Status: 23.08.2021 at 7:40 PM.
Again in Russia an entity has to be labeled a “foreign agent”. This time it hits the liberal TV broadcaster Doschd. Observers fear that Doschd will now run out of money.
A month before the parliamentary elections, one of the last free broadcasters in Russia will lose its livelihood, Kirill Martino, editor-in-chief of the Politics Department at Novaya Gazeta, said in a statement on YouTube: “For Dosch, in my opinion, This means that the broadcaster, which is on the territory of the Russian Federation, and there is no other region, will not be able to continue working.”
The voices of the opposition were regularly heard on TV Doshad as well. The broadcaster described in detail the protests after the captivity of Alexei Navalny. Martynov believes that it was mainly the reporting of police action in these demonstrations that made the difference:
The reason was revenge – petty, very direct and rowdy. For what happened earlier this year. That doshad openly showed how police officers beat up people. On the streets of Moscow and in other cities, those who wanted to support Navalny.
Kremlin spokesman Peskov adamant
Kremlin spokesman Peskov has already indicated that the decision is not expected to be withdrawn. “If the money comes from abroad, it has to be declared. The enforcement of the law does not shut down the media, but imposes additional obligations on them.”
Due to the branding as a foreign agent, Telekanal, which anyway broadcast only on the Internet, would now have to give a unique corresponding label to all contributions. At Doschd, he fears that important advertising clients will no longer be available and it will be harder to find interlocutors.
shocked by the verdict
Editor-in-Chief Tikhon Dzhadko is also annoyed that the decision was implemented without any documents explaining the reasons why it was sent to the broadcaster. At the Moscow broadcaster Echo Moskvi, he worried about the future of his employees – of course, TV Doshd was not a foreign agent:
We strictly comply with the laws of the Russian Federation. We know we have 170 great employees at Doshad, we know we reach about 20 million visitors a month who love us, look up to us, are loyal and support us. Now we are interested in it.
It was actually planned to expand further, but of course additional new fares are out of the question now.
journalists want to protest
The classification of Doshad as a foreign agent has also been criticized by the Russian President’s Human Rights Council. He wants to discuss the matter with the Ministry of Justice. Nikolai Svanidze, a member of the Human Rights Council, affirmed Doshad not only of great popularity, but also a good reputation as a serious, liberal broadcaster. It is therefore clear to him that the classification as a foreign agent by the authorities is politically motivated.
And the matter is drawing wide circles. The Russian Journalists Association plans to hold a demonstration against the agent law in early September.
Protests after Kremlin-critical station Doshad was classified as a “foreign agent”
Stephen Lack, ARD Moscow, August 23, 2021 at 7:56 pm.
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