By Ivan Nechepurenko, Christopher Brennan: News broke Monday that President Vladimir Putin issued a decree in
April honoring more than 300 journalists for their objective coverage of
the events that have unfolded in Crimea.
"I can confirm that such a decree was signed, but we usually do not
publish them. Now, since this information has become public, we do not
plan to add any details about it," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told
The Moscow Times by telephone Monday.
Citing an official familiar with the decree, Vedemosti reported
Monday that Putin bestowed the honor on about 100 journalists from the
All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, more than 60
from state-run Channel One television and dozens from Gazprom-owned NTV
television, state-funded RT television and tabloid Life News.
Among the reported recipients of the "For Service to the Fatherland"
award were talk show host Arkady Mamontov and RT's chief editor
Margarita Simonyan.
The list of recipients included Federal Mass Media Inspection Service
head Alexander Zharov, whose organization was recently criticized for
blocking access to prominent opposition blogs and websites.
Reportedly absent from the list were journalists from radio station
Ekho Moskvy and television channel Dozhd, which are often critical of
Kremlin policies.
Komsomolskaya Pravda editor Vladimir Sungorkin told The Moscow Times
by telephone that he first learned of his award from a Vedomosti
reporter, but that he was formally invited on Monday to an award
reception to be held at the Kremlin Tuesday. He said that as a “Soviet
man,” he saw the award as an “incentive” for loyalty to the current
authorities.
In connection with the timing of the awards and Monday's information
leak, independent media analyst Vasily Gatov pointed to the Soviet
tradition of giving out awards around the May holidays commemorating
Russia's victory in World War II.
“These awards show that Russia's political system works on the basis
of informal rules and signals. If someone does not receive such an
award, this could be interpreted as a sign of disgrace,” Gatov said by
phone.
This is not the first time that the current Russian government has
lauded state-funded journalists. Dmitry Kiselyov, a television anchor
notorious for his criticism of the West, was awarded the “For Service to
the Fatherland” fourth order in February for his “many years of
conscientious work.” In December, Putin appointed Kiselyov head of the
new pro-Kremlin media agency Rossiya Segodnya.
Journalists in other countries have received awards such as the U.S.
Presidential Medal of Freedom, though recipients such as Walter Cronkite
and Benjamin Bradlee are generally honored in the twilight of their
careers, rather than for coverage of a specific event.
In January 2009, then-President Dmitry Medvedev awarded 11
journalists for their coverage of the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict that
emerged over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. That
decree, which came months after combat in the conflict had ended, was
made public at the time.
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