MOSCOW: When Russia’s last remaining independent national television station, TV6, abruptly went off air recently the event was met by somewhat muted public response. TV6 was shut down after Russia’s Press Ministry complied with a court order. The order called for the Press Ministry to immediately suspend TV6’s license, as required under a court ruling on Jan 11 liquidating the station. Kiselyov said TV6 will contest the court order. “Lawyers are already working on it,” he said.

In recent days, President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Ka Kasyanov and Lesin have all publicly stated their support for the TV6 channel and its staff. However, Kiselyov continued to argue that the Kremlin was behind TV6 demise.

The Russian government does not see any political agenda in the TV6 closure. Alexey Volin, the cabinet deputy chief of stuff, was quoted as saying; “It was just an accomplishment of court order,” Volin stated.

Press Minister Mikhail Lesin, who gave the order to switch off TV6, said that a tender for the channel will be held on March 27. Guennady Seleznyov, speaker of the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament says TV6 shutdown was caused by ill-thought confrontational moves by the company’s management.

By pulling the plug, authorities silenced a team that, first at NTV and then at TV6, dared to criticise military tactics in Chechnya and expose alleged corruption scandals in the Kremlin. NTV journalists resorted to high-profile protest action, while the authorities remained ominously silent.

NTV journalists refused to accept the move, arguing it was illegal and had the true goal of establishing political censorship over the station. The NTV logo in the left corner of the TV screen was stamped by the word “protest” in red letters.

No big wonder that many Russians tend to shrug-off the TV6 shut-down. According to an opinion poll by ROMIR-Gallup International, 26 per cent of the Muscovites said they viewed the conflict over TV6 as an economic dispute. Only 15 per cent of those polled regarded the conflict as the Kremlin’s onslaught on press freedom.

In the eyes of many Russians the media freedom agenda arguably has become less important and relevant. However, it is unclear whether other media outlets that have challenged the Kremlin policies may still survive in Russia.—Dawn/InterPress Service.