JMS

Russia is on the brain, not just because Vladimir is hanging out in Maine with George. NPR did a good piece this morning on the Azerbaijan Radar Base that Russia is offering up for joint missile defense — which is crazy on so many levels.

And Julie Shapiro (no relation, other than as a sister in the public radio Shapiro Mafia, although I do have a cousin Julie Shapiro too) writes about her trip to Moscow to the “Vmeste Radio” festival, organized by the Foundation for Independent Radio, which must have been fascinating. I’m intensely interested and would love to have gone too, having lived in Moscow for over 3 years in the early 90s and just generally following the place. Some day soon I hope to cross the wires of PRX and my Russian connections…

In the meantime Julie — who is behind the remarkable Third Coast International Audio Festival and knows whereof she speaks — is starting to unpack her impressions of the trip here:

about 200 producers from all across russia (including eastern siberia, northern-most points and a secret city or two) gathered for the happening, and spent three days talking about, listening to, debating, praising and challenging all aspects of radio documentary/feature making. even though i couldn’t understand a word of the conversations, it was clear that the producers were passionate and serious about the radio medium - and the power it has to reveal, describe, ponder, define the world

Also this past week On the Media did an excellent hour on the state of Russian media, including a fascinating blunt interview with a mainstream media manager who is totally upfront and as persuasive as he could be about his reasons for siding with the state. Here’s that segment from the show (kudos to WNYC for making these MP3 excerpts available to embed; but note to self & fellow public radio podcasters - 40 seconds is feeling too long for front-loaded promos/brands/credits, especially if it’s just a show segment):

From the interview:

Nowadays as editor-in-chief of Izvestia, I want to see it as a definitely conservative, definitely pro-government newspaper, and there is no desire on my part to conceal that.

It seems to me that it is within the boundaries of the freedom of speech to follow this line. And I think those people who inform you that there is something wrong with Izvestia are, in fact, exactly the people who want to monopolize the very notion of freedom of speech and who do not want to tolerate any opinion different from their own.