RUSSIA: RUSSIAN JOURNALIST'S BOOK "TALES OF A KREMLIN DIGGER" BECOMES INSTANT BEST SELLER AMIDST FEARS OVER MEDIA FREEDOM

Record ID: 646876

  • Title: RUSSIA: RUSSIAN JOURNALIST'S BOOK "TALES OF A KREMLIN DIGGER" BECOMES INSTANT BEST SELLER AMIDST FEARS OVER MEDIA FREEDOM
  • Date: 19th November 2003
  • Summary: (EU) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (NOVEMBER 19, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV SELLER IN A BOOKSHOP PUTTING BOOKS "TALES OF A KREMLIN DIGGER" ON SHELF 0.06 2. CLOSE UP OF BOOK'S COVER 0.11 3. VARIOUS OF MAN BUYING SEVERAL "TALES OF A KREMLIN DIGGER" 0.17 4. WIDE OF THE BOOK SHOP 0.22 5. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) OLGA SPIRKINA, BOOKSHOP ASSISTANT, SAYING: "Today it is the most popular book, we have the second batch already and are awaiting for more to be delivered. According to our figures we are selling 100 books per hour." 0.40 6. SLV MAN HOLDING TWO COPIES OF "TALES OF A KREMLIN DIGGER" 0.49 7. CLOSE UP OF BOOK 0.54 8. VARIOUS OF JOURNALIST AND THE BOOK'S AUTHOR YELENA TREGUBOVA AT A MEETING IN A MOSCOW RESTAURANT 1.05 9. CLOSE UP OF YELENA TREGUBOVA 1.14 10. CLOSE OF YELENA TREGUBOVA'S BOOK "TALES OF A KREMLIN DIGGER" ON TABLE 1.19 11. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) JOURNALIST AND FORMER KREMLIN CORESPONDENT YELENA TREGUBOVA, AUTHOR OF "TALES OF A KREMLIN DIGGER", SAYING: "The main subject of my book is the freedom of speech in our country and the uneasy fate of journalists who from the wild freedoms, granted to us by Yeltsin, through the era of the oligarchic control over the mass-media, ended up with the total censorship of a Soviet type under Putin." 1.51 12. WIDE /PAN OF RED SQUARE AND PRESIDENTIAL COMPLEX BEHIND THE KREMLIN WALL 1.59 13. CLOSE OF WINDOWS OF PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION BUILDING AT THE KREMLIN 2.04 (EU) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 14. VARIOUS OF RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN ENTERING HALL, GREETING U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL 2.11 15. SLV JOURNALISTS AND ALEXEI GROMOV, PUTIN'S PRESS SECRETARY, AT A MEETING 2.16 16. CLOSE UP OF PUTIN 2.24 17. SLV MEDIA IN THE ROOM 2.28 MOSCOW, RUSSIA (NOVEMBER 20, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 18. SLV OF EDITION OF KOMMERSANT DAILY NEWSPAPER ON THE WALL 2.33 19. WIDE OF EDITORIAL TEAM AT KOMMERSANT DAILY NEWSPAPER AT WORK 2.39 20. CLOSE OF COVER OF MAGAZINE SHOWING PUTIN 2.43 21. WIDE OF KOMMERSANT JOURNALIST WORKING IN FRONT OF THE COMPUTER 2.48 22. WIDE OF ANDREI VASILYEV, KOMMERSANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SITTING AT HIS DESK IN HIS OFFICE 2.54 23. CLOSE OF ISSUE OF KOMMERSANT DAILY ON HIS DESK 2.58 24. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ANDREI VASILYEV, SAYING: "There are bad and very bad forces there (in the Kremlin), there are no good forces there, but all these bad and very bad forces - they all are irrelevant. The country is run by a single oligarch, the president. And the worst thing is that there is no alternative...We have one man who is 1:71 metres (five feet eight inches) tall. And everyone else is supposed to be 1:60 metres (five foot four)" 3.26 (EU) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 25. SLV VLADIMIR PUTIN FOLLOWED BY HIS BODYGUARDS WALKING PASS THE PRESS 3.40 26. SLV MEDIA OUTSIDE BUILDING 3.45 (EU) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (RECENT - NOVEMBER 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 27. VARIOUS OF VLADIMIR PUTIN ENTERING THE HALL TO OPEN A MEETING OF RUSSIA'S STATE COUNCIL 4.03 28. VARIOUS OF GOVERNMENT MINISTERS SEATED AND LISTENING TO PUTIN 4.21 29. VARIOUS OF PUTIN ADDRESSING MEETING, LOOKINGNG UP AND THEN TAPPING HIS MICROPHONE TO ATTRACT ATTENTION 4.31 30. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VLADIMIR PUTIN, ADDRESSING MEMBERS OF THE RUSSIA'S STATE COUNCIL, SAYING: "You should look here and listen to what I am saying; and if you are not interested then, please, get out." 4.36 (EU) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (NOVEMBER 19, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 31. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) JOURNALIST AND FORMER KREMLIN CORESPONDENT YELENA TREGUBOVA, AUTHOR OF "TALES OF A KREMLIN DIGGER", SAYING: "For him (President Vladimir Putin) it's natural to treat any free press as an "enemy's voice". Besides, I think Putin is not too sure of his own abilities as a public figure, a politician. If he frees the media, if he allows the media, the television to criticize him or to praise him, to show objective picture of what is going on in the Kremlin, of what he is doing, to show his election campaign - in that case I think he is not convinced he can win the next elections, that's the only two reasons I can think of (for alleged restriction of free media)." 5.08 31. VARIOUS OF VIEWS OF KREMLIN/ RUSSIAN FLAGS OVER THE KREMLIN/ RED STAR ON TOP OF THE KREMLIN TOWER 5.21 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 4th December 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NATURAL WITH CATALAN AND SPANISH SPEECH
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA3I172XJEFHYCGT9332P2HHZT1
  • Story Text: Russian journalist's published expose of the Kremlin
    puts media freedoms in Russia back in the spotlight.



