Causes and effects
Will Englund (and his editors) at the Washington Post didn't think there was adequate evidence for causal relationships between three events this week. I'm just an outsider in fly-over land, but it seems to me that Putin's speech on Monday, Arkado's decision on Tuesday, and the Duma's new law on Wednesday are connected. The article does not report on those sequentially, so the connections are played down.Russian TV provider drops CNN, Bloomberg TV, BBC
A major Internet TV provider here has dropped CNN, Bloomberg TV and the BBC, for reasons that a company official said were “beyond its control.” [Customers reported that service was cut off on Tuesday.]
The provider, called Arkado, issued a statement Thursday afternoon alleging that the companies had not obtained proper “licenses” for broadcast in Russia…
On Wednesday, the Russian parliament passed a law that asserts a measure of government control over the Internet. Though its supporters said it was designed to fight child pornography, critics said they feared it would be used to suppress political speech…
In a speech to Russian diplomats Monday, President Vladimir Putin complained about foreign news coverage of Russia.
“Russia’s image abroad is formed not by us, and as a result it is often distorted and does not reflect the real situation in our country or Russia’s contribution to global civilization, science and culture,” he said. “Our country’s policies often suffer from a one-sided portrayal these days. Those who fire guns and launch airstrikes here or there are the good guys, while those who warn of the need for restraint and dialogue are for some reason at fault. But our fault lies in our failure to adequately explain our position. This is where we have gone wrong.”
If a decision has been made to move against the three channels here, however, it would appear to be related to Russia’s image at home, rather than abroad.
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Labels: media, political culture, politics, Russia
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:02 AM
1 Comments:
Oh, never mind, maybe
A cable-news mystery, Russian-style
"First, a few customers complained, but the people who run Akado, a major Internet TV and cable provider here, ducked calls from the press. Then Alexei Navalny, a crusading blogger, tweeted it Thursday morning: Akado had dropped CNN International and BBC World, two mainstays of English-language news…
"Maybe someone was hoping to garner a little favor on high by acting on Putin’s complaints. Maybe the company was trying to show its loyalty a day after the Russian parliament passed a law expanding government control of the Internet. Or maybe Akado was trying to put the arm on the three channels for its own reasons, and all three just happened to be news stations…
"But maybe, in the end, Akado was taken aback when respected news Web sites — as well as the Ekho Moskvy radio station, the swashbuckling TV Rain Internet television channel and even the foreign media — took notice and asked questions.
"Late in the day came yet another statement, this one from Akado Vice President Sergey Nazarov. 'The company has received required confirmation from CNN, BBC and the Bloomberg channels, which allows us to resume broadcasting,' he said… "
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