“You Can’t Even Talk About Freedom Of The Press” In Russia

This is a screen grab from the now-infamous ABC News broadcast of the interview with Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev. (If you’re not familiar with the situation, click here.)

Today on MSNBC.com, NBC News producer Judy Augsburger filed a dispatch from Moscow. “Russian journalists were dismayed and worried by the announcement on Tuesday that the Russian government was barring ABC News from working here,” she writes.

Oleg Panfilov, Director of the Center for Journalists in Extreme Situations, says “the Russian authorities don’t want to look in the mirror. You can’t even talk about freedom of the press anymore.” Over 30 foreign journalists who have been banned from Russia for criticizing the government’s policies in Chechnya. Here’s the rest of the column…