It’s one thing to talk about censorship and a lacking freedom of the press – it’s altogether another item to talk about aggressively using media for the dissemination of propaganda. In today’s Washington Post, Masha Lipman has an interesting discussion about how the forms and methods of state media use have changed under the Putin regime, and what it means for the public’s perception of current affairs in Russia. She also argues that Medvedev and Putin may eventually come to a struggle over the power of TV…

During Putin’s tenure, television broadcasting was honed to perfection — as a tool to shape public opinion. Coverage of political and public affairs is now tightly controlled through a coordinated effort of the national channels’ top managers and Kremlin aides. The result is that any event, person, group or movement may be boosted or played down in the public eye in a way that would best suit the Kremlin’s desires and designs; anyone deemed an adversary of the government may be discredited or vilified.