The Russian government continues to tighten its grip on the media. After the blocking of access to social media such as Facebook and Twitter and to information sites and the approval of a law that provides for fines and imprisonment for those who spread “fake news” on the conflict in Ukraine, various Western newspapers leave Moscow. These include Bloomberg, Abc and Cbs. The BBC withdraws its journalists from the country, unsigned correspondence from the country and reopens shortwave broadcasts as in the days of Radio London.
The squeeze on the circulation of information takes place through Roskomnadzor, the agency that controls communications, which blocks access to numerous independent media by the hour and announced first the blockade of Fb, then that of Twitter. Meta immediately reassured that “it will do everything possible to restore the service and give users the opportunity to express themselves safely and mobilize”.
BBC withdraws journalists from Russia
After the approval of the legislative squeeze by the Moscow Parliament which provides for fines and up to 15 years in prison for those who spread fake news about the army. British public broadcasting service has announced that it will “temporarily” suspend the work of its journalists in Russia to ensure their “safety”. This was announced by the director general of British public broadcasting, Tim Davie, denouncing this tightening as a way to “criminalize independent journalism”. Davie stressed the need to guarantee “the safety” of those who work for the broadcaster and, moreover, reiterated the BBC’s commitment to try to continue to give “accurate information” to the Russians too through its news. The BBC restored the return to shortwave broadcasting by evoking the dark years of Radio London. Technology supplanted by digital allows the transmission of a wide-range signal to respond to the great demand for information from users of the country (traffic on the Russian-language site has tripled in recent weeks).
The blocked sites
There is a long list of sites to which Moscow has limited access: Meduza, Svoboda, that of the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, the Russian-language website founded by the United States Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Wikipedia, the free and participatory encyclopedia has been threatened with blockade for an article on civilian and military casualties. For now, YouTube, Eco Mosca, a historic Russian radio channel that the authorities have pulled the plug because it continued to define the one in progress as a war and not a temporary military operation, is resisting.
