Ted Lipien

RFE RL Points to Comprehensive Coverage

By FreeMediaOnline September 15, 2009

FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, September 15, 2009, San Francisco — We have reported earlier that Radio Liberty’s Russian Service, Radio Svoboda, website had ignored for a number of days the news story of Conde Nast censorship of a critical article about Mr. Putin by Scott Anderson. The article was banned by Conde Nast executives in New York from the Russian edition of the GQ magazine in Russia and from GQ websites, including its American website.

After FreeMediaOnline.org published its report pointing out limited coverage by Russian websites of both Radio Liberty and the Voice of America, VOA, both broadcasting stations devoted a lot of attention to the GQ story, albeit several days after it had been first reported by NPR on September 4, and after independent bloggers in the US and in Russia had already translated

Killings of Journalists in Russia Lead to Self-Censorship | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien September 15, 2009

By Ted Lipien The Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ, has released a report on unsolved killings of journalists in Russia which identifies the Russian Federation as one of the deadliest countries in the world for the press. Published September 15, 2009 by Digital Journal The international organization of journalists ranked Russia third worldwide in the number of journalists killed and…

International Broadcasting, Russia

How Self-Censorship Works – Putin, GQ, and US Taxpayer-Supported Radio Liberty

By Ted Lipien September 14, 2009

Censorship and self-censorship have become a permanent feature of the media scene in Russia under Mr. Putin’s rule. Many Americans, however, were surprised last week that this kind of censorship with origins in Moscow has now reached corporate boardrooms in their own country and even put limits on news generated by US taxpayer supported Radio Liberty, which broadcasts to Russia.…

International Broadcasting, Russia

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty Faces Ethnic Discrimination Charges at the European Court of Human Rights – Free Media Online Blog (FreeMediaOnline.org)

By Ted Lipien September 10, 2009

FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog, GovoritAmerika.us, September 9, 2009, San Francisco — A former employee of Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has asked the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to look into charges that the US taxpayer-funded radio station broadcasting to countries without free media discriminates against foreign-born journalists and other workers by denying them the same…

Uncategorized

RFE RL Faces Ethnic Discrimination Charges

By BBGWatcher September 9, 2009

FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog, GovoritAmerika.us, September 9, 2009, San Francisco — A former employee of Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has asked the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to look into charges that the US taxpayer-funded radio station broadcasting to countries without free media discriminates against foreign-born journalists and other workers by denying them the same legal protections available to American and Czech employees.

The Murder of Georgi Markov: The Mystery Remains – Are Radio Liberty Journalists Now Safe?

By Ted Lipien September 8, 2009

Thirty-one years ago this week, on 7 September 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian émigré journalist who wrote for Radio Free Europe, BBC and Deutsche Welle, was assaulted in broad daylight on London’s Waterloo Bridge. Markov’s murder happened during the Cold War, but in more recent years the murder of Anna Politkovskaya and of numerous other journalists in Russia, as well…

International Broadcasting, Russia

Independent US Bloggers Beat Voice of America and Radio Liberty in Delivering Uncensored News to Russia

By Ted Lipien September 8, 2009

Update: Radio Liberty Russian website finally produced reports on the GQ story on Monday, full three days after the story broke in the mainstream media in the US, NPR no less. VOA Russian website had a very brief news item on the story by Sunday. Only on Tuesday, did the VOA Russian Service post an interview with Scott Anderson. The…

Uncategorized

The Murder of Georgi Markov: The Mystery Remains – Are Radio Liberty Journalists Now Safe?

By BBGWatcher September 8, 2009

Thirty-one years ago this week, on 7 September 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian émigré journalist who wrote for Radio Free Europe, BBC and Deutsche Welle, was assaulted in broad daylight on London’s Waterloo Bridge. Markov’s murder happened during the Cold War, but in more recent years the murder of Anna Politkovskaya and of numerous other journalists in Russia, as well…

Uncategorized

Independent US Bloggers Beat Voice of America and Radio Liberty in Delivering Uncensored News to Russia

By BBGWatcher September 7, 2009

FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog, GovoritAmerika.us, September 6, 2009, San Francisco — Neither the Voice of America nor Radio Liberty, both US government-funded international broadcasters, provided Internet users and radio listeners with a Russian translation of an article about Vladimir Putin which sparked a major controversy over censorship both in Russia and in the US. Conde Nast, the publisher of…

Russia

Self-Censorship About Putin at Condé Nast GQ Magazine, Limited Coverage by U.S.-Taxpayer Funded Broadcasters

By Ted Lipien September 5, 2009

The popular New York blog site Gawker is reporting that “in an act of publishing cowardice, Condé Nast has gone to extraordinary lengths to prevent Russians from reading a “GQ” article criticizing Vladimir Putin.” Condé Nast publishes such widely read magazines as “Vanity Fair,” “The New Yorker,” and “Vogue.” In Russia, it publishes “GQ,” “Glamour,” “Tatler,” and “Vogue.” The Manhattan…

Russia

Former Polish Prime Minister: Putin’s Comments “Offensive”

By Ted Lipien September 3, 2009

Buzek – Poland has a clear conscience over WW II President of the European Parliament and former Polish prime minister Jerzy Buzek, thought some of Vladimir Putin’s comments at WW II anniversary ceremony in Poland were “offensive”. Read full Polish Radio report…

Public Diplomacy, Russia

President Obama, We Are Very Sorry That Hitler Had Invaded Poland Before Labor Day Weekend

By Ted Lipien September 3, 2009

Helle Dale has written two articles on how the Obama Administration is still unable to get its public diplomacy act together. I don’t think that there was a deliberate attempt to snub Poland over the 70th anniversary observances of the start of World War II, but as the Heritage Foundation scholar points out, Poland has a lot of reasons to…

Public Diplomacy, Russia

With Putin in Poland for WWII Anniversary, Many Poles Feel Snubbed by Obama

By Ted Lipien September 2, 2009

The New York Times correspondent in Moscow Michael Schwirtz reported that many Poles saw the low-level U.S. representation at the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II observances in Gdansk as a snub from the Obama Administration. Russia sent Prime Minister Putin, whose statement that the Hitler-Stalin Pact “can be condemned” was misleadingly reported by most international media…

Russia

Did Putin Really Condemn the Hitler-Stalin Pact and Apologized to Poland?

By Ted Lipien September 1, 2009

The BBC, the Voice of America (VOA) and other international media reported that in in an apparent effort to defuse tensions on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II, Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin “expressly condemned” the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the treaty of non-aggression between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. BBC News headline read:…

Russia

USSR, the Birthplace of Feminism

By Ted Lipien August 31, 2009

From the very dawn of Soviet power and development, due to a series of tragic events, women significantly outnumbered men by about 20 mln. The Revolution of via USSR, the Birthplace of Feminism.