Editing Second Chechen War (section)

===Government censorship of the media coverage===
{{Main|Russian government censorship of Chechnya coverage}}

The first war, with its extensive and largely unrestricted coverage (despite deaths of many journalists), convinced the Kremlin more than any other event that it needed to control national television channels, which most Russians rely on for news, to undertake any major national policy. By the time the second war began, federal authorities had designed and introduced a comprehensive system to limit the access of journalists to Chechnya and shape their coverage.<ref>[http://www.worldpress.org/Europe/2048.cfm Smokescreen Around Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108082552/http://www.worldpress.org/Europe/2048.cfm |date=8 November 2016 }} The Moscow Times, 18 March 2005</ref>

The Russian government's control of all Russian television stations and its use of repressive rules, harassment, censorship, intimidation and attacks on journalists almost completely deprived the Russian public of the independent information on the conflict. Practically all the local Chechen media are under control of the pro-Moscow government, Russian journalists in Chechnya face intense harassment and obstruction leading to widespread [[self-censorship]], while foreign journalists and media outlets too are pressured into censoring their reports on the conflict.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/media_reports/615937.stm Russian TV accuses military of censorship] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016233612/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/media_reports/615937.stm |date=16 October 2015 }}, BBC News, 23 January 2000</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/68793/ |title=Kremlin Stifles Critical Coverage of Chechnya |publisher=Ifex.org |access-date=17 October 2011 |archive-date=8 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070308072630/http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/68793/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/01/27/005.html Silencing Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050207132645/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/01/27/005.html |date=7 February 2005 }}  Moscow Times, 27 January 2005</ref> In some cases Russian journalists reporting on Chechnya were jailed ([[Boris Stomakhin]]) or kidnapped ([[Andrei Babitsky]]), and foreign media outlets ([[American Broadcasting Company]]) banned from Russia. Russia's step came in retaliation for ABC's broadcast of an interview with Shamil Basayev, the Chechen rebel leader who ordered and/or carried out some of the worst terrorist acts in the country's history, including the school siege in Beslan that left 330 people dead.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090417172714/http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/02/international/europe/02cnd-russia.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q26pagewantedQ3Dall&OP=7868567fQ2FQ24rQ7EQ27Q24Q2F_nPe__MLQ24LRRCQ24RQ3EQ24RLQ24bQ5BMQ7EeQ5B-Mb_Q5B-Q3DQ24Q7EQ20e_kQ7EQ24RLnQ5BQ2FzeQ20PPb-Q22Q5CMdQ3D Russia Bars ABC News for Interview With Separatist], ''The New York Times'', 2 August 2005</ref> The [[Russian-Chechen Friendship Society]] was shut down on "extremism and national hatred" charges. According to a 2007 poll only 11 percent of Russians said they were happy with media coverage of Chechnya.<ref name="poll"/>