DATE=9/21/98 TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT NUMBER=5-41421 TITLE=RUSSIA MEDIA BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN DATELINE=MOSCOW CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: RUSSIA'S TWIN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CRISES HAVE DEALT WHAT MANY VIEW AS A SEVERE BLOW TO THE FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION IN THE COUNTRY. VOA MOSCOW CORRESPONDENT PETER HEINLEIN REPORTS MANY INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS FACE BANKRUPTCY, AND JOURNALISTS ARE COMPLAINING OF A RETURN TO SOVIET-STYLE CONTROLS. TEXT: ///SFX OF "O-R-T NEWS" LEAD IN /// RUSSIA'S "CHANNEL ONE" TELEVISION IS THE MOST WIDELY WATCHED STATION ALL ACROSS THE FORMER SOVIET UNION. MILLIONS OF PEOPLE TUNE IN EACH NIGHT FOR ITS PRIME TIME NEWSCAST, "VREMYA". ///SFX OF "VREMYA" -- IN FULL, AND UNDER /// IN SOVIET TIMES, CHANNEL ONE WAS STATE-CONTROLLED, AND ON PAPER, IT STILL IS. BUT THE STATION'S EDITORIAL POLICY HAS EFFECTIVELY BEEN TAKEN OVER BY WEALTHY FINANCIER BORIS BEREZOVSKY, WHO PAYS THE SALARIES OF KEY EMPLOYEES. SINCE THE END OF THE SOVIET UNION, INDEPENDENT MEDIA HAVE FLOURISHED. BUSINESS INTERESTS HAVE BOUGHT OR OPENED NEWSPAPERS, TELEVISION AND RADIO STATIONS. BUT THAT FLEDGLING FREE PRESS HAS SUFFERED A DOUBLE BLOW OVER THE PAST MONTH. FIRST, ECONOMIC TURMOIL HAS FORCED A HUGE SLUMP IN ADVERTISING REVENUES. ROBERT COALSON, A MEDIA OBSERVER WITH RUSSIA'S NATIONAL PRESS INSTITUTE, SAYS MANY PRIVATELY-OWNED MEDIA ARE ALREADY IN A STATE OF NEAR-COLLAPSE, AND SOURCES OF INFORMATION ARE DRYING UP. ///COALSON ACT/// IMMEDIATELY, WITHIN A COUPLE DAYS OF THE CRISIS, THE VOLUME OF NON-STATE INFORMATION AVAILABLE WAS DRAMATICALLY CUT. ///END ACT/// MR. COALSON SAYS AT THE BEST OF TIMES, PRIVATE NEWSPAPERS IN RUSSIA HAVE HAD A DIFFICULT TIME GAINING ACCESS TO INFORMATION. BUT MASHA GESSEN, CHIEF REPORTER FOR THE HIGHLY-REGARDED NEWS MAGAZINE "ITOGI," SAYS THE EFFECTS OF THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN HAVE BEEN COMPOUNDED BY THE POLICIES OF RUSSIA'S NEW GOVERNMENT. ///GESSEN ACT/// I THINK THESE CONDITIONS ARE BEST DESCRIBED AS CONDITIONS OF BEING UNDER SIEGE. EVERYTHING WE COUNTED ON FOR OUR EXISTENCE HAS BEEN CALLED INTO QUESTION. ///END ACT/// ANOTHER PROMINENT REPORTER, KONSTANTIN EGGERT OF THE "IZVESTIA" NEWSPAPER, SAYS HE EXPECTS PRIME MINISTER YEVGENY PRIMAKOV'S GOVERNMENT TO TAKE A MUCH TOUGHER LINE ON THE ISSUE OF MEDIA FREEDOM. ///EGGERT ACT/// THE LEFT-LEANING GOVERNMENT OF MR. PRIMAKOV MAY HAVE PECULIAR IDEAS ABOUT THE NATIONAL GOOD AND MAY TRY TO CURB THE MEDIA AND TRY TO REIN IT IN. ///END ACT/// MANY REPORTERS, SUCH AS ITOGI MAGAZINE'S MASHA GESSEN, SAY MR. PRIMAKOV -- A FORMER CHIEF OF INTELLIGENCE -- IS ALREADY SHOWING SIGNS OF A RETURN TO SOVIET-STYLE CONTROLS ON INFORMATION. ///SECOND GESSEN ACT/// WHAT HAS HAPPENED IS PRIMAKOV HAS TRIED TO CLAMP DOWN ON FREEDOM OF HIS MINISTERS TO SPEAK TO THE PRESS AND DISCLOSE INFORMATION. AND FROM EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT THESE PEOPLE, SO MANY OF WHOM WERE IN THE OLD CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOVIET UNION, IS THAT THEY WERE USED TO OPERATING IN A CLOSED WAY. ///END OPT/// AN AIDE TO MR. PRIMAKOV DENIED THERE HAD BEEN ANY CONSCIOUS ATTEMPT TO SUPPRESS INFORMATION. HE POINTED OUT THE NEW TEAM OF MINISTERS IS STILL BEING FORMED, AND ACCUSED SEVERAL MEDIA OUTLETS OF TRYING TO DISCREDIT THE GOVERNMENT BY DESCRIBING IT AS "COMMUNIST-DOMINATED." JOURNALISTS SAY THE CHANGED ATMOSPHERE, AND RUSSIA'S ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, HAVE DRAMATICALLY REVERSED THE TREND OF THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS TOWARD A FREE PRESS. AND REPORTERS ARE CLEARLY FEARFUL FOR THEIR JOBS. WHEN ASKED FOR HER PROPER TITLE, JOURNALIST MASHA GESSEN REPLIED, "FOR THE TIME BEING, CHIEF REPORTER FOR ITOGI". ANOTHER REPORTER, WHO ASKED THAT HIS NAME BE WITHHELD, WAS MORE BLUNT. HE SAID "IF YOU KNOW OF ANY STABLE MEDIA OUTLETS LOOKING FOR HELP, PLEASE GIVE THEM MY NAME." (SIGNED) NEB/PFH/PCF/WFR 21-Sep-98 1:26 PM EDT (1726 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .