RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
________________________________________________________
RFE/RL MEDIA MATTERS
Vol. 6, No. 3, 17 February 2006

"Freedom of information is...the touchstone of all the freedoms."
(UN Freedom of Information Conference, 1948)

RUSSIA

AUTHORITIES CLOSE VOLGOGRAD NEWSPAPER OVER RELIGIOUS CARTOON

By Claire Bigg

Authorities in the southern Russian city of Volgograd
announced on 17 February that they are shutting down the publisher of
a local newspaper, "Gorodskiye vesti" (City News) for publishing a
cartoon on 9 February depicting Jesus Christ, Moses, Buddha, and the
Prophet Muhammad. The decision came in response to a complaint lodged
with the local prosecutor's office by the regional branch of the
pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party, which called the drawing offensive.
Many, however, say the cartoon was harmless and accuse
Volgograd's Unified Russia branch of staging a publicity stunt.
Volgograd acting Mayor Andrei Doronin told a news conference
on 17 February that the closure of Volgograd-Inform, the city-owned
publisher of "Gorodskiye vesti," was intended to prevent incitement
of religious hatred and halt what he called "abuse of media freedom."
Sergei Vovchenko, a Unified Russia spokesman in Volgograd,
told RFE/RL that the party decided to take action after receiving
hundreds of calls complaining about the cartoon. He insisted that the
party had no political motives for filing the complaint and was not
responsible for the countrywide scandal it had triggered.
"Several parties and social organizations in Volgograd simply
expressed doubts about this publication," Vovchenko said. "This is
why a request was sent to the prosecutor's office. We simply
wanted to make sure the legislation was being respected. No news
sensation was created around this; others created it. We did not seek
to stir up any scandal; on the contrary. On the second day of these
events, on 10 February, a press conference about these events was
canceled."
The federal prosecutor's office was quick to react to
Unified Russia's complaint. Russian Deputy Prosecutor-General
Nikolai Shepel said on 15 February that investigators had been sent
from his office to Volgograd to determine whether the newspaper was
guilty of inciting religious hatred. He said in televised remarks
that free speech was no excuse for insulting the feeling of religious
believers.
"Gorodskiye vesti" published the cartoon on 9 February as an
illustration to an article titled "Racists Have No Room In The
Government." It shows Jesus Christ, Moses, Buddha, and Muhammad
watching on television two groups of people about to engage in a
fistfight. The caption, representing the thoughts of the assembled
religious figures, reads: "We did not teach you that."
Recent weeks have seen violent demonstrations across the Arab
and Muslim world to protest the recent publications in European
newspapers of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The drawings
-- one of which represents Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban --
were first published in Denmark in September.
The editor in chief of "Gorodskiye vesti," Tatyana
Kaminskaya, said, however, the cartoon published in her newspaper was
a call for peace and could not have caused offense. None of
Volgograd's religious communities, she said, has complained about
it.
Many observers have reacted with dismay at Unified
Russia's denunciation of the cartoon and at the subsequent
crackdown on "Gorodskiye vesti." Mikhail Melnikov, an analyst at the
Center of Journalism in Extreme Situations in Moscow, sees nothing
offensive in the cartoon -- on the contrary.
"What do they [prosecutors] want to investigate? I really
don't know," Melnikov said. "The caption in this drawing is very
noble: 'let's live in peace.' This drawing is not a
caricature, it's a highly artistic work, and many agree with me
on this. I think that the Unified Russia party is meddling. I
don't see anything rational here, it is some kind of small-town
fight for influence."
Igor Yakovenko, the deputy head of the Russian Union of
Journalists, called the closure of the newspaper a "disgrace for
Russia" and accused federal authorities of pressuring the Volgograd
administration into shutting it down.
The position of the Volgograd city administration has been
ambiguous. Speaking to RFE/RL, Volgograd Deputy Mayor Konstantin
Kalachyov defended the cartoon and joined the chorus of accusations
against Unified Russia's regional branch.
"The nature of the drawing is peaceful and positive,"
Kalachyov said. "All the rest is political insinuation, and it seems
to me that the scandal has been whipped up out of nothing. In my
opinion, people's feelings are much more insulted by things such
as the control of documents on the basis of non-Slavic appearance.
The publication could have gone totally unnoticed had Volgograd's
Unified Russia not stirred up a scandal."
Kalachyov, however, said acting Mayor Doronin believed that
the newspaper had to be shut down because it had acquired a
"scandalous reputation."
So what might have prompted Unified Russia in Volgograd to
whip up such a scandal? Some observers have suggested that the attack
on "Gorodskiye vesti" may have been a result of infighting between
the Volgograd branch of Unified Russia and the city administration,
which owns the newspaper.
But Andrei Serenko, a journalist based in Volgograd,
dismissed this theory. According to him, relations between the party
and the mayor's office, although once rocky, have recently been
on the mend. Volgograd's Unified Russia, he said, simply hoped to
boost its plummeting regional ratings.
"In Volgograd, this party has been very steadily losing
popularity over the past year," Serenko said. "According to
Volgograd's sociologists, who are constantly carrying out polls
in the region, Unified Russia is consistently losing about 1
[percentage point] every month in Volgograd. So Unified Russia
started whipping up this story which, in the eyes of its PR
specialist, fitted in the information context: 'Now all the media
are talking about this cartoon scandal [in Denmark], so let's
create our own and advertise ourselves through this scandal.'"
Serenko, however, said the closure of the newspaper is likely
to be a merely symbolic punishment, since "Gorodskiye vesti" had long
been slated for reorganization. Volgograd-Inform was being liquidated
and the newspaper was slated to close down before immediately
reopening as a new juridical entity, owned as before by the city
administration.
Serenko therefore predicted that the newspaper will soon
reappear, although possibly under a different name.
If this is the case, then all parties will be winners.
Unified Russia in Volgograd will have grabbed attention, religious
groups possibly offended by the cartoon will have been appeased, and
the editorial team of "Gorodskiye vesti" will continue working.
The scandal, however, will have made one victim. Tatyana
Kaminskaya said she has already been told she will not be hired as
editor in chief in the city administration's new daily.

