|
|
|
Signs of the Times Energy Pinch in Ukraine and Moldova On November 30, the Ukrainian government ordered a 50 percent cut in television broadcasting hours on state television, to conserve energy. The national audience will have blank screens from midnight until 4 p.m. on the UT-1 channel and until 6 p.m. on the UT-2 channel and the retransmission of Ostankino from Moscow. Andrei Richter, associate editor of this newsletter, has written that the argument for saving energy allows “media regulation and freedom of speech issues to be postponed to a ‘better day’ when, in fact, they should be faced right now.” The Ukrainian officials also shut down, in the region of Dnipropetrovsk, all World War II “eternal flame” memorials, reporting that “each memorial uses the equivalent of the energy required to heat a nine story apartment block.” In Moldova, inflation and lack of energy supplies have yielded a similar cutback, except that screens are dark in the night and operating in the morning. Explaining Moldovan policy, a member of parliament said “Our voters can forgive us for the insane inflation and for their cold flats, but they will not tolerate it if their favorite soap opera goes off the air.” The only thing that restrains popular indignation, he said, was that Ostankino repeats the Mexican soap opera “Simply Maria” every morning. Azeri Censorship On 7 December, the Azeri Parliament imposed temporary military censorship, suspending constitutional protections. The suspension was based on allegations that newspapers had divulged state and military secrets and security and, according to BBC, “propagated defeatist feelings aggravating the internal situation.” A couple of weeks earlier, Etibar Mamedov, the leader of the opposition party, condemned the Presidential initiative as a way to screen concessions to Moscow and an invitation to invite Russian troops into Azerbaijan. Under the new law, the Press and Information Minister may suspend, for up to one month without a court hearing, publications that contradict state interests and humiliate the honor and dignity of its citizens. The minister himself, Sabir Rustamkhanly, seems to have articulated opposition to military censorship. Nazil Ibragtimov, Director-General of the Azerbaijan printing and publishing facility, was reported to have suspended publication of most opposition newspapers on the ground that there was insufficient newsprint and printing facilities for all. Lithuanian Licensing In Lithuania, there is a controversy over the process of licensing new radio and television stations. The association of private stations claims that the government is placing harmful obstacles in the way of future licensing, in violation of Article 25 of the Lithuanian Radi and Television, the old state entity, joined in an expression of concern that the Ministry of Communications and Information was going too far in “deciding which radio and television programmes will be listed to and watched by the people of Lithuania.” Russian Media Law Amendments In the next several weeks—perhaps prior to mid-January official proposals will be made for amendments to the Russian Mass Media Law. President Yeltsin signed a decree in early December, requiring that such amendments be prepared. The decree also annuls two decrees of the old, now suspended Parliament, concerning observer councils for the press and privatizing state printing houses. The decree did not anticipate the election of a Parliament so potentially confrontational to the President. Eurasian Foundation Awards The Eurasia Foundation, a grantmaking entity established with financing from the United States Agency for International Development, supports economic reform and democratic institution building in the former Soviet Union. The area of media and communications is a principal area of its concern. Indeed, the Foundation is one of the most flexible and most available institutions for funding in this area. It has been described as a kind of “farm team” for AID, making smaller grants, testing the waters, with the capacity of acting more quickly. Since May 1993, the grants it has made in the field of media and communications include:
The Foundation has received, as can well be imagined, a great number of applications. It seems to appreciate applications that involve scholars and practitioners from the former Soviet Union, as opposed to applications which involve purely American participants. In addition, there is a desire to serve all the Republics of the former Soviet Union, not just Russia, clearly the most frequently affected of all. The Foundation’s address is 1527 New Hampshire Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20036. The phone is 202-234-7370 and the fax number is 202-234-7377. Email is eurasia@eurasia.org. Banned Papers Reappear The newspapers Sovetskaya Rossiya and Pravda, suspended by the Russian government in the aftermath of the October events, resumed publication in mid-December. As reported in our last issue, Pravda reappeared on November 2nd after reaching a compromise with the Ministry of Press and Information. However, later in the month, it ceased publication due to financial problems and did not return to the newsstands until December 10th. In a post-election issue on December 14th, Pravda blamed the government for the election success of Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s Liberal Democratic party, charging that the government should not have suppressed patriotic opposition groups after the October events. Sovetskaya Rossiya, meanwhile, chose to challenge the government in the courts, and won. On November 23rd, the Sverdlovsk District Court in Moscow ruled in favor of the newspaper’s claim that the Ministry acted illegally by failing to obtain a court closure order as required under Article 16 of the Russian Mass Media Law. |
Last Updated: 11/20/99 |
|
© 1999 Post-Soviet Media Law &
Policy Newsletter |
