Protest against cut of BBC's Russian programmes

A global media watchdog today protested against the decision by a Russian radio station to take Russian-language FM broadcasts by the BBC off the air.

On Friday, the BBC said the decision by Bolshoye Radio, its Moscow distributor, leaves its Russian-language services available only on medium- and short-wave broadcasts.

The move follows similar steps taken by two other radio stations in the past year.

Bolshoye Radio’s parent company, financial group Finam, said that its license did not allow it to retransmit BBC’s programs and that the station will instead focus on originally produced material.

In a statement today, the head of the Vienna-based International Press Institute said he hoped the removal of BBC programming was not the start of a return to Cold War limitations on press freedom and freedom of expression within Russia.

“I would encourage Bolshoye Radio to allow the BBC World Service to continue broadcasting on the station’s airwaves and I would ask the authorities to do more to protect the right of the Russian people to receive a plurality of information from both national and international sources,” IPI Director Johann P. Fritz said.