Why Putin needs censorship and control over the biggest media outlets becomes very clear from the example of the Peskov case. Our investigations—both about the 37 million-ruble watch and the 26 million-ruble yacht—are extremely popular; you can see it from the reposts, the blog traffic, and the media reprints. It was especially obvious in the watch story, which even “broke through” into media outlets where publishing this kind of thing is generally forbidden, such as Argumenty i Fakty (a major Russian weekly newspaper).
Even so, I very much doubt that more than 2 to 4 million citizens ever saw this information—especially since those same 2 to 4 million already know everything, understand perfectly well what is going on, and have no illusions about the authorities.
Now let’s imagine what would happen to Putin’s legendary 86% approval rating if the media in Russia were able to fully perform their public function and did not merely circulate ACF’s (Anti-Corruption Foundation’s) information about Peskov, but, as they should, picked up the story and developed it further.
They would have gathered comments from politicians, sent reporters to the scene, found witnesses and spoken to them, asked uncomfortable questions at press conferences, and kept asking until they got answers. In other words, they would have done all the things only journalists can do, and organizations like ours cannot.
Maybe you remember the famous Bill Clinton $200 haircut scandal? The guy got a haircut aboard the presidential plane from some celebrity stylist, paid those very same $200 (the horror!), and delayed the plane’s landing by an hour, inconveniencing the other passengers.
The scandal went on for days, stories about it ran on the front pages of the biggest newspapers, and 18% of Americans followed it “very closely,” according to national polls.
“Who paid for this haircut, and is Bill Clinton still the president of ordinary people?” asked The New York Times.
Let’s imagine:
How many percentage points of that 86% do you think would be left after a week of this kind of discussion across all Russian media?
That’s why there is censorship.