    The "Tales of a Kremlin Digger" has become an
    instant best-seller in bookshops across Russia. In fact,
    demand has been so high that the book's publishers have had
    to order new print runs.

    The book claims to expose life at the centre of
    Russian power that is turning its author -- albeit
    reluctantly -- into a champion of press rights in Russia.

    Yelena Tregubova, a one-time Kremlin press insider,
    says in "Tales of a Kremlin Digger" that media freedom is
    as bad now under President Vladimir Putin as it was in the
    Soviet period.

    That is embarrassing for the Kremlin as it prepares for
    a parliamentary election next month with the liberal and
    communist opposition complaining of huge media bias in
    favour of Putin's allies -- particularly on the most
    popular television channels.

    Tregubova, chic with long blonde curls, drew on four
    years' experience as a Kremlin-accredited reporter to write
    the book that has proved an instant sell-out. And she
    admits she used a racy style to help her sell secrets of
    the Kremlin corridors to the masses.

    Her book is studded with tantalising first-name
    references to the Kremlin's highest -- including Putin --
    whom, she said, she addressed by his diminutive "Volodya"
    at a tete-a-tete dinner.

    "The main subject of my book is the freedom of speech
    in our country and the uneasy fate of journalists who from
    the wild freedoms, granted to us by Yeltsin, through the
    era of oligarch control over the mass-media, ended up with
    the total censorship of a Soviet type under Putin,"
    Tregubova told Reuters Television at a downtown restaurant
    in Moscow, her account being interrupted by a half dozen
    telephone calls.

    Tregubova says Russian Press Minister Mikhail Lesin is
    reputed to have said her days as an employable journalist
    are over. She expects no windfall from the book and is at a
    loss how she will now earn her living.

    Press freedom, though imperfect, was tangible under
    Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. "Under Yeltsin, TV
    channels were controlled by different 'oligarchs'," she
    said, referring to the super-rich entrepreneurs some of
    whom branched out into media.

    After being dropped from the Kremlin journalists' pool,
    Tregubova said the business daily Kommersant sacked her as
    soon as her book hit the high street.

    Kommerstant's Editor-in-Chief, Andrei Vasilyev
    described the book as "not terribly accurate because its
    contents are coloured by the author's personality". He said
    Tregubova had been replaced after taking unpaid leave.

    Vasilyev, editor of Russia's top broadsheet, had some
    harsh words for the Russian leader and his increasingly
    authoritarian style.

    "There are bad and very bad forces there (in the
    Kremlin), there are no good forces there, but all these bad
    and very bad forces - they all are irrelevant," said
    Vasilyev, a cigarette always within reach.

    "The country is run by a single oligarch, the
    president. And the worst thing is that there is no
    altern
    ative...We have one man who is 1.71 metres (five feet
    eight inches) tall. And everyone else is supposed to be
    1.60 metres (five foot four)," he added.

    Recently, television camera's caught a glimpse of
    President Putin's more forceful style of leadership.

    Chairing a meeting wirh Russia's regional governors, the
    Russian leader interrupted his address and told some of his
    audience to listen or otherwise leave.

    "You should look here and listen to what I am saying;
    and if you are not interested then, please, get out," said
    Putin.

    Reports of news editors receiving calls from angry
    Kremlin press officials have been doing the rounds
    recently.

    Tregubova portrays the 51-year-old KGB
    spy-turned-president as a naturally authoritarian figure.

    "For him (President Vladimir Putin) it's natural to
    treat any free press as an "enemy's voice". Besides, I
    think Putin is not too sure of his own abilities as a
    public figure, a politician. If he frees the media, if he
    allows the media, the television to criticize him or to
    praise him, to show objective picture of what is going on
    in the Kremlin, of what he is doing, to show his election
    campaign - in that case I think he is not convinced he can
    win the next elections, that's the only two reasons I can
    think of (for alleged restriction of free media)," said
    Tregubova.





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