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(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin tightened his control over Russia's media on Monday by dissolving the main state news agency and replacing it with an organization that is to promote Moscow's image abroad.
The move to abolish RIA Novosti and create a news agency to be known as Rossiya Segodnya is the second in two weeks strengthening Putin's hold on the media as he tries to reassert his authority after protests against his rule.
Most Russian media outlets are already loyal to Putin, and opponents get little air time, but the shake-up underlined their importance to Putin keeping power and the Kremlin's concern about the president's ratings and image.
The Kremlin already funds an English-language TV channel called RT which was initially known as Russia Today. It is not clear whether the two will operate separately and RT's head, Margarita Simonyan, said she had been unaware of the move.
The BBC is a semi-autonomous public service broadcaster that operates under a Royal Charter and a Licence and Agreement from the Home Secretary. Within the United Kingdom its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee, which is charged to all British households, companies and organisations using any type of equipment to receive live television broadcasts; the level of the fee is set annually by the British Government and agreed by Parliament.
EvenParanoidsHaveEnemies
And apparently I am the only one who finds this concerning?
This marks a return to cold-war like activities that former Presidents had helped to all but eradicate.
EvenParanoidsHaveEnemies
The BBC is like PBS on steroids.
boymonkey74
reply to post by EvenParanoidsHaveEnemies
I don't find that at all, I find them quite critical of our government sometimes.
netbound
Not to worry. Ed Snowden’s keeping a watchful eye on all this...
boymonkey74
reply to post by VoidHawk
Do they try and put parties into power? sorry I will take the BBC over any Murdoch run newspaper,news channel.
SLAYER69
In Russia, Media owns and lies to you. In America, Media lies to you and tries to sell you crap.
So, where are all the bleeding hearts over sensorship yadda yadda blah blah blah?
Sips his coffee.