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Alexander Merkushev at a Moscow Itself

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Alexander Merkushev at a Moscow Itself TheJoan Shorenstein Barone Center PRESS. POLITICS . PUBLIC POLICY . HarvardUniversity JohnF. KennedySchool ofGovernment INrnooucrroN I met Alexander Merkushev at a Moscow itself. It deservesa wide readership,not because dinner party hosted by Ann Blackman of Time Merkushev is one of Russia'stop journalists, the and Michael Putzel of the AssociatedPress in big name whose views command attention, but October, 1989. At the time, Merkushev was rather becausehe representsa new generationof Editor of the English languageservice of Tass, Soviet journalist who is beginning to grapple the official Soviet news agency. He spokewith with such conceptsas truth, responsibility, fluency and a quiet self-confidencebut without candor, courage/all within the broaderframe- the bravadoof other young Soviet journalists, work of a society struggling to move from many of whom, in their suddenembrace of dictatorship to democracy. It is an incredibly glasnost,went from one extreme to the other, difficult journey-one that may never be fin- discardingtheir recent allegianceto the socialist ished, despiteheroic efforts by thousands,even system and espousinga stylish denunciation of millions, of Merkushevs. everything from Stalinism to a planned economy As we sat down for our farewell lunch, I with an enthusiasm they mistook for wisdom. recalledthe question I had posedto Sashain Over caviar and vodka, late into the night, we Moscow. Would his answer be the same? discussedthe wonder of Gorbachevand Would he still bow beforethe Party? Sasha's perestroikaand the problems of moving a stag- eyescrinkled in a way reminiscent of a character nant society into the uncharted vibrancy of the out of Chekhov, ateat, a certain sadness,lurking 1990s. The practice of journalism, naturally, behind the smile. "No," he said,"if my boss occupied alarge part of our discussion. Ques- askedme to return to the old days,I wouldn't. I tions arose;many of them were left unanswered. couldn't. Too much has happened." He paused. Has fear vanished from the newsroom? How far "You see,I now know what freedom is." Before could journalists go in criticizing the Soviet Sashareturned to Moscow, he told me that he system? Gorbachev?Communism? The Party? and his friends were going to try to set up a free Lenin? "Freedomof the Press?"-did Soviet and independentnews agency. "You know, like iournalists even begin to understandthe con- the AP." I wished him well. cept? At one point, I askedMerkushev: "Let us say that when you get to your desk tomorrow Marvin Kalb morning, you find a messagefrom your boss. Edward R. Murrow Professor 'Comrade,'it 'from says, now on, you forget Director, foan ShorensteinBarone about glasnostand return to the old way of doing Center on the Press, business. Whatever the Party says,you do.' Politics and Public Policy Would you, Sasha?" Merkushev is prematurely Harvard Universitv balding, and when he's pondering a question, the creaselines run unevenly from his foreheadto his scalp. "Yes," he responded,"I think I'd do what the Party said." He then went on to explain his responsibilities to family and friends, father and mother. The honesty and directness of his response,uncharacteristically soberfor a young reporter, especiallyin the still heady days of glasnost,impressed me, and when I returned to Cambridge and thought about the next group of Fellows at the ShorensteinBarone Center, the name of Merkushev poppedinto my mind. A letter of invitation was soon in the mail, and his acceptancefollowed in quick order. Merkushev spent the fall semesterof the '90- '91 academicyear at the Center, enriching our lives immeasurably with his warmth, charm and seriousness,especially in all of our discussions about freedom of the press. His paper speaksfor THE RUSSIANAND SOVIETPRESS: A LONG JOURNEYFROM SUPPRESSION TO FREEDOMVIA SUPPRESSIONAND GLASNOST "Frcedom of the press must be combined with above and planted seedsof doubt in the minds of free representation of the country, and if therc is admirers through their novels, poems/ or news- no rcprcsentation of public opinion, but is only paper articles. Very often, they did that at the govetnment, then I cannot imagine freedom of expenseof their own freedom and even lives. the press." The press,as well as other institutions both in A.S. Suvorin, member of His Majesty's pre-revolutionary Russia and in the Soviet Special Conference for Drawing Up Union, always reflected the tug-of-war between New PressRegulations, 1905 authorities unwilling to yield powers and a public wanting to have as much freedom as they could possibly handle. As fate would have it, the Russianshad to make their way towards democratic liberties and pressfreedom twice: first within the