (Table 11). These results are consistent with my previous analysis of the two levels of ownership structures in the Russian media: the "official" (publishing houses that belong to non- commercial partnerships and joint-stock companies) and "unofficial" (individual businessmen who stand behind these companies). While ZAGs, GAGs, NPs and other 63 fOTITIS of ownership have different structures that, supposedly, should affect media in different ways, unofficially most of the media outlets are owned by the individual businessmen. Their personal tastes and political views tum out to be more important than the official ownership structure. Thus, one of the respondents claimed that he tries "to avoid any criticism of the native republic of the owner of the publishing house," and "considering that you cannot speak of this republic without criticizing it," he prefers "not to write about it at all." Another respondent stated that he does not write anything bad about a "certain bureaucrat who is friends with our owner. .. everybody knows it, and everyone avoids criticizing him, which allows us to criticize anything else." Therefore, in order to understand the relationship between the ownership structure and media policies we need to have a closer look at the personalities of the owners, their political attitudes and behaviors, as well as the extent of their participation in the policies of the newspapers they own. Such research could become a continuation of the current thesis. 64 CHAPTER VI CONCLUSIONS This thesis examines the contemporary Russian printed press and, in particular, the way that journalists who work in the ten most popular socio-political Russian newspapers practice self-censorship and are subjected to editorial censorship. In exploring the problems of self-censorship in ten particular outlets, this thesis offers the answer to the more general question: To what extent does self-censorship exist in the contemporary Russian press, and what principal factors affect its existence? In seeking the stimulus for censorship, the thesis explores the question of media ownership in Russia since the collapse ofthe Soviet Union in 1991, and studies the laws and regulations related to freedom of the press that the government has issued since 1991, as well as the events that significantly affected that freedom (Wars in Chechnya and terrorist acts in Russia). Finally, it analyzes the findings from the survey in the context of the previously studied theoretical data. A recap of the findings as a result of this thesis research includes the following conclusions: Although there is no legal censorship in Russia, contemporary Russian journalists practice significant self-censorship and, to a lesser extent, editorial censorship. Editorial censorship is most commonly practiced through eliminating certain parts of text by the editor (phrases or words critical of the government) and less commonly by refraining from publishing the entire article. Nevertheless, even those journalists who experience ----------------------------------------- 65 self-censorship and editorial censorship claim to criticize various aspects of the government in their publications. The data shows that journalists who started their careers in the Soviet Union do not practice self-censorship to a greater extent than journalists who started their careers after the collapse of the Soviet Union. More than that, the results of the survey show that "Soviet" journalists are less inclined to self-censorship than their younger colleagues. It leads to the possibility that self-censorship in the contemporary Russian press is different from that which existed in Soviet times, has its own dynamics, and is formed by disparate factors. There is the whole new generation ofRussian journalists who started their careers in the post-Soviet era, and who still exercise self-censorship. Hence, in the further analysis of self-censorship in Russian press it would be essential to study it not as a direct continuation of the Soviet past but in the context of contemporary circumstances and events. The data do not confirm the hypothesis that editorial censorship directly affects self-censorship. The results of the survey show that there is an equal percentage of journalists who practice self-censorship among those who have experienced editorial censorship and among those who have not. It is consistent with the idea that se1f- censorship in the contemporary Russian printed press does not necessarily have a vertical structure (come from the editor). Journalists who decide to censor their own articles might make decisions based on their personal experience and a certain "common knowledge." It is possible to suggest that the journalists of most of the printed newspapers that are based in Moscow share this "common knowledge," as far as all the 66 journalists interviewed for this thesis independently from each other named the same topics that are considered to be "the most dangerous." Among the factors that may influence the common journalistic knowledge about the most "dangerous" topics are the numerous anti-terroristic acts and regulations, which the government introduced after the Second Chechen War, as well the selective punishments of some of the most famous