Russia Radio Shake-Up Follows Putin Criticism
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MOSCOW -- The editor in chief of an influential Russian radio station recently rebuked by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin for its biting criticism of the Kremlin stepped down from the station's board of directors on Tuesday after its government-controlled owners announced changes in the board's membership, including the removal of its only two independent members.
The editor, Aleksei A. Venediktov, said that he would remain in charge of the newsroom at the station, Ekho Moskvy, but that he would not remain on the nine-member board. The authorities said that politics were not involved in the decision to reshuffle the board, but the shake-up at the station, which is controlled by Russia's government-owned natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, nevertheless sent a chill through the journalistic world here.
"This is a signal, certainly," Mr. Venediktov said in a special appearance on Ekho Moskvy on Tuesday. "I don't see anything catastrophic in this, but it is unpleasant and I certainly see this as an attempt to adjust editorial policy."
Though the ramifications are unclear, the decision appeared to signal that the authorities would seek to keep a firm hand on the news media discourse in Russia as Mr. Putin prepares to run in a presidential election next month.
The question is, how firm? For months, Mr. Putin has been trying to come to terms with a growing protest movement whose size and influence seem to have thrown the rules governing how the news media cover government criticism into flux.
In December, the editor of a respected newsmagazine was fired for printing a photograph of an election ballot defaced with profanity directed at Mr. Putin. Yet critiques of his rule have begun to seep into even the most tightly controlled news outlets, including government-run television.
Unlike television, however, Ekho Moskvy has for years been given free rein to broadcast unfettered and often acerbic criticism of the Kremlin. Its audience of politically frustrated intelligentsia and urban middle class has been seen by the authorities as too small and inactive to present much of a threat -- until recently.
First Published February 15, 2012 12:01 am
