RUSSIA: NTV TELEVISION ANCHORS PROTEST

(26 Jan 2001) Natural/English

Several television anchors from Media-Most's flagship T-V channel N-T-V demonstrated in front of Media-Most headquarters in Moscow on Friday.

They are protesting about what they consider to be unjustified pressure by the Russian General Prosecutor's office.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been accused by journalists of being at the heart of a media war brewing in Moscow between the embattled television station, its new owner and its staff.

Russian journalists were told on Thursday that Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom had become the controlling shareholder of N-T-V, the central T-V channel of media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky's Media-Most empire.

General Director of Gazprom Media, Alfred Kokh, said he would immediately demand a shareholders meeting to determine N-T-V's new board of directors.

Gusinsky, Media-Most's chief, who has been charged with fraud, is under house arrest in southern Spain, and Russia has requested his extradition.

Head of N-T-V television Yevgeny Kiselyov claimed the channel's journalists do not accept Gazprom-Media's claim of control over his company.

The General Prosecutor's Office summoned Tatyana Mitkova, anchor for N-T-V's nightly news program, "Segodnya" (Today in Russian), for questioning on Friday morning.

Several on-camera journalists from Media-Most, Russia's largest private media company, have already been summoned in connection with the Prosecutor's case against the media holding company.

Creditors and prosecutors accuse Media-Most of overstating it's assets while securing loan guarantees from Gazprom.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"I think that the summons is a direct threat to the group of NTV journalists and an attempt to discredit me."
SUPER CAPTION: Tatyana Mitkova, NTV "Segodnya" program anchor

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"We have come out on the streets to support our colleague (Tatyana Mitkova) and we want to show that if they think that they can force us do our work differently, to obey the authorities, it won't work, we are not afraid.
SUPER CAPTION: Marina Maksimovskaya, NTV "Geroi Dnya" program anchor

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