Tech & Biz

Russia: EconomicCrisis Will Not Be Televised

by Pasi | October 9, 2008 at 06:01 am

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Putin is from Soviet era, and so are his actions. It would have been wise for him to step aside and now he would look like a hero.

As a wave of grim news swept in from global markets Monday, the MICEX halted trading a record three times, while the RTS shut down twice. The day still ended in a bloodbath, with both indexes plummeting about 19 percent.

But you wouldn't know that from watching the evening news.

When faced with unpleasant news, the government has often resorted to a strategy that can be summed up as: "If we don't report it, it didn't happen."

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Pasi

at 06:04 on October 9th, 2008

The Kremlin recently instructed both state and privately owned television channels to avoid using words like "financial crisis" or "collapse" in describing the turmoil in Russia, said Vladimir Varfolomeyev, first deputy editor at Ekho Moskvy radio.

"Specifically, the blacklist includes the words 'collapse' and 'crisis.' It recommends that 'fall' be replaced with the less extreme 'decrease,'" Varfolomeyev said in comments posted on his LiveJournal blog late last week.