journalists who crossed the line and covered those topics. The hypothesis that journalists who practice self-censorship when they write articles for the newspapers publish more courageous articles on-line is confirmed. Although the number ofjournalists who publish articles in their blogs and on-line sources proves to be relatively small, those journalists who publish articles on-line practice self- censorship in the outlets they work for. It shows that journalists are inclined to see the internet as a place where they can express more criticism towards authorities. However, a significant number ofjournalists prefer not to publish their texts on-line. Some journalists explain this tendency by their being "old-fashioned," others state that their contract does not allow them to do so without official permission from their employer. Overall, the respondents consider the internet to be an alternative to the printed media, and state that internet space has more freedom than the printed press. The data show that there is no obvious relationship between official media ownership structure and self-censorship. The fact that Russian ownership structures are only relatively transparent, and on the unofficial level most of the Russian media outlets are considered to be owned by individual businessmen, may provide an explanation to this result. At the same time, it may be partially explained by the idea that self-censorship 67 among Russian journalists is not necessarily the result of the editorial policies and is based on the common knowledge that all Moscow-based journalists who work for popular socio-political newspapers and write about political or social issues are likely to share. Although self-censorship occupies a significant place in contemporary Russian journalism, and in the printed press in particular, the Russian printed media is freer than it is considered to be, and is not directly censored by the state. Journalists often compromise their ability to discuss the most "dangerous" topics such as Chechnya, terrorism and the private lives ofPutin and Medvedev, in order to continue their work as journalists and address issues that can be criticized with greater success, such as governmental corruption. This work offers only the first step in the analysis of the mechanisms of self- censorship and editorial censorship in Russia. The problems of these modem types of censorship have been widely discussed by media analysts, journalists, and human rights activists and represent an important problem in today's media; however, they need to be studied further and in more detail. Understanding the mechanisms that stand behind these "civilized" fonns of censorship can benefit media analysts in many ways, starting with getting a clearer picture of the contemporary Russian press and ending with the ability to make a more precise content analysis of the contemporary media in Russia. This research suggests a number of explanations of how self-censorship in Russia works. There is a number of possible topics for further research on this problem. One of the suggested topics is the relationship between the real, semi-official owners of the 68 publishing houses and media outlets, and their editors and journalists. Another possible topic for further studies is the informational space that is shared by journalists who work for the printed media in Moscow and other regions in Russia, as well as a comparative analysis of the topics that are commonly considered taboo by Russian journalists throughout the country. 69 APPENDIX A SURVEY: SELF-CENSORSHIP IN RUSSIAN PRINTED PRESS English version You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Elena Rodina, a student from the REESC department at the University of Oregon. I hope to learn about the problem of self-censorship in contemporary Russian printed press. This research will be used in a thesis on the same topic. You were selected as a possible participant in this study because you are working as ajoumalist in one of the ten most popular daily newspapers in Russia. If you decide to participate, I will interview you, asking questions about your job and the process of article-writing in order to understand whether you yourself or your editor restrict the publication of information that is critical of the government. This one-time interview will take up to ten (10) minutes, will be conducted over the phone and will be recorded by taking notes and without using any audio or video record facilities. The interview may take more than ten minutes (up to fifteen minutes) in case I would ask you to specify some of your answers. Any information that is obtained in connection with this study and that can be identified with you will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission. Subject identities will be kept confidential. Your participation is voluntary. Your decision whether or not to participate will not affect your relationship with the University of Oregon. If you decide to participate, you are free to withdraw your consent and discontinue participation at any time without penalty. If you have questions, contact Elena Rodina, GTF Russian Instructor, REESC, 271 PLC, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, (541) 346-4001; or Professor Caleb Southworth (advisor), 720 PLC, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, (541) 346-5034. If you have questions regarding your rights as a research subject, contact the Office for Protection ofHuman Subjects, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, (541) 346-2510. This Office oversees the review ofthe research to protect your rights and is not involved with this study. Your signature indicates that you have read and understand the information provided above, that you willingly agree to participate, that you may withdraw your consent at any time and discontinue participation without penalty, that you have received a copy of this form, and that you are not waiving any legal claims, rights or remedies. Name: Tel.: Date of the interview: Place of work: 1. For how many years have you been working at your current position? 2. When (what year) did you start working as a professional paid journalist? 3. At your current job, you are: a) only writing articles b) writing articles and editing texts written by other journalists 4. How often do your articles appear in print? a) daily b) weekly c) monthly d)less than once per month 5. How often do you write about politics? a) less than monthly b) monthly c) weekly d) daily e) other, please specify _ 6. In the last four (4) years (starting with 2006), has it occurred that: 6.1 The editor eliminated from your article any words or phrases criticizing the Russian government? If yes, give an example. 70 71 6.2 In order to publish your article you yourself decided not to include the facts that are negatively characterizing the Russian government? If yes, give an example. 6.3 Your editor refused to publish your article that contained information critical of the Russian government? If yes, give an example. 7. Have you published articles critical of the Russian government in the outlet you are working for? If yes, give an example. Ifno, explain why. 8. In the last four (4) years (starting with 2006) has it happened that you have published your article(s) that could not be published in the outlet you work for because oftheir criticizm towards the government in your blog or another internet-source? 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ECJIH HeT, 06'bjlCHHTe, rrOqeMy. 8. 3a rrOCJIe.n:HHe qeTblpe ro.n:a pa60TbI (HaqHH~C 2006 ro.n:a) CJIyqaJIOCb JIH, qTO BbI rry6JIHKOBaJIH B 6JIorax H:JIH B HHTepHeT-pecypcax BarnH CTaTbH, KOTopble He 6bIJIH orry6JIHKOBaHbI B BarneM H3.n:aHHH rro rrpHqHHe KpHTHqeCKHX 3aMeqaHHR B a.n:pec BJIaCTeR? 75 APPENDIXB TABLES OF SURVEY RESULTS* Table 1: Summary of Experience in their Profession Question Mean Standard N Deviation Years in Current Position 5.9 3.9 39 What year did you start working as a journalist 1994.9 7.0 39 Percent writing and editing 60% .49 40 * All tables in the appendix II are based on the survey conducted by me among Russian (Moscow-based) newspaper journalists in the period of two months (March-April) of 2010. The total number of the respondents is 40 people. The respondents were reached by phone and interviewed in Russian, all interviews were translated by me into English. Table 1 is based upon three questions of the survey: "For how many years have you been working at your current position?" "When (what year) did you start working as a professional paid journalist?" and "At your current job, you are: a) only writing articles b) writing articles and editing texts written by other journalists." 76 Table 2: The frequency of journalistic publications How often do your articles appear print? Daily Weekly monthly Less than once a month Freq. 21 11 6 2 Percent 52.50 27.50 15.00 5.00 Table 2 shows the frequency ofjournalistic publications and is based on the respondents' answers to the multiple choice question: "How often do your articles appear in print?" with possible answers "daily," "weekly," "monthly," "less than once per month." 77 Table 3: The percentage ofjoumalists who publish articles critical of the state Has published articles critical of Freq the state Percent No yes 2 37 5.13 94.87 Table 3 shows the percentage of the respondents who have written articles critical of the Russian government. The respondents were asked a yes-no question: "Have you published articles critical of the Russian government in the outlet you are working for?" 78 Table 4: The relationship between journalistic self-censorship and editorial censorship (cutting or editing political content) Journalist Engages in Self-Censorship Editor Does Not Censor Political Content Editor Censors Political Content Total no yes Total 11 7 18 52.38 46.67 50.00 10 8 18 47.62 53.33 50.00 21 15 36 100.00 100.00 100.00 Pearson chi2(1) = 0.1143 Pr = 0.735 Table 4 shows the relationship between journalistic self-censorship and editorial censorship. It is based upon the answers to the two questions of the survey: "In the last for years of working as a journalist, has it happened to you that, in order to publish your article, you yourself decided not to include the facts that are negatively characterizing the Russian government?" and "In the last four years, has it happened to you that the editor eliminated from your article any words or phrases criticizing the Russian government?" 