I waited for some big-wig Western media to publish something on the Eurasian Media Forum, which after three days finished on April 21. In the old tradition of the six-year-old “media initiative”, this year’s event featured high-profile speakers and hosted controversial discussions. However, relatively little of substance came through to the outside apart from one superb radio feature on Deutschlandradio and the Media Forum’s website.

Where were the journalists? Ayan Sharipbaev of Svoboda Slova thinks (my translation):

“This is no forum of journalists, but for journalists. They are supposed to come here, look at things and leave as quickly as possible. One could speak about those journalists that died here not too long ago, about those that were silenced - why this happens and how this can be.”

Asked why the forum deals more with international issues rather than with local problems, the director of the Forum Vladimir Reyrikh replies:

“It is very difficult to find people that speak about journalism professionally. Especially journalists can’t do that. Because they are too much tied into their job. In politics, the whole spectrum of political and cultural scientists and philosophers is united. Their reflexes are better. Journalists are simply too busy with their own things. And about the problem that our media does not always write freely about politics: This is due to the fact that media and politics is one and same thing. Unfortunately.”

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