Documents / FOIA release
This is a JPRS translation, dated 6 November 1991 and held in a CIA release, of an article from the Moscow paper LITERATURNAYA GAZETA by correspondent Tatyana Fast. It tells how Riga journalists founded NEZAVISIMAYA BALTIYSKAYA GAZETA with backing from a business association, which then pressured and threatened them. The staff broke with the sponsor and relaunched as BALTIYSKAYA GAZETA. The article notes that the old title's new staff now writes about UFOs, nutrition and sex.
“Cooper”2 pages
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
Document 15 of 17 17. 30 September was the birthday of BALTIYSKAYA GAZETA. In having to obtain a new license, we lost the word "'independent,' but we did retain this independence in substance. True, this independence does not have much of a material support. In our calculations, the remaining resources will last us until the new year. 18. Actually, many newspapers have found themselves in a shaky situation today. It appears that only those backed up by state structures (soviets, ministries, mayoralties) or financed by big private capital will be able to survive. It is not surprising that in this situation the press is being bought up by mafiosi groups. Some do it to launder the party money or income from shadow economy dealings; others want to gain power by manipulating the public opinion. Some will say: This is what a market economy is; this situation is new for the Soviet press but not for the world press. There is a difference, however. In democratic countries, the state takes upon itself the care of independent press. Any society interested in its development must have an interest in opposition. Independent press is the opposition; its presence is an indicator of the society's health. If this press disappears, so will the health. 19. I do not know whether it was this or some other reason that moved the prime minister of the Latvian Republic Ivar Godmanis to extend a helping hand to the press. Almost all republic newspapers are now included in state orders for paper. The government was able to reach an agreement on deliveries of paper from Russia. So far, until the new year. What will happen after that-nobody knows. 20. ...A few days ago we saw the NEZAVISIMAYA BALTIYSKAYA GAZETA-no longer ours-on Riga newsstands. The new editorial staff does not delve into politics. They write about UFO's, rational nutrition, and sex. The cover shows a temporary address and the editor's name. Alas, this temporary newspaper has more chances to survive than we do. It will be supported even if the reader loses interest in the tabloid mishmash.
Not linked to a story yet.
FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 5 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.