Editor of Russia's Izvestia Steps Down

[Rose Siding]

MOSCOW -- The editor of Russia's respected Izvestia daily said Monday he was stepping down in a dispute with his publisher over the paper's critical coverage of the school hostage standoff, including its publication of graphic pictures of wounded and dead children and other victims.

The editor, Raf Shakirov, said in an interview with Radio Liberty he had published a sensational photo spread of victims in Saturday's edition, the day after hundreds died in the siege, to convey "this is a war."

"The leadership of Prof-Media (Izvestia's publisher) and I disagreed on the format of this issue. It is considered too emotional and poster-like, and in general papers aren't made like that," Shakirov said, according to an interview transcript published on the Web site www.newsru.com.

"We did it ... proceeding from our perception of what this means for the country. And actually this perception proved to be right -- that this is a war," Shakirov said. "Nevertheless, I am forced to resign from this position."
...
Analysts have speculated that in the aftermath of the tragedy, the state would strengthen control over society and the media. Shakirov's exit appeared to be one of the first steps....

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-russia-media,0,3438262.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[asjr]

1. Well, back to the good old days of the USSR!

[Wright Patman]

2. You don't hear Repukes

bringing up the nightmare police state scenarios common in the USSR anymore. Maybe they realize that this is the GOP game plan for the USSA post 9-11 and are okay with it, particularly since a ruthless police state regime may be needed at some point to repress the masses of impoverished serfs roaming the countryside in search of gainful employment.

[Rose Siding]

3. "Leading Russian journalist 'poisoned'"

Alarm bells are ringing in Russian media circles after the alleged poisoning of Anna Politkovskaya, one of the most outspoken critics of Vladimir Putin's policy on Chechnya, and the apparent sacking of the editor of Izvestia today.

Politkovskaya, who writes for the current affairs magazine Novaya Gazeta, was on her way to the siege in Beslan from Moscow when she collapsed mysteriously.

According to the Moscow Times today, "Politkovskaya was flying from Vnukovo Airport to Rostov-on-Don and fainted on the plane. Immediately after landing, she was taken to a local hospital, where doctors found she had been poisoned, Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov told the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists."

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1298488,00.html

[allemand]

4. Anna Politkovskaya was the author of several books about Russia, Chechnya

A Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in Chechnya, September 1, 2001

A Small Corner of Hell : Dispatches from Chechnya, October 3, 2003

A new book, called "Putin's Russia" was scheduled to appear on October 14, 2004, in the UK.

"Former KGB spy Vladimir Putin, named Prime Minister of Russia in 1999 and, one year later, President, has been something of a media darling in the West, having successfully marketed himself as an enlightened leader with both feet planted firmly on the Eastern borders of Europe. Anti-establishment journalist and human-rights activist Anna Politkovskaya disagrees strenuously with this point of view. In her new book, she trains her steely gaze on, as she puts at, Putin "without the rapture". From her privileged vantage-point at the heart of Russian current affairs, Politkovskaya reports from behind the scenes, dismantling both Putin the man and Putin the brand name, arguing that he is a power-hungry product of his own history in the security forces and so unable to prevent himself from stifling dissent and other civil liberties at every turn. After centuries of living under tyrants, Politkovskaya argues, this is not what contemporary Russians want. The book is, however, not simply a biography or an analysis of Putin's presidency. Politkovskaya's writing is known for its humanity and its passion, and her focus is on individual human beings and their stories. As she puts it, "my book is jottings made on the margins of life in Russia. For the time being, I cannot analyse that existence. I'm just living and noting what I see." So her readers are treated to exposes of mafia dealings and scandals in the provinces, of corruption in the military and the judiciary, of the decline of the dissident intelligentsia and concomitant rise of street traders, and of the truth behind the Moscow theatre siege. Other shocking stories fill out an intimate portrait of nascent civil institutions being subverted under the unquestioning eyes of the West."
www.amazon.co.uk

Can there be any doubt who killed her?

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. To clarify - she's not dead

From the Guardian article: "Politkovskaya is now recovering in a Moscow clinic."

[allemand]

6. Yes, thank God. I had misread another article.

So maybe they simply wanted to intimidate her?

I am absolutely sure that if the FSB-KGB had wanted to kill her they would have succeeded like they did in the case of Georgi Markov (and probably many others).

Now I am looking forward to reading her book about Putin when it comes out in October/November.

[dArKeR]

7. Editor of Russia's Izvestia newspaper resigns

The respected editor of Russia's Izvestia daily stepped down in what he and media analysts linked to the paper's critical coverage of the Russian authorities' handling of the three-day school seizure in southern Russia.

In an interview with Radio Liberty, Raf Shakirov said that his resignation on Monday was connected with the paper's Saturday issue, which ran huge, shocking pictures of wounded and dead children and other victims of the school hostage crisis.

"The leadership of Prof-Media (Izvestia's publisher) and I disagreed on the format of this issue. It is considered too emotional and poster-like, and in general papers aren't made like that," Shakirov said, according to the interview transcript, published on the Newsru.com website.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw109452744297B262