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#4
The Russia Journal
November 16-22, 2001
Putin faces old struggle with U.S. media
Decades of negative mutual news coverage won’t change overnight
By YURY SIGOV

WASHINGTON – When Presidents Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush met this week to discuss bilateral relations, one critical but underestimated problem was almost guaranteed not to be on the agenda – the issue of negative coverage of Russia in the American press.

When the events of Sept. 11 exploded in the States, several hundred Russians assembled outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to express their sympathy with the victims. Some brought flowers, others stood silently with small U.S. flags as a sign of solidarity with their fellow human beings in America. But those images of Russians supporting America in difficult times were hardly seen here in the States. And that’s no surprise.

It’s no secret that Russia’s image in the United States is still predominately negative. The U.S. media persistently portrays Russia as a land of crime, general lawlessness, massive human rights violations (especially in Chechnya) and persecution of the free press. Coupled with its portrayal as an unreliable player on the world stage, even well-disposed Americans look on Russia with a degree of suspicion and concern.

If you visit a Washington, D.C., or New York bookstore and seek out the Russia section, you’ll only find books highlighting the gloomy aspects of the country. The tragedies of the post-communist era, including corruption, money laundering, the death of Russia’s provinces and the pillaging of assets by local oligarchs are the main features of these works.

Of course, it would be a mistake to believe that the U.S. media and publishing industry by denigrating and smearing Russia in 80 percent of its coverage, is fulfilling some kind of "political order" from on high. It’s just that U.S. correspondents in Russia choose to focus on the gloomy side of Russian life, which is the easiest thing to sell to an American audience.

But Americans are not ignorant and they know and love the value of Russian culture – including art, ballet and classical music – as well as the country’s contribution to science. Many Americans would relish the prospect of a Mikhail Gorbachev lecture or a Bolshoi Theater ballet performance, and general curiosity has abounded concerning Putin and his trip this week.

These positive aspects, however, are stifled by poor media coverage and a general negative mood in American political circles toward Russia and her leaders.

Putin has had a hard time getting his message across to Americans since he took office in March, 2000. Early in Putin’s presidency, I asked Robert Strauss, the last U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union and the first to Russia, what he would advise Putin to learn from his predecessors Gorbachev and Yeltsin, he said: To find a common language with the U.S. media, because otherwise Russia will be treated in the United States as a threat, with disbelief in her leadership.

Putin followed this advice when he started to meet regularly with Moscow-based U.S. correspondents and talk to them about Russian-American relations. He also tried his best to be more open to the American media during his visit to the States. However, it is up to American journalists to recognize Putin's genuine wish to improve bilateral relations.

Meanwhile, the image of America offered for domestic Russian consumption is also very curious, especially since Sept. 11.

During Soviet times, Russian hacks based in America did their best to prolong their comfortable postings while dutifully filing stories about the evil citadel of imperialism and daily strikes and demonstrations by oppressed workers and racial minorities.

That changed with Gorbachev’s Perestroika, when the Soviet media suddenly said the country had a lot to learn from the U.S. Congress and American laws and development of private initiative. Russians were understandably confused.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the free press came into its own, although it would be a mistake to say that coverage of U.S. affairs improved and became more objective.

Today’s Russian public is usually informed about the United States by young Russian graduates who have never visited the country and simply rehash AP and Reuters reports. The few articles by Russian correspondents based in the States who understand what the country is about are not enough to change the old stereotyped views.

It’s incredible that in the last 10 years in Russia not one book written by a journalist about the United States has been published, while during Soviet times dozens were published every year. Very few people would want to write them, and a book attempting to portray the United States realistically would not sell well.

The result of all this is that the average Russian reader or TV viewer – whether in Moscow or the provinces – is extremely ignorant about America and almost completely unaware of current events there.

At the same time, Russians consider trips to the States, studying in the States, having relatives with U.S. passports or getting a job at the Moscow office of an American firm to be proof of high social status.

As a result, there are two prevailing images of America in Russia. The first portrays the States as a threat to Russian security (just remember how many American "spies" have been caught in Russia in the past year), while the second says that cooperation with the States is a sort of guarantee of a normal and good life.

The events of Sept. 11 and Putin’s swift and positive reaction to them pushed this second image of America in Russia to the forefront. However, Putin, in his vision of making the United States a genuine ally, is running considerably ahead of many of even his closest confidants in the Kremlin, who still view Washington with suspicion and even hatred.

Although positive rhetoric coming from the Kremlin regarding better relations with Washington now dominates the general media picture in Russia, many ordinary Russians still rate the United States as a threat to their country.

At the same time, the negative image of Russia in the United States has basically never met with a strong rebuff from anyone with any influence. The image of an unpredictable and unstable country that still keeps the world’s second-largest nuclear arsenal was and still is very easy to sell to the American public, especially when the White House or Congress wants money for a new anti-missile system, NATO enlargement, or to adopt tough decisions regarding world markets.

There are influential pro-Russian politicians who are prepared to defend normal relations between Moscow and Washington – but they are few. Moreover, the Russian-speaking diaspora is politically and financially weak and has no significant influence on Russia’s image in the States.

In this situation, the main lobbyist for Russian interests in the States is and will be the Russian President himself. Putin may not be the bear-hugging Yeltsin, but in his own quiet and determined way he is becoming a partner that Bush can count on when it comes to important issues like international terrorism.

During his get-togethers with Bush this week, Putin has done his utmost to personally change the Soviet-era image of Russia that is still consumed on a daily basis by ordinary Americans.

Even the biased U.S. media seem to agree that he has succeeded in this. Now, Washington and Moscow have the chance to stop seeing each other as enemies and accept each other as partners. If the media get it right, that is something that can only benefit the ordinary citizens of these two misunderstood countries.

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