It’s becoming clear that the Russian government is getting very, very paranoid about the financial crisis, and, as usual, their first target of harassment is the media.  Reporters and editors have been given strict instructions from the procuracy not to report on anything negative relating to the economy, or face ambiguous penalties.  I don’t think this is too surprising, but rather disappointing that the authorities don’t bother to work harder to carry out their censorship and violations of free press in a more subtle way … this just looks bad.  So what in the world is left for government mouthpiece Russia Today to report?  With little irony, today they are carrying a story on Turkey’s shortcomings in freedom of speech.  From the Wall Street Journal:

Prime Minister Putin was speaking a day after the Prosecutor General’s office warned media outlets to be careful about how they cover the financial crisis. If news organizations can’t report that there’s a problem, they’ll be hard-pressed to report that things are improving.