Marina Petrova exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union almost 25 years have passed, but certain layers of society continue to think that in modern Russia, like in the former USSR, there is one ideology, one point of view on all internal and foreign political issues, and in general everything in the country is controlled and done by an order of one person. Unfortunately, such an outlook is typical not only for Russian society, but also for other countries of the post-Soviet space.
On February 26th, the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan invited the ambassador of Russia Vladimir Dorokhin and handed him a protest note because of the article by Vadim Dubnov headlined “Nagorno-Karabakh has learnt to be unrecognized for 25 years” which was published on RIA Novosti’s web-site on February 25th. The deputy foreign minister of Azerbaijan Mahmud Mamedguliyev stated that publication of such an article on a web-site of a state information agency caused “especially sad feeling and casted suspicion on Russia as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group on settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.” The Russian ambassador had to make excuses to Azerbaijani officials. Dorokhin emphasized that Dubnov’s private opinion didn’t reflect the position of official Moscow on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he also promised to tell the Russian authorities about Azerbaijan’s position on the issue. The same day the article was eliminated from RIA Novosti’s site.
Should the discussion of a rather provocative article be lifted to the level of foreign ministries? Yes, if we assume that in Russia, like Pravda Newspaper in the Soviet Union, all mass media entities reflect the opinion and the position of official Moscow, all information agencies are strictly censored and publish only materials approved by the Kremlin. However, today the Russian information space is different. RIA Novosti is a major information agency which has a practice of editing and reviewing, but its head physically cannot read all materials which are published every day on the site. That is why the phrase “the editorial opinion doesn’t coincide with the author’s opinion” is often placed in the end of articles. As for Vadim Dubnov’s article, we cannot speak about some political order ahead of the anniversary of the Khodjaly developments. Under the conditions of liberty of speech and absence of state censorship it is important to have inner censor for journalists, it would help them to present materials professionally, i.e. truthfully.
Of course, it is significant for every journalist to have a recognizable image, let’s say, “strained to the limit.” However, radical approach always causes radical appraisals. In his article titled “Nagorno-Karabakh has learnt to be unrecognized for 25 years” Dubnov emphasizes some facts, but forgets about others and presents a one-sided point of view. “A tourist boom is in Karabakh, tourism is one of priorities,” the author writes. From what countries will tourists go to Karabakh, considering that without permission of the Azerbaijani authorities people cannot come to the occupied territories? Mentioning major points of the conflict, he speaks about Sumgait, but keeps silent about the tragedy in Khodjaly. Dubnov insists that people who live today on the occupied territories have almost forgotten the war which caused such a pain, tragedies both to Azerbaijanis and Armenians. How can those who were in the center of the bloody war forget about this?
The reaction of Azerbaijani and Armenian mass media, which followed the publication, was radical, as it was expected. “What is it, the position of the Russian government?” 1NEWS.AZ asks. “Azerbaijan is starting a war against Russia now,” the web-site haqqin.az headlined its news on the article by Dubnov. Azerbaijani media space is boiling over the fact that Russia allows such a publication. On the contrary, Armenian mass media are indignant with the fact that “Russia again rolled over for Baku” and eliminated the article from RIA Novosti’s site.
Vadim Dubnov’s article is not only a reason for the other clash between journalists, but also for thinking over what the true goal of their profession is. First of all, it is striving for spreading truth among population which is watching the world by eyes of news reporters and information analysts. To tell other people truth, you have to be honest to yourself, have common sense and inner censor, be independent, analyze all facts and give an objective appraisal to the events. And you should be especially reasonable in estimation of ethnic problems.
