35,000 registered newspapers, almost 1,000 radio stations and more than 1,000 television channels indicate a huge press coverage of Dimitrij Medvedev's and Vladimir Putin's new Russia.

However, the free independent press is still a relative concept.

Russian television is dominated by channels which are either directly owned by the state, or owned by companies with close ties to those with political power.

At the same time citizens' access to state-owned media is much easier than the alternatives. State-owned newspapers are cheap and distributed in an effective manner. State television is nationwide.

Freedom of the press is being squeezed - both financially and psychologically - in large parts of Russia. Russian journalists, who doggedly fight for an independent press, are finding it more difficult.

These are some of the conclusions presented in the new report just published by the Nordic Journalist Center.

"The economic crisis has hit hard in a country which is the world's largest energy producer and exporter. This has meant tighter conditions for the media and it seems difficult to have a meaningful public debate on Russian social conditions", states the report.

Less freedom of the press

"The media in Russia is still not seen as institutions that seek to share balanced information, but as instruments of power", concludes the new report.

Russia has less freedom of press in 2010 than it did 10 years ago, an unnamed source tells the report.

The report sums up the Nordic-Russian co-operation, and concludes that efforts must still be made to ensure the development of freer conditions for journalists who want to practise constructive, critical social journalism.

Read the report here

Nordic Journalist Center

Anders Lange Mobile: +45 21 46 63 60 E-mail: al@update.dk