Mosnews reports that REN TV news anchor Olga Romanova has been ordered off the air.

She said she was being sidelined after complaining on air on Wednesday that management was blocking news items that might anger top officials.

These included a report that prosecutors had dropped charges against the son of Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. An elderly pedestrian was killed when the car Ivanov’s son was driving hit her.

The Mosnews report goes on to note that REN TV was recently bought by an industrial group that apparently has close ties to the Kremlin, although another of the co-owners is German broadcaster RTL, and I would have thought they would be pretty heavily opposed to this kind of action. If Romanova’s complaints are accurate this is clearly not the case and, rather like Yahoo! in China, RTL seem to be placing profits ahead of editorial independence.

Alistair at Ruminations on Russia has been covering this story, and has put it into some context:

You would have to look pretty hard to find that piece of news in the Russian language.

It does not mark the end of free speech on broadcast television; it was already dead. It is however, another example of the 5th directorate thugs believing that they can control the flow of news when it proves to be embarrassing. The good news is that the Russian narod are at least 2 steps ahead of the thugs and no longer get their news from the television.

I’d have to agree that independent media is long gone in Russia, although I guess we can hope against hope for a phoenix like recovery. Thankfully, the internet is around, to provide at least a little balance.