framework The pfinted word has always of czarist Russia and then repeating the entire path within the Communist structure of the had a special appeal for the Soviet Union. In both cases,their travail pro- Russrans: wtiters and poets have duced but partial success:basically a compro- enioyed an esteem that was mise between what the authorities were willing to allow and what the subjectswere demanding envied by rulers and herces alike. to obtain. Attempts launched by pro-democracy forces The Beginnings of the Pressand the Origins of to accedeto freedoms,culminating in the Censorship February 1917 "bourgeois democratic" rev- The history of the pressin Russiais full of olution, resulted in the weakening of the Rus- examplesof high-level interferencein its work, sian empire that had been historically held attempts to suppressinformation or present it in together by the strong hand of its rulers and led a way favorablefor the rulers. The following to the paralysisof power in the absence of brief journey through time will also illustrate the democratic traditions government. of The strugglefor a free pressin both imperial and Bolsheviks who took advantageof the situation Soviet Russia. and seizedpower in November I9I7 proclaimed Under Czar Alexei, 1629-1676.extracts from basic liberties only to replace them later with foreign paperswere carried by severalmanu- tough in controls all spheres-political, eco- script periodicalsto keep the authorities in- nomic, and intellectual. The democratic changes formed about international developments.The initiated by the leadership Soviet in the mid- information was uniformly outdated and inaccu- 1 did lead greater 980s to a freedom of expression rate, causingthe Muscovite state embarrassment and the acceptanceof basic human rights, but they more than once for addressingletters to headsof also unleashedlong-suppressed nationalist, state who had died, and more generallyfor centrifugal forces that are now threatening to demonstrating great ignorancein then-current break up "Soviet the empire," tempting the political metters. Neverthelessthe information authorities to apply force preserve to the country's in these courants was consideredto be of state unity and their own existence. importance and was kept from the public eye. t The printed word has always had a special The first Russiannewspaper for the general appealfor the Russians:writers poets and have public was born out of an tkaz, or a decree, enjoyedan esteemthat was envied by rulers and issuedby Peter I on December 16, 17O2.Peter, heroesalike. Anything that appeared print in who reigned from 1689 to 1725,was aware of the was consideredtruth, powers and the that be, highly restricted circulation of information on aware of this idiosyncrasy of their subjects, late developmentsand was quite concerned sought to control the press literature and in order about the status of education in Russia.His idea to control the populace.They succeededin doing was to launch a periodical that would provide partially this only as there have always been the peoplewith information about important intrepid men letters pressures of who defied from events of the day. Appearing with unheard-of Alexander Merkushev 1 dispatch, the first issue of the new periodical, The year 1865marked a watershedin govern- Vedomosti, came forth on 2, 1703. ment-pressrelations becauseit createdentirely fanuary "press" Much of the Vedomosti's information came new conditions for publishing. The word from German newspapers,particularly the ceasedto mean an enterprisedominated by the Hambuger Relation Courier and Nordischer government wherein every word was assumedto Mercurius.2 As a rule, these paperswere re- have official approval;and becausethe courts ceived within three weeks after publication and beganto spell out in more detail the new rela- were examined either by Peter himself or by the tionship, writers, editors, publishers,and lawyers secretaryof his cabinet, Makarov. Whatever were able to improve even more rapidly the seemedinteresting was quickly translated into position of the pressin Russiansociety in the Russianand sent to the typesetters.The general secondhalf of the 19th century." weaknessof political and intellectual interests in society then and the greatly restricted ideological outlook of the paper-the glorification of the Kobeko Commission: Freedom of the Press Northern War and the Czar's armies being the Proclaimed in Russia principal theme-restrained its growth and had Bowing to revolutionary agitation and general an adverseeffect on its influence. Thus it was discontent of the population, the czarist govern- that not social need but the ukazes of the czar ment establishedin l9O4 a commission to write "His kept the paper alive while it servedmuch the a new presslaw. Known formally as same function as had the l Tth century
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