‘This isn’t political censorship’ Putin’s spokesman comments on Dozhd’s removal from the Kremlin press pool
During his daily press briefing on June 15, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on the news that the independent television channel Dozhd had been removed from the presidential press pool. In response to questions from journalists about how this decision was made, Peskov insisted that the presidential press service opted to kick Dozhd out because the television channel allegedly incited and organized unauthorized protests. Following Peskov’s briefing, Dozhd released a statement underscoring that it has never acted as a protest organizer and that its coverage of unsanctioned rallies is guided by Russian legislation.
BBC: Ekho Moskvy editor-in-chief Alexey Venediktov called the removal of the television channel Dozhd from the Kremlin pool political censorship. How would you comment on this assessment?
Dmitry Peskov: We disagree. This isn’t political censorship. This isn’t censorship at all. We aren’t interfering in the channel’s editorial policies. We simply considered further interaction with this channel impossible after the channel was no longer in our understanding of a mass media outlet, when it wasn’t covering illegal rallies, but calling for illegal rallies de facto. This absolutely doesn’t fit with the journalistic profession, from our point of view. It’s not our prerogative to deal with some kind of regulation, but we can decide to suspend interaction. Which is what we did.
Ekho Moskvy: And formally, how is this formalized? Because by law you can terminate media accreditation only in two cases, and what you said doesn’t fit them. And even if there were some questions before, they more likely had to do with specific journalists and it was possible to replace them. Why was this decision specifically made in this situation?
Dmitry Peskov: The fact is that events involving the head of state under the presidential administration are open to the public in exceptional cases, there’s open accreditation, and then there are restrictions. We don’t hide the fact that there are restrictions under law enforcement agencies and a certain number of applicants are always eliminated. All other events are limited. That’s what we use. And we will use it in relation to Dozhd in the future. At the same time, according to the law “On Mass Media,” Dozhd, like other media outlets, can certainly send us inquiries and, as it should be, we must reply within 30 or so days according to the law. This is what we will do.
Ekho Moskvy: Was this decision made in the framework of security? Who made this decision?
Dmitry Peskov: No, [it wasn’t]. It’s the presidential press service, which, in fact, is responsible for ensuring coverage of the president’s activities and interaction with the media.
Ekho Moskvy: So, by and large, this was your decision?
Dmitry Peskov: Among other things.
I want to emphasize [something] here. We didn’t make this decision in connection with the coverage of the protests. All the media covered the protests. And at the end of the day, the media fulfils its role by covering certain events. We made this decision due to the fact that, unfortunately, the channel wasn’t covering [the protests] — it was inciting [them], it acted as the organizer of illegal rallies. This is a very important nuance.
Ekho Moskvy: But it seems as though no decisions were made on this matter.
Dmitry Peskov: This isn’t our prerogative. In this case, we were guided by our opinion.
Ekho Moskvy: Can you give an example, perhaps? Just so we understand where the line is for you between covering and organizing?
Dmitry Peskov: Take about four days and watch the broadcasts. We don’t have time to do it now. Watch it right through from beginning to end — and you’ll have a distinct impression too.
After Peskov’s press briefing, Dozhd released the following comment:
“When covering protest rallies, Dozhd is guided by the requirements of Russian legislation, which prohibits calls for unsanctioned rallies, and even more so it [Dozhd] never acts as the organizer of such rallies. That is why, neither on air, nor on the website, nor on social media, [our] publication doesn’t simultaneously announce the date, place, and time of planned unsanctioned rallies. The channel did the same during the rallies in support of Navalny earlier this year.”
Update. Later in the day, Dozhd released another statement in response to Dmitry Peskov comments. “Throughout its existence, the television channel Dozhd has never called for illegal actions and has never acted as their organizer. Dozhd is a mass media outlet and covers all news and events in the Russian Federation and beyond — in full compliance with Russian legislation,” the statement reads.