International Journal of Communications Law & Policy

LOCAL MEDIA LEGISLATION IN RUSSIAN PROVINCES: AN OLD AND WINDING ROADREGULATING DIGITAL TV: THE GREEK EXPERIENCE

By Andrei Richter

Download the Paper in PDF Format: IJCLP Web-Doc 10-2-1999

Abstract

What we see today in the provinces of Russia is a Balkanization of media legislation, open or potential contradictions between federal and regional statutes with no clear way to resolve them under the current political climate. The violations of journalists’ rights, restriction of freedom of speech and the press are more common the further you go from Moscow. Boundaries are becoming frontiers. Loyalty to regional czars are crucial for a career or even a life in journalism. While the national media are rather freely accessible in the regions, a reason for this is their relatively scarce coverage of the local affairs. At the local level, the media, at least the traditional ones (terrestrial broadcasting and daily press) are under legal control and sometimes oppression. We might witness a fresh circle of the creation of new independent states in familiar territory –a multiple birth of nations. And like in 1991 it does not necessarily bring new freedoms to the public. The author believes that all this must be a cause for concern for the international community.