BEYOND THE BORDERS, Majvik 15.06.2013. Kremlin is helping to make negative image about Russia. It is easy to do unbalanced stories. Russian definitions of such terms as law, success, and fairness are different from the Western ones. But it is still a normal country, which is very different from Scandinavian countries, but even so it´s way of living is much more like an Italian one. Foreigners are privileged compared with the Russian journalists. If you criticize - someone may just be irritated because the journalist picks up an issue. You never know how upset they might be. Often the pressure is not directed only towards the journalist, but towards the whole publication.

1. Nordic Freelance Journalists
BEYOND THE BORDERS
Majvik 15.06.2013
DRAFT
Are dark days returning to Russia?
14.06.13

2. You should newer criticize
any country from abroad
Russian definitions of such terms as law, success, and fairness are different
from the Western ones.
But it is still a normal country, which is very different from Scandinavian
countries, but even so it´s way of living is much more like an Italian one.
If you criticize someone in the (government), you never know how upset they
might be.
Vladimir Milov: “The deficit of political representation is a serious problem: if
the protest movement in 2011-2012 had managed to turn into a powerful
organized political force aiming to take power at the next election, it would
have been more difficult to send investigators here and there. But, alas, it did
not happen.”
“So is moving abroad the only solution?”
14.06.13

3. Sergei Guriev @sguriev nes.ru/~sguriev
a Morgan Stanley Professor of Economics and a Rector at the New Economic School (NES) in
Moscow until he resigned 30 April 2013 and fled to France
https://docs.google
.com/file/d/0B4ti
Ue6gZZPuSDVDQ
XlreGhzVlk/edit?
pli=1
14.06.13

4. Why the hysteria about Russia?
And let me pick out three examples more: the Agent-Law, demonizing Russia
and mislead European audience.
“Demonizing Russia doesn’t change the conditions there and only undermines
our ability to see what we want and need”, says republican well known
commentator Paul J. Saunders.
“True Russia is not the media reality”, says Konstantin Kosachev, Chairman of
the Russian Federal Agency for Relations with the CIS states.
Agent-Act has victims that we never could imagine: Levada center has never
flattered the opposition or the government. It is an organization which has a
reputation of a truly independent analytical center. “Independency
and dedication to liberal values caused in the end the impact: government
demands that it should be flattered”, says sociologists Aleksei Kakarkin.
14.06.13

5. Russia is…
 Primitive authoritariarism, as Russia
was defined by Grigori Javlinski on April
29th 2013 in Hanasaari, Espoo.
 The report, which came out in spring,
put Russia in the “non-free” group of
countries, criticizing it for
governmental control of main
television channels and recent
draconian regulations on NGOs and
slander in the media.
http://russialist.org/russia-founders-in-3-
media-freedom-ratings/
 Journalists Must Maintain an
Independence From Those They Cover
 But a journalist must be smart enough
and honest enough to recognize that
opinion must be based on something
more substantial than personal beliefs if
it is to be of journalistic use.
http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports
/article/102544/Journalists-Must-
Maintain-an-Independence-From-
Those-They-Cover.aspx
14.06.13

6. Russians are scary
(Dan Soder-Stand Up-01.07.13)
http://www.youtu
be.com/watch?
v=oRIsC764Nn4&f
eature
14.06.13

7. All you need is to look at the paid
murders or their attempts:
The most dangerous job of all is that of a political observer.
Paul Hlebnikov, Mihail Beketov, Oleg Kashin, Anna Politkovskaja and many
others.
Even after journalists are dead, the attacks on them continue. Shortly after
Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated in the elevator of her apartment building,
Vladimir Putin, then president of Russia, called her an “insignificant” reporter.
In reality, she was a courageous investigative reporter within Russia and a
journalist whose stories from Chechnya gained international recognition.
Soon after the abduction and murder of award-winning journalist Natalia
Estemirova, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said she was “a woman with
no morality.”
(By Svyatoslav Belyansky)
14.06.13

