“The elections have led to almost a
paranoia on the part of the Kremlin administration about who is on
television,” said Mr. Pozner, who is president of the Russian Academy
of Television.In practice, Mr. Pozner said, he tells Channel One
executives whom he wants to invite on the show, and they weed out
anyone they think is persona non grata.“They will say, ‘Well,
you know we can’t do that, it’s not possible, please, don’t put us in
this situation. You can’t invite so and so’ — whether it be Kasparov or
Kasyanov or someone else,” Mr. Pozner said.He added: “The thing that nobody wants to talk about is that we do not
have freedom of the press when it comes to the television networks.”
It Isn’t Magic: Putin Opponents Are Made to Vanish From TV, June 3, 2008
BILL MOYERS: You had Scott Ritter, former weapons inspector. Who was saying that if we invade, it will be a historic blunder.
PHIL DONOHUE: You didn’t have him alone. He had to be
there with someone else who supported the war. In other words, you
couldn’t have Scott Ritter alone. You could have Richard Perle alone.BILL MOYERS: You could have the conservative.
PHIL DONOHUE: You could have the supporters of the
President alone. And they would say why this war is important. You
couldn’t have a dissenter alone. Our producers were instructed to
feature two conservatives for every liberal.
…
BILL MOYERS: Eric Sorenson, who was the president of MSNBC,
told the NEW YORK TIMES quote: "Any misstep and you can get into
trouble with these guys and have the patriotism police hunt you down."PHIL DONOHUE: He’s the management guy. So his phone
would ring. Nobody’s going to call Donahue and tell him to shut up and
support the war. Nobody’s that foolish. It’s a lot more subtle than
that.
"Buying the War", April 25, 2007