Chechen nightmare for Russian media

By Robert Greenall
BBC News Online

Sunday's events in Chechnya, in which President Akhmad Kadyrov and other senior officials were killed or injured, have brought back to the fore a subject that has become something of a running sore for many Russians.

Media coverage of the bloody four-and-a-half year conflict is now sporadic, as only major events, not the almost daily killings of Russian troops by rebels, hit the headlines.

Putin has brought most media outlets under state control

State control of the vast majority of Russian media outlets has meant that the government line, that Chechnya is returning to normal, has dominated.

So events like Sunday's bomb may have come as a rude awakening in Russia, and left a sense of deep anger and confusion.

TV stations showed graphic scenes of chaos in Grozny, as one man carried his bleeding and seemingly unconscious child to an ambulance, while an old man - possibly a World War II veteran - staggered by with a bandage on his head.

The images should further harden Russians' resolve against the rebel movement, portraying an attack on innocent civilians on Victory Day, Russia's almost sacred celebration of the end of that war.

'New war'

But while the absence of printed media over the holiday may have spared newspaper editors some embarrassment it has also left commentators in the broadcast media clutching at straws as to how this attack was allowed to happen.

The only things that make the news are very dramatic terrorist attacks or reports that portray the situation as the government wants it to be seen Professor Margot Light London School of Economics

There is considerable disbelief that the rebels were able to penetrate the tight security around Mr Kadyrov at such a high-profile event as this parade.

Some media carried a suggestion by some officials that the device had been planted in the stand long before the event and that it was a coincidence that it went off on the day Mr Kadyrov was sitting there.

Meanwhile a correspondent for NTV, a private station once famed for its highly critical reports on Chechnya, described the events as "something like the declaration of a new war". After all, as far as Moscow was concerned the war was over and Chechnya was returning to normality.

Despite being taken over by Gazprom, a natural gas monopoly with close links to the state - in the process losing many of its best journalists and toning down its coverage - NTV continues to file regular reports on the situation on the ground.

But generally, reporters in Chechnya often exercise self-censorship and media provide very little daily or even weekly coverage of events, Professor Margot Light, a Russian expert at the London School of Economics, told BBC News Online.

The steady trickle of Russian casualties is no longer a news story, and it is left to the families of victims to make sense of them.

"The only things that make the news are very dramatic terrorist attacks or reports that portray the situation as the government wants it to be seen," Professor Light said.

Reports of abuses by Russian troops are also virtually non-existent. There is very little sympathy for Chechens and their political cause among Russians.

And media freedom groups accuse the Russian authorities of trying to muzzle independent coverage of the conflict. They say journalists who investigate alleged abuses by federal forces in Chechnya are persecuted.

'Intrepid'

There are also very few journalists in Chechnya, and those that are there are unable to travel independently. They are sometimes taken on "guided tours" laid on by the authorities.

Unsanctioned visits are almost unheard of.

"You have to be really intrepid to go to Chechnya, it is such a dangerous trip," says Professor Light.

Analysts point to another reason for the dearth of information on Chechnya.

Steps taken by President Vladimir Putin to reduce the power of the oligarchs, leaving most media outlets under state control, have checked the sometimes powerful alternative message that stations like NTV were once able to provide.

In terms of national TV - seen as the key to hearts and minds - this is now a virtual monopoly.

Ekho Moskvy is a radio station which still dabbles in controversy, but it generally relies on government sources for information on Chechnya. The same applies to the few independent newspapers.

And in the current atmosphere, Chechnya seems likely to remain a formidable challenge for the foreseeable future to those few media outlets who operate there.