79 Table 5: The relationship between the journalistic self-censorship and editorial censorship (refusing to publish the article) Journalist Engages in Self- Censorshi no yes Total Editor Does Not Kill Article 13 52.00 12 48.00 25 100.00 Editor Kills Article 5 45.45 6 54.55 11 100.00 Total 18 50.00 18 50.00 36 100.00 Pearson chi2(1)= 0.1309 Pr = 0.717 Table 5 shows the relationship between journalistic self-censorship and editorial censorship. It is based upon the answers to the two questions of the survey: "In the last for years of working as a journalist, has it happened to you that, in order to publish your article, you yourself decided not to include the facts that are negatively characterizing the Russian government?" and "In the last four years of working as ajoumalist, has it happened to you that your editor refused to publish your article that contained infonnation critical of the Russian government?" 80 Table 6: The relationship between Soviet-era credentials and self-censorship Editor Censors Political Content no yes Total Post-Soviet Soviet Credentials Credentials 12 6 46.15 54.55 14 5 53.85 45.45 26 11 100.00 100.00 Total 18 48.65 19 51.35 37 100.00 Pearson chi2(1) = 0.2179 Pr = 0.641 Table 6 shows the relationship between Soviet-era credentials of the journalists and self- censorship and is based on the questions "For how long have you worked as a journalist?" and "In the last for years of working as a journalist, has it happened to you that, in order to publish your article, you yourself decided not to include the facts that are negatively characterizing the Russian government?" 81 Table 7: The relationship between the frequency of publishing articles critical of the state and the editorial censorship (cutting or editing political content) Editor Censors Journalist Does Journalist Total Political Content Not Publish Publishes Articles Articles Critical of Critical of the the State State no 2 21 23 28.57 67.74 60.53 yes 5 10 15 71.43 32.26 39.47 Total I ~OO.OO 31 38100.00 100.00 Pearson chi2(1) = 3.6673 Pr = 0.055 Table 7 shows the frequency ofpublishing articles critical of the state in relation to editorial censorship. It is based on the respondents' answers to the questions, "Have you published articles critical of the Russian government in the outlet you are working for?" and "In the last for years of working as ajoumalist, has it happened to you that the editor eliminated from your article any words or phrases criticizing the Russian government?" 82 Table 8: Frequency of publishing critical articles on-line Have you published articles critical of Freq. the state that you could not publish in your newspaper in anyon-line source? yes 5 no 34 Percent 12.82 87.18 Table 8 shows the frequency of publishing articles critical of the sate on-line. It is based upon the answers to the yes-no question, "Have you published articles critical of the state that you could not publish in your newspaper in anyon-line source?" 83 Table 9: The relationship between the frequency of the internet publications and journalistic self-censorship Journalist self- censors no yes Total Pearson chi2(J) = Have you published articles critical of the state that you could not publish in your newspaper in anyon-line source? yes no Total 1 17 18 20.0 53.12 48.65 4 15 19 80.00 46.88 51.35 5 32 37 100.00 100.00 100.00 1.8994, Pr = 0.168 Table 9 shows the relationship between the frequency of the internet publications and journalistic self-censorship and is based on the respondents' answers to the questions, "In the last for years of working as ajournalist, has it happened to you that, in order to publish your article, you yourself decided not to include the facts that are negatively characterizing the Russian government" and "Have you published articles critical of the state that you could not publish in your newspaper in anyon-line source?" 84 Table 10: The relationship between the frequency of the internet publications and editorial censorship (cutting or editing political content) Editorial censorship Have you published articles critical of the state that you could not publish in your newspaper in anyon-line source? yes no Total 3 20 23 no 60.0 60.61 60.53 yes 2 13 15 40.00 39.39 39.47 Total 5 33 38 100.00 100.00 100.00 Pearson chi2(1) = 0.0007, Pr = 0.979 Table 10 shows the relationship between the frequency of the internet publications made by the respondents and editorial censorship in media outlets they work at. It is based on the answers to the following questions: "In the last for years of working as ajournalist, has it happened to you that the editor eliminated from your article any words or phrases criticizing the Russian government?" and "Have you published articles critical of the state that you could not publish in your newspaper in anyon-line source?" 85 Table 11: The relationship between the legal structure of the outlet and self-censorship Ownership Proportion Structure of Journalists Reporting Self- Censorshi OAO .5 ZAO .57142857 ANO .66666667 NP .22222222 GOSsob 1 Average* .51351351 *Averages are used here without frequencies to protect the identity ofrespondents. Table 11 shows the relationship between the legal structure of the outlet and the level of self-censorship. 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