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At least 12 people, including a top local police official, have been killed by two suicide bombings in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan. Russia is on alert after double suicide bombings on the Moscow Metro on Monday morning, which left 39 people dead. Russia’s state-run TV did not initially tell viewers about Monday’s bombings. But news consumers did find ample live coverage of the attacks on the Web. Moscow based journalist Masha Gessen says Russians don’t expect much from TV news. (flickr image: Dr Cook)
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MARCO WERMAN: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have been talking tough after the recent bombings there. Medvedev said terrorists were trying to sow fear and panic in the population. Russia’s state run TV did not initially tell viewers about Mondays’ bombings, but news consumers did find ample live coverage of the attacks on the web. Moscow based journalist Masha Gessen says Russians don’t expect much from TV news.
MASHA GESSEN: We’re kind of way past outrage over television. Television is what it is. People have written it off for years. Nobody at this point has accurate statistics on how many people watch or don’t watch television. I think it’s still the majority of Russians who do. But nobody who is interested in news perceives it as a possible source of news.
WERMAN: So it would seem that the federal television is looking at this in a very circumspect way, but Russian leaders don’t seem to be afraid of a free internet. So why?
GESSEN: We have bloggers in jail for posting cartoons critical of the government. It’s certainly not true that the government doesn’t occasionally clamp down on the internet. But at the same time, the internet is sort of much closer to the urban center of things in every sense of the world than television. And the force that has been narrowing the stakes available for discussion simply hasn’t gotten as far as the internet. But at the same time, in a way, you sort of can’t talk about that without talking about changes that have been occurring in Russia recently. We’ve been enjoying a sort of minor renaissance of speech where there have been apparently less censorship covered over and there has definitely been more interest in politics and in public debate and obviously the internet is the first place you would see that.
WERMAN: Is that because of Medvedev?
GESSEN: Medvedev is certainly much more interested in addressing the internet audience. He actually has a video blog that he maintains regularly. In a sense you might suspect that they sort of divided up the entire Russian people and Putin takes the television audience and Medvedev takes the internet.
WERMAN: How vibrant are the online media in Russia today?
GESSEN: In Russia when people say that they get their news online, and they do, they mean that they have their customized RSS feeds when they log on they read whatever has been aggregated from their favorite sites. Internet users in general I think are highly literate and capable users and news consumers.
WERMAN: And did the bombings this week prompt any of these sophisticated news users and consumers to talk about the Russian media landscape today?
GESSEN: Sure, there was a lot of grumbling about the fact that people turned on television and saw whatever regularly scheduled programming was on TV. I have to say my partner also turned on the television when we heard about the bombing and because we hadn’t turned on the television in our house in months, it turned out that the decoder was broken and we could only get the cartoon channel, which is the only thing the kids watch. But yes, the people tried turning on the television, saw that it was broadcasting whatever, I think it was a cooking show, and turned to the internet and turned to the radio. There’s also been an incredible number of new talk radio stations just in the last year in Russia.
WERMAN: Are you worried that these blasts could prompt some kind of Kremlin clamp-down on these emerging freedoms in Russia?
GESSEN: I’m definitely worried because the special services, of which Prime Minister Putin is a typical representative and an integral part, have traditionally used things like this to crack down. They could certainly use this as a pretext to end liberalization and to take away what few political rights actually remain with the population. I am, however, cautiously optimistic possibly because it’s sunny here and spring has started, that liberalization will continue.
WERMAN: Journalist Masha Gessen based in Moscow, great to have your take on this. Thank you.
GESSEN: Thank you.
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