Russia has reasserted state control over the country's major media companies

 

Russia has reasserted state control over the country's major media companies

Transcript¹

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a measure criminalizing reporting that contradicts the government's version of events.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has gradually reasserted state control over his country's major media companies. And now he has signed into law a measure criminalizing reporting that contradicts the government's version of events. NPR's Charles Maynes joins us from Moscow. Hey there, Charles.

CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE²: Hi there.

INSKEEP: I guess we should mention this happened pretty quickly. On Friday, the Russian parliament, without any debate, passed this new law. And Putin signed it. What are the details?

MAYNES: Yeah. According to the language of the new law, it's now a crime to spread false information or fake news about Russia's armed forces or, I should add, to take any public actions that denigrate³ Russian soldiers in any way. Another part of the law punishes statements perceived to promote restrictions⁴ that harm the country - in other words, sanctions. And for that, there are serious penalties - not only monetary⁵ fines but in the most extreme cases, imprisonment⁶, up to 15 years in jail. And, you know, as you noted⁷, the bill was rushed through the parliament here last week, signed into law by Putin on Sunday - on Saturday. Excuse me. And it's now on the books and a factor in daily life.

INSKEEP: What does the government hope to accomplish here?

MAYNES: Well, you know, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said this was a response to a campaign of information terrorism by the West - those are his words - amid the current fighting in Ukraine. Let's just acknowledge that there have long been complaints by the Kremlin that Russia is unfairly represented in Western media. You know, they argue that bias⁸ has come to a head amid the events in Ukraine. And, you know, in a note explaining the new law, Duma members say the media creates a global negative image of Russia as a bloody⁹ aggressor in an effort to whip up panic in society. So this law is clearly Russia pushing back, how effectively remains¹⁰ to be seen.

INSKEEP: Well, how is it affecting Russian media?

MAYNES: Well, again, I think more context here is important. There's long been pressure against independent media in Russia. That's not new. But it has intensified¹¹ immensely over this past week. Nearly all remaining independent Russian media outlets¹² were either blocked or shut down or chose to suspend operations after the government accused them of intentionally¹³ spreading disinformation about what the Kremlin calls its special military operation in Ukraine. And these media outlets essentially¹⁴ were calling the operation a war or an invasion, which the new law now makes illegal. And even independent voices still around, such as the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, whose editor, you might remember, received the Nobel Peace Prize just last year...

INSKEEP: Sure.

MAYNES: ...You know, they've been deleting archives of articles that might violate the law to protect their journalists. And meanwhile, the government says state media, which relies on government sources, is the way to get the true version of events on the ground.

INSKEEP: Is this law also applying to social media?

MAYNES: You know, it does. And it may, in fact, be the primary target, you know, viral information over the internet. The new law dovetails with the government's blockage¹⁵ of social media platforms. Last week, American tech in particular were targeted. So Facebook and Twitter are both now don't work unless you use a VPN, a virtual private network. And in fact, the only two cases brought so far under the new law involve two Russian individuals who posted about protests on their social media accounts. They were both fined.

INSKEEP: OK. So we've talked about domestic media. We've talked about social media. Does this law apply to international correspondents as well in Moscow?

MAYNES: Well, there don't seem to be explicit¹⁶ exceptions, so the assumption has to be yes. As a result, some Western news bureaus have suspended their work. Some journalists have left the country. That said, even as the government levied¹⁷ fines on those two people I mentioned who posted about protests, official government statements acknowledged protests have taken place, you know? The Russian interior ministry¹⁸ said more than 5,000 people in Moscow and Petersburg and other cities held unsanctioned protests on Sunday, with more than 3,500 arrests. And this appears to be the first official acknowledgment of widespread protests. And that just adds to the confusion over how this law is going to be enforced.

INSKEEP: Charles, thanks so much.

MAYNES: Thank you.

INSKEEP: That's NPR's Charles Maynes reporting from Moscow. And if you're wondering what this means for NPR's coverage¹⁹, NPR's senior vice²⁰ president of news, Nancy Barnes, tells us NPR continues to assess what the new law means for this organization's operations in the Russian Federation²¹.

 

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 denigrate   

v.诬蔑，诽谤

参考例句：

• It was unkind to denigrate her achievement.贬低她的成就是刻薄的。
• To assert this is to denigrate the effectiveness of the police.坚持这一点就是贬低警方的办事能力。

4 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

5 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

6 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

9 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

11 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

14 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

15 blockage   

n.障碍物；封锁

参考例句：

• The logical treatment is to remove this blockage.合理的治疗方法就是清除堵塞物。
• If the blockage worked,they could retreat with dignity.如果封锁发生作用，他们可以体面地撤退。

16 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

17 levied   

征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税

参考例句：

• Taxes should be levied more on the rich than on the poor. 向富人征收的税应该比穷人的多。
• Heavy fines were levied on motoring offenders. 违规驾车者会遭到重罚。

18 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

19 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

20 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

21 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。