July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Step forward, two back (10/29/03)
Dear Reader
One step forward and two steps back.
Someone asked me the other day what sort of progress is being made with newspapers in the former Soviet Union, and I immediately thought of the phone call Ozod received.
Ozod’s country and home city will stay unnamed for reasons which will become obvious.
We met in the spring of 2001 when I was leading a seminar on principles of newspaper management in Ozod’s country, one of the fractional bits of what used to be the U.S.S.R.
The point of the seminar was to introduce some concepts that could lead to self-sufficiency for newspapers, ending their long-standing tie to politicians and government.
Ozod grabbed hold of the ideas better than anyone else, and he was running with them.
At the time, he was putting out a terrible but popular rag. Its recipe for success was a mix of abundant cleavage and articles about UFOs, along with plenty of stuff stolen off the Internet.
But Ozod wanted something more, a general interest newspaper that tried objectively to report what was going on in his city and his country. Nothing of the sort existed where he lived.
When we met the second time last September, Ozod was in Washington for another round of training.
His business plan was taking shape, and he talked freely at the seminar about what he had in mind.
Perhaps he talked too freely.
There were two other participants at the Washington seminar who came from the same country as Ozod. One kept her mouth firmly shut for fear of the consequences of saying something inappropriate. The third, a top editor from a government-owned newspaper, was apparently planning to report what was said in America when he returned home.
Ozod’s ambitions for a truly independent newspaper became known as soon as he set foot back in his own country. He was hassled constantly by officials, especially tax collectors, for months after his return.
By spring of this year, when we met for the third time, the stress had begun to affect his health. He checked himself out of a hospital just so we could meet and talk further about his plans.
He wasn’t giving up, he told me, though he’d had to find new financial backers.
Finally, late this summer, the first edition of his dream newspaper — one which belonged to its readers rather than to politicians — came out.
It must have been impressive, because Ozod received a phone call shortly afterwards.
Before another edition could be published, he was told in no uncertain terms that his paper was dead.
The powers that be have no interest in seeing independent journalism develop and are willing to strangle an infant newspaper in its crib in order to silence it.
One step forward. Two steps back.[[In-content Ad]]
Someone asked me the other day what sort of progress is being made with newspapers in the former Soviet Union, and I immediately thought of the phone call Ozod received.
Ozod’s country and home city will stay unnamed for reasons which will become obvious.
We met in the spring of 2001 when I was leading a seminar on principles of newspaper management in Ozod’s country, one of the fractional bits of what used to be the U.S.S.R.
The point of the seminar was to introduce some concepts that could lead to self-sufficiency for newspapers, ending their long-standing tie to politicians and government.
Ozod grabbed hold of the ideas better than anyone else, and he was running with them.
At the time, he was putting out a terrible but popular rag. Its recipe for success was a mix of abundant cleavage and articles about UFOs, along with plenty of stuff stolen off the Internet.
But Ozod wanted something more, a general interest newspaper that tried objectively to report what was going on in his city and his country. Nothing of the sort existed where he lived.
When we met the second time last September, Ozod was in Washington for another round of training.
His business plan was taking shape, and he talked freely at the seminar about what he had in mind.
Perhaps he talked too freely.
There were two other participants at the Washington seminar who came from the same country as Ozod. One kept her mouth firmly shut for fear of the consequences of saying something inappropriate. The third, a top editor from a government-owned newspaper, was apparently planning to report what was said in America when he returned home.
Ozod’s ambitions for a truly independent newspaper became known as soon as he set foot back in his own country. He was hassled constantly by officials, especially tax collectors, for months after his return.
By spring of this year, when we met for the third time, the stress had begun to affect his health. He checked himself out of a hospital just so we could meet and talk further about his plans.
He wasn’t giving up, he told me, though he’d had to find new financial backers.
Finally, late this summer, the first edition of his dream newspaper — one which belonged to its readers rather than to politicians — came out.
It must have been impressive, because Ozod received a phone call shortly afterwards.
Before another edition could be published, he was told in no uncertain terms that his paper was dead.
The powers that be have no interest in seeing independent journalism develop and are willing to strangle an infant newspaper in its crib in order to silence it.
One step forward. Two steps back.[[In-content Ad]]
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