Moscow’s ‘Russia Today’ Sets Up Special Department to Focus on Regions

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 2 – In an acknowledgement of the growing importance of regionalism in the Russian Federation – on that point, see this author’s “Regionalism is the Nationalism of the Next Russian Revolution” (afterempire.info/2016/12/28/regionalism/) – and of Moscow’s failure to reach out to the regions, Moscow has set up a special “Regions” department in Russia Today. 

           

            And in recognition that Moscow has not done a good job in this area, it has appointed not a hardline pro-Kremlin type but rather Yekaterina Vinokurova, a former activist, member of the Presidential Human Rights Council and Gazeta journalist who has been a correspondent for the Znak news agency (rbc.ru/politics/02/04/2019/5ca31c7b9a7947da96797bb6).

            She told RBC today that “this department will not focus on the political agenda of the day,” in part at least because of a potential conflict of interest connected with her work with the Human Rights Council. Instead, it will focus on social issues, intriguing individuals, and places few Russians living in Moscow or other big cities know about.

            In this way, Vinokurova said, “we would like to show the real Russia and not the country of television and Facebook.”  She added that Russia Today had not required her to change her views, to stop using social networks or to avoid making public statements on controversial issues.

            What she and her department will be doing will follow the pioneering efforts of Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir Service, its North Caucasian language services, and its regional Internet portals. Unfortunately, the Trump Administration has proposed doing away with these services and cutting funding for these portals.

            That is a profound mistake on its own – again see my comment on this at windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/03/silencing-three-radio-liberty-services.html – but it may be an even bigger one if Congress goes along because, however committed Vinokurova is to maintaining her independence, Russia Today has a track record that runs in the other direction.

            There are important stories in the vast spaces of Russia beyond Moscow’s ring road, and there are serious differences over what stories should be reported and how they should be presented. Radio Liberty’s services and regional portals have shown how to do this and have brought these places to a far larger audience than these regions have ever had.

            It will be truly tragic if Russia Today will be taking over with its own particular ideological spin at precisely the time when these services and portals are taken off the air.