Regional news media suffer in battle for power : the example of Penza

Reporters Without Borders today publishes the findings of a fact-finding mission carried out with the Glasnost Defence Foundation in the Penza region (south of Moscow, in the European part of Russia) following reports of an unprecedented wave of violence against journalists in September in which one was murdered, seven were assaulted, (five in the same newspaper) and one was abducted. The gravity of these incidents, the lack of response by the authorities and the difficulty of obtaining additional information convinced the two organisations of the need for this investigation. The mission found that this violence was part of a stormy political confrontation between the mayor of the city of Penza and the region's governor, waged by means of partisan news media used as tools of propaganda. The report sheds light on the mechanisms that gave rise to this violence and highlights the local news media's dependence on the political authorities in the Russian regions. -Download the report: