Glasnost Defense Foundation

The Glasnost Defense Fund was founded in 1991 to defend the rights of journalists and to advocate freedom of the press throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union. The scope of their work includes large-scale projects and research as well as individual casework on violations of journalists' rights.

GDF provides journalists with legal assistance and material support. They also conduct research into broad abuses of freedom of the press and mass media, especially in so-called hot spots across the region. The group plays the role of an information clearinghouse on the topic of Russian mass media and the legislation effecting journalistic work in Russia and abroad. More generally, GDF provides central organization for the independent mass media.

The Glasnost Defense Fund maintains contacts with Russian and foreign human rights organizations and professional associations of the international mass media. The group cooperates regularly with the following groups: UNESCO; Helsinki Watch; Committee for the Defense of Free Speech; Union of Journalists of Russia; Memorial; Article 19; Freedom Forum; Reporters sans Frontiers; and the Carter Commission on Radio and TV Policy. GDF regularly receives funding from: Ford Foundation; Eurasia Foundation; Soros Foundation; and Moscow-based embassies and other foundations. In 1994, GDF was awarded the Moscow International Press Club Prize for the defense of mass media rights in Russia.

GDF organizes conferences and events and publishes its research. For example, in 1994 GDF published the results of a survey comparing attitudes of Russian journalists working in eight regions of the Federation with those of journalist based in Moscow.

Publications:

"Hot Spots": A Handbook For Journalists

(1995, Moscow) In Russian. 114 pages. This pocket-size handbook provides journalists with quick reference material including useful contact information for officials and organizations in so-called hot spots across Russia. Areas covered by the booklet include: Abkhazia, Moldova's Dneistr region, Ossetia-Ingusheta, Chechnya, Tadjikistan, Nagorno-Karabak, Crimea, and Moscow.

Journalists and Journalism in the Russian Provinces: Survey Results

(1994, Moscow) In Russian (170 pages) and abridged in English (75 pages). The idea for this project came in 1992 and not until 1994 was the research made possible by funding from USAID through the Eurasia Foundation. Heading the research was V. Vilchek, prominent sociologist, Y. Dzyaloshinsky, mass media expert and analyst, and A. Simonov, Board Chair of the Glasnost Defense Fund. This research covers eight provinces: Arkhangelsk, Voronezh, Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Novisibirsk. The survey provides information on the character of journalistic work and the mass media in the provinces as well as the opinions and concerns of the local readership.

Creating a Spirit of Cooperation: Standards of Honesty in the Journalistic Community

(1995, Moscow) In Russian. 375 pages. This book collects articles by leading professionals in the field of mass media and communications on the need to create a code of ethics in reporting. Contributors include journalists from the Russian press as well as other specialists in the nonprofit and non-governmental sector. The book was produced with the assistance of the Glasnost Defense Fund and the Russian Federal Committee of Publishers.

The Persecution of Journalists and the Press in the Territories of the Former Soviet Union in 1994

(1995, Moscow) In Russian. 172 pages. This is the second yearly report of the Glasnost Defense Fund which profiles all of the cases of human rights abuses committed against journalists and documents instances where freedom of the press was denied. The first report, published in 1994, documented abuses committed in 1993. Pending funding, this will continue to be a yearly publication.

Bank account information: Rubles - r/s 700012, IKB "Mass Media Bank" Moscow, account 2161539 (GRKTs); US$/DM - 0700400036, IKB "Mass Media Bank" Moscow, account 0010731607.

Last updated:    February 1998

A print version of much of the information contained in this NIS Third Sector Organizations section can be found in the The Post-Soviet Handbook (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1999).

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