Regularly overlooked in the spat over ABC’s decision to broadcast an interview with Shamil Basayev is the fact that the journalist who undertook the interview - Andrei Babitsky - is not actually an ABC employee.  Indeed, ABC didn’t even commission the interview - it landed in their laps after Babitsky sold it to them on a freelance basis.

Babitsky is actually an employee of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) who, presumably desperate not to suffer a similar fate to ABC, have been at pains to point out that Babitsky was actually on holiday when he conducted the interview.

Donald Jensen [RFE/RL Director of Communications] said Babitsky was a staffer at the U.S.-financed radio station, but was officially on vacation in the second half of June and could use his holiday time as he saw fit.

Jensen said that a staff member could choose to go where he or she pleased on vacation, as it was a private matter.

[…] Jensen refused to comment on the morality of showing the interview, preferring to say that it was a matter for ABC. He added that Liberty had not used the material.

It’s clear that the Russian government’s action against ABC has had the desired effect - foreign news agencies are running scared.  Many will be looking carefully at their content over the coming months.