WaPo: Russia's Signal to Stations Is Clear: Cut U.S. Radio

[Eugene]

Russia's Signal to Stations Is Clear: Cut U.S. Radio

By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, July 7, 2006; Page A01

MOSCOW, July 6 -- Russian regulators have forced more than 60 radio stations to stop
broadcasting news reports produced by Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty, according to radio managers and Russian officials.

The regulators cited license violations and unauthorized changes in programming format.
But senior executives at the U.S.-government-funded broadcast services and at the
stations blame the Kremlin for the crackdown, which has knocked the reports off stations
from St. Petersburg in western Russia to Vladivostok in the Far East.

"We focus primarily on domestic developments, and those are exactly the things the
Kremlin has problems with," said Jeffrey N. Trimble, acting president of Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty -- commonly known as Radio Liberty. "This really hurts our ability
to reach today's decision-makers."

<snip>

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/06/AR2006070601760.html

[Vidar]

1. Good riddance to this misused cold war relic.

[Ezlivin]

2. Guess they're tired of Fox News, too

Weren't the Russians masters at propaganda at one time?

[go west young man]

3. Man it's a bit like when our government decides to attempt to

shut down the New York Times. I'm sure we were spewing more propoganda there than news.

[NorthernSun]

4. How much is Bush paying these Russian stations

To run his propaganda?

[LiberalEsto]

5. They need AAR

not VOA

[NorthernSun]

6. Only if they want the truth

Ed Shultz said that Armed Forces Radio dropped talk radio rather than have to run his show along with the wingnuts.