8. There is no government censorship…
…but you never know. Lacking rule of law. (of awareness) (A)
Government is not districting you. It is moving away. “What ever!” You have
relatively freedom. (A)
Human rights issues don’t have resonance in the society. “Yeh, but what did
you expect?” It is not problem of the government; it is problem of the society
we are living. (A)
And because journalists are not prosecuted they are seen as political. Message is
that it is not right to criticize. Who knows, what might happen. It effects how
do you live in Russia.
(by Anna Arutunjan)
14.06.13

9. The journalists’ role
in Russia is not homogenous
There are different roles in the country. The education of journalists has
increased. In traditional journalist schools self comprehension is present. New
schools concentrate on technical skills.
In Moscow there are tv journalists whose self comprehension is not so strong.
They want journalists who do not question too much. (just as in entertainment
journals in general).
There is no unified journalist culture in Russia. Entertainment material is the
same as anywhere. It is easier for the politicians to define how they are
presented.
(by Jukka Pietiläinen)
14.06.13

10. Reporters Without Borders (Helsinki 6.6.2013)
14.06.13

11. Foreigners are extremely privileged
The Russian media spectrum is very large.
Kremlin is helping to make negative image about Russia. It is easy to do
unbalanced stories.
Russia is a mixture, not 100% authoritarian. You can find information, but it is
extremely difficult to verify.
It is very difficult to get interviews from information source, if you are not
from BBC or in the press conference.
(“I wanted to write about the middle class, how people are working hard. But
Russia is so large with so many problems.”)
(by Anna-Lena Laurén)
14.06.13

12. 14.06.13

13. Useful to know
That, some materials may be taken away from process or changed the way that
they satisfy the part who pressures.
That, telephones of political observers may be listened unofficially (without the
court’s decision).
That, officials may pay attention not only to printed media, but also the content
of blogs and other channels of social media.
That, there is no other way of getting out of than free and fair elections.
14.06.13

14. Nobody defends the rights of
journalists…
…if a powerful figure wants to limit them. Not necessarily Kreml. Someone
may just be irritated because the journalist picks up an issue.
In Russia it is more usual to produce material to Internet rather than preventing
to publish something.
Local authorities have tried to limit YouTube but failed.
The use of Internet is controlled by a committee which decides what can be
banned. This is not directly connected with the freedom of speech (as in
Turkey).
http://lenta.ru/news/2013/06/05/bortnikov/
14.06.13

15. 14.06.13

16. Mihail Berg wrote in facebook:
 “Those who affirm that Hitler was a lot bigger crook than Stalin, and that it was possible
to fight for Stalin without conscience killing, even on the plains of Poland, Baltic
countries, Western Ukraine and Belorussia, understand with consideration towards for
Putin. There is nothing unusual about this: both Stalin and Putin support the idea of
Russia as a superpower. Those who think that Stalin was equally bad as Hitler, if not
worse, hate Stalinism, USSR as a prison of peoples, totalitarism as a system, and do not
love Putin very much.”
 In a mathematical sense this comparison reminds a politically not so very correct
anecdote of the Soviet times: an uninvited guest is even worse than a Tatar. And a sort
of pro-Tatar version: an uninvited guest is better than a Tatar. But as a result Putin wins
anyway. Because if Stalin – Hitler = Putin, then also Hitler – Stalin = Putin. This means
that it does not matter whom are we talking about nowadays, Putin is always on our
mind.
14.06.13

17. Juliana Skoybeda on the SMERSH, lampshades…
Ульяна Скойбеда о СМЕРШЕ, абажурах и Гозмане
https://www.youtu
be.com/watch?
v=nsc9b9Z10oc
14.06.13

18. Marginality became a general line
«Маргинальность стала генеральной линией»
http://lenta.ru/arti
cles/2013/05/17/k
omsomolka/
14.06.13

19. Aleksei Navalnyi
14.06.13

20. Anyone can be a journalist!
Not everyone is…
How many freelance or other colleagues in Nordic countries actually follow
Russia and make reports about it?
What is the level of potential readers, listeners and viewers?
What do people know about the common and separate history of Finland and
Russia?
14.06.13

21. @jarmokoponen
Thank you!
14.06.13