Theotherrussia.org provides glimpses into the Russian media, documenting self-censorship, spin, and other inaccuracies.

TV Channel Pulls Putin Caricature

The 2×2 television channel, which broadcasts primarily animated series, was taking no chances after it had a scare involving its license last fall.  In its latest season of the popular South Park cartoon, the channel has edited out the character representing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the Novy Region Information Agency reports.

Putin was shown in a scene receiving a phone call from one of the young characters in the cartoon, asking to help him blast a whale to the moon.  In the sketch, Putin thinks that he is receiving a prank call from US President George W. Bush.  The clip came from the “Free Willzyx” episode first broadcast in 2005, when Putin was the President of Russia.

2×2, which started broadcasting in 2007, faced the threat of license revocation in 2008, after a hardline Christian group filed suit for alleged extremism in 12 cartoon series shown by the station.  The channel was issued a warning from Russia’s media monitoring body, and management eventually pulled the offending cartoons.  In the end, the station managed to renew its license after a public campaign to save the channel garnered more than 50,000 signatures.  In June, Russian authorities retracted the warning against 2×2.

—

Russia Today Invents “Mystery”

Russia Today, a government-funded news channel that broadcasts in English, was meanwhile busy spinning US President Barack Obama’s meeting with the Russian opposition.  The Chessbase news blog breaks down the not-so-subtle slant in the reporting, which downplayed the political career of United Civil Front leader Garry Kasparov.

The coverage described what Russian opposition leaders said to Obama as a “mystery,” despite the fact that transcripts of the statements made by the opposition have been made publicly available.

—

Deputy Reinterprets Obama’s Words

State Duma Deputy Konstantin Kosachev was quick to reinterpret Barack Obama’s position on Georgia for the Russian public.  Kosachev, who chairs the Duma Committee on International Affairs, said the following at a July 8th press conference.  The sound byte of Obama’s supposed reversal of the US position on the August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia was then repeated frequently throughout the media cycle.  Kosachev was responding to a question on the US support for Georgian territorial integrity.

“Obama affirmed the well known US position,” Kosachev said, “but a clear assertion followed in the same statement, that this territorial integrity must not be restored through military means.  I take these words as a signal to Tbilisi.  A serious transformation of the American position has appeared here.

“Yes, we differ on this issue, but there is no longer the same absoluteness in the words of the US representatives, as there was during the time of the George Bush administration.  Barack Obama understands the haste of the judgments made in August 2008.  And during our interactions, American congressmen admit that they obviously rushed to judgement.  This affirms the truth of our position.”

—

Russian Media Imagine Agreement on Oil Price at G8 Summit

The Russian media were quick to report a statement from President Dmitri Medvedev’s office, that Medvedev had floated $70-80 per barrel as a fair world oil price.  Unfortunately, they also didn’t delve too deeply into the second part of the statement, where spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said that “G8 leaders generally agreed in their remarks.”

While news outlets spun the report as a success by Medvedev, other world leaders were more than skeptical. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had this to say in response:

“We didn’t discuss a specific figure and we didn’t discuss in detail any price range … There’s no agreement on ranges.”

State prosecutors, following up on requests by Russian religious fundamentalist groups, had deemed materials broadcast on the channel to be harmful to children and extremist.

Roman Sarkisov, 2×2’s general director, announced that the channel would be appealing complaints against them through the courts. Sarkisov said that broadcasts of the programs in question will be cut as of September 22nd, and will not resume before a court decision is reached.

“Starting next week, we will remove 12 animated series that have grievances against them,” Sarkisov said Friday. “Instead of them, we will show other series that are already on the channel, and that no one has found anything wrong with yet.”

The move marked a change of tone for the channel, which had said last week that it had no plans to change any of its lineup.

On September 8th, the Prosecutor General’s Office released the result of an expert investigation, which found that 12 series shown by the channel broke a law meant to protect children. The cartoons in question include the Simpsons, Family Guy (translated into Russian as the Griffins), Metalocalypse, Drawn Together (translated into Russian as Multreality), Lenore the Cute Little Dead Girl, Angry Kid, and others.

The cartoons “promote violence and cruelty, pornography, anti-social behavior, abound with scenes of mayhem, the infliction of physical and ethical suffering, and are aimed at invoking fear, panic and terror in children,” the Office said in a statement (Rus).

“Practically all the cartoons exploit the topic of suicide, and characters demonstrate readiness to risk their lives for the sake of deriving extreme sensations.”

The channel has responded to the charges by gathering signatures in support of its broadcasts. The management has also received official approval to hold several demonstrations(Rus), and will hold a free concert to raise awareness of the issue in St. Petersburg on September 22nd.

As the Interfax news agency reports, Moscow city prosecutors have filed a motion with the Basmanny regional court after finding that an episode of the show broadcast in January “bore signs of extremist activity.” Simultaneously, the channel that broadcasts the award-winning American cartoon, 2×2, has been issued a warning for disseminating extremist materials.

An investigation conducted by prosecutors found fault with an episode titled “Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Special,” which went on air on January 9th. Experts found that the show “humiliates the honor and dignity of Christians and Muslims, offends the feeling of believers regardless of their denomination, and can provoke interethnic conflict, up to and including extremist acts.”

The report was instigated under a controversial 2006 law, which broadened the definition of extremism. Government critics have said the law allows the state to easily limit freedom of speech. Since its inception, it has been used to target non-profit organizations, online newspapers, bloggers, and even a hobbyist who rebuilds World War II era tanks.

South Park, which debuted in 1997, has continually been at the center of controversy in the US over its coverage of adult themes, including racism, religion, and celebrity culture. In Russia, a dubbed version of the show has ignited angry protest from religious groups. In March, the heads of protestant churches in Russia appealed to Yury Chaika, the country’s prosecutor-general, to repeal 2×2’s broadcast license.

The Prosecutor-General’s Office has now apparently heeded the call to reprimand 2×2, which broadcasts primarily animated content in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Office filed a presentation today to Rossvyazokhrankultura, the nation’s media regulating body, after concluding that 2×2 repeatedly broadcast material that broke a law meant to protect children.

A panel of experts examined the 12 animated series shown on the channel, including 118 films. Among them are the Simpsons, Family Guy (translated into Russian as the Griffins), Metalocalypse, Drawn Together (translated into Russian as Multreality), Lenore the Cute Little Dead Girl, Angry Kid, and others.

The experts found that the cartoons do not correspond to the legal requirements for protecting children’s moral and mental development and protecting their health. The cartoons “promote violence and cruelty, pornography, anti-social behavior, abound with scenes of mayhem, the infliction of physical and ethical suffering, and are aimed at invoking fear, panic and terror in children,” the Office said in a statement (Rus).

“Practically all the cartoons exploit the topic of suicide, and characters demonstrate readiness to risk their lives for the sake of deriving extreme sensations.”

A representative of 2×2 could not be immediately reached for comment.