IRAN

FORMER JAILED CARTOONIST DISCUSSES MUHAMMAD CARICATURES

By Golnaz Esfandiari

In the growing protest over the cartoons of the Prophet
Muhammad, journalists and cartoonist have had two reactions: some
believe the cartoons crossed the bounds of good judgment, while
others have argued in favor of press freedom and reprinted some or
all of the 12 Danish cartoons. Iran's best-known cartoonist,
Nikahang Kowsar, who was jailed in Iran in 2000 for several weeks and
faced prosecution for drawing a cartoon deemed offensive by the
government, is among those cartoonists who believe that religious
sensitivities should be respected and that these cartoons -- because
of their offending nature -- should not have been printed. Kowsar,
who now lives in exile in Toronto, is, however, critical of some of
the Muslim reactions to the issue, such as making threats and burning
the Danish flag. RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari interviewed
Kowsar.

RFE/RL: European papers are split in their reaction to the
row over the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad; several dailies
have reprinted the cartoons in defense of freedom of expression while
others argue that the issue of freedom of speech does not justify
[publishing] these cartoons, which are considered by most Muslims to
be very offensive. What is your view as a caricaturist, since you
have spent some time in jail in connection to your work?

Nikahang Kowsar: Since yesterday I've been contacting
caricaturists in North America to get to know their views on this
issue. An interesting view is the one expressed by Brian Gable, the
cartoonist of the Canadian daily "Globe And Mail," which was
published today. He says that one should avoid doing things that are
for sure going to cause hatred. He has said that, as a cartoonist,
'I won't attack people's beliefs.' These are
sensitivities that a press cartoonist should respect and some of the
North American cartoonists believe that despite freedom of
expression, an act that causes hatred is considered a crime in many
countries. For example in Germany, where there is [also] freedom, if
you campaign in favor of Nazis and against Jews, what is going to
happen to you? You will face problems for causing hatred.

RFE/RL: What is your personal view? Are you against the
publishing of cartoons that could be considered offensive by some
people?

Kowsar: I can speak from two positions. As a board member of
the world association that defends the rights of cartoonists and, as
such, I should defend the cartoonists who have been threatened -- and
I do so as an artist. On the other hand, I am critical of what they
did: when you do something that you know will create hatred and annoy
people who are a minority in Europe, this can be very insensitive and
can cause uneasiness among them. I would personally never do such
thing.

RFE/RL: But any cartoon or satirical view of any issue can
cause irritation and anger among some. What about freedom of
expression? Where are the limits?

Kowsar: Why are such cartoons not printed in North America,
where there is freedom of the press? The cartoonists in North America
don't even make such jokes about Jesus. These are very sensitive
things; it depends on the sensitivity of the journalist himself
because a press cartoonist is a journalist. A journalist knows what
issues can be touched upon and what issues should not be touched
upon. I think the chief editor [of the Danish daily that first
published the cartoons] did not do the right thing.

RFE/RL: So where do you draw the line? How do you see the
boundaries of the freedom of the press versus [causing] religious
offense?

Kowsar: In one or two of the cartoons, the wrong deeds of
Muslims extremists are connected to their leader, the Prophet
Muhammad, who lived some 1,400 years ago; is it right if we say that
the bad things that were done by Christians in the Middle Ages were
also the fault of Jesus Christ? We have to draw some lines; there are
differences between the behavior of a prophet and the behavior of his
followers. I think such acts are expressing hatred and opposition
rather than freedom of expression.

RFE/RL: Some say that the current crisis is a small clash
between the East and the West, what is your view?

Kowsar: I believe this is the case; here [Samuel]
Huntington's theory has been proven and [Muhammad] Khatami, [who
promoted dialogue among civilizations] has lost.

RFE/RL: Do you think the Muslim reactions have been excessive?

Kowsar: I think the harsh and threatening reactions of many
Muslim societies have been very wrong. I think they could have
reacted through legal ways. In European countries some acts that
cause hatred are considered a crime; [Muslims] could have brought a
case through lawyers and justify that such an act should be
considered illegal. I think this is more reasonable than causing more
[problems] and, for example, boycotting Danish products and burning
the Danish flag. The editor of a newspaper has done something, why
should a country [be targeted]?

"RFE/RL Media Matters" is prepared on the basis
of reports by RFE/RL broadcast services and other sources. It is
distributed every other Friday.

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