[b2stealth]

"Putin vows to protect business" by putting more businessmen to jail..

Putin also vows to protect independent TV stations by closing them (NTV, TV6 etc), protect more newspapers by firing thier chief editor (Izvestia etc), protecting political shows by closing them (Freedom of Speech show, Red Arrow show etc)

[jb6]

Not one of those was "independent", they were owned by Gusinsky (closed for tax evasion) and Berezovsky (ditto) who were very pro-Yeltsin when they owned him and thus had no independent reporting.

[jb6]

Izvestnia is not government owned (Itar-tass is the only major one). The editor was fired after a strong government protest when he allowed photos from Beslan published that showed naked and half blown up children and children's bodies. We live in a nation that went ape shiete over Janet Jackson's 2 second nipple shot and we can criticize this?

As for anti-government papers, Russia has plenty: Noveya Gazeta, Moscow Times (oligarch owned), Saint Petersburg Time (oligarch owned) come to mind. Russia Journal is neutral.