No More Russian Coverage Of Russian Space News By Russians
Russia tells its space reporters to stop reporting on the space program, Ars Technica
“The country already prohibits reporting on space activities containing classified information, but a new law extends to coverage of a variety of other space news. Essentially, any person in Russia who now reports on anything that might be even tangentially related to Russia’s military activities or space activities will be labeled as a foreign agent. News organizations and individuals will be required to put a disclaimer on every single article, social media post, or tweet, reading, “This Report (Material) has been created or distributed by Foreign Mass Media Channels executing the functions of a Foreign Agent, and/or a Russian legal entity executing the functions of a Foreign Agent.”
Keith’s note: Oh well, so much for encouraging foreign agent media coverage of new space moviefilm being photographed on orbital space station.
Keith’s update: But wait – there’s more. Perhaps Rogozin is instituting this media ban to thwart bad news from surfacing from within Roscosmos so as to anger Putin further. Yea this whole ban the media thing should work, Dmitry. Great idea!
Putin slashes Russia’s space budget and says he expects better results, Ars Technica
“But what does seem clear is that the Russian space program’s future is bleak. Whereas China is rising with a space station of its own and ambitious new exploration plans and the US space industry is flourishing amid a rise in commercial activity, Russia is seeking to maintain a status quo of space vehicles developed decades ago.”
– Earlier Russia posts
Wait… What now?!
Might get to the point where if I was a Russian I would trust foreign media more than domestic.
They passed that point years ago…
Indeed, that is the very reason why the Russians are now labelling non-domestic news sources as ‘foreign agents’, to imply that patriotic Russians shouldn’t believe a word they say.
Where ‘the Russians’ equals Putin’s government. His party was just trounced in parliamentary elections. In the official results, they won an overwhelming majority of the seats all the same. Putin is not equal to Russia, despite what he’d like people to think.
>Putin is not equal to Russia, despite what he’d like people to think.
Like in the old days where people think USSR of old Politburo guys, factory workers all comrades working together, and the best ballet dancers. In reality very very diverse then and now.
Many decades ago, in fact. There was a famous incident where Gorbachev, when he was General Secretary, was overheard humming the then-jingle of the BBC World Service at a public meeting.
I hope that doesn’t cause problems for Anatoly Zak. russianspaceweb.com is good stuff.
I believe he lives in the US, so he’s not directly affected. But some of his sources may dry up.
No news is good news, says Vladimir Putin about Russian space activities.
Basically, they want total information control. That includes the mess that their military and space industries are in, in terms of quality control. If no-one is allowed to report on it without self-labelling as filthy foreign spies, they can pretend everything is okay.
Very disappointing. So much for Paris troika.
Somehow though it seems like we won’t be missing much.
Perestroika was quite a few decades ago, although it’s fair to say that Putin was never a fan then, or now. Ironically, Putin is now working hard to perestroit (reconstruct) the USSR and the structures of state control.
Yeah…good luck with that Vlad.
Not sure he needs it. It all seems to be going quite well, from his perspective.
The old metaphor of jumping out a window and declaring confidently as you fall past each floor, “Everything’s going great!” comes to mind.
Bottom line, the clock is now running to the point where Roscosmos becomes so unable and unwilling to provide information that it will be absolutely impossible for NASA, ESA and JASRO to determine if Russian spacecraft, equipment and modules are safe or even currently in working order except by astronauts physically observing them in situ.
Next step will be a requirement for all non-Roscosmos astronauts to have a permit agreed in advance for non-emergency access to the Russian Segment. Naturally, ‘Emergency’ would also only be as defined by and announced by the Russian mission controllers.
Wonder if that includes the movie being filmed aboard the ISS?
Highly unlikely. That trip would have been approved at the highest level. The film that results will be subject to official approval before release. That means don’t expect to see closeup shots of the cracks in the Russian module.
This new regulation doesn’t affect the movie, but it does affect reporting of it. The production is partially funded by Roscosmos, and now independent news sources in Russia can’t say anything about how much money Roscosmos put in, of even that it put any money in. At least not without being declared a “Foreign Agent”. I suppose it’s still of for them to reprint any coverage of the movie TASS publishes.
“The beatings will continue until morale improves”. So, so sad… 🙁
Putin knows his audience. Russians have a reputation for the ability to absorb enormous amounts of pain and he routinely explores that limit. Fear is his tool of choice.
As with any dictator, his domestic police can’t arrest everyone. Analyses out of political science show that protests involving 3.5% of the citizenry or more will result in regime change. For Russia, that’s about 5 million people.
Anything that might rile the masses to demonstrate must be suppressed, in that calculus. Evidence of blatant corruption and decline from the formerly-lofty level of Russian science and space exploration risks adding to discontent, as it undermines his narrative of his leadership of the renaissance of the Great Russian Empire.