| In January-March 2003 the media conducted a campaign
to defame and discredit an alternative plan for reforming the housing
and communal services sector developed by YABLOKO. The television
channel, Ren-TV, newspapers such as Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Tribuna,
Noviye Izvestiya and 30 regional newspapers were employed in the
campaign.
The campaign was launched with the publication in Rossiyskaya
Gazeta (on January 29, 2003) of an article entitled "Grigory
and a Miracle", which was sharply critical of YABLOKO's proposals.
Since February 2003, 30 regional papers have published the following
articles: "Yavlinsky's Plan: How to Freeze the Country"
and "PR on the Frost", where the text was exactly the
same as the article in Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The conclusions in
the campaign were backed by the opinions of "independent"
experts who were trying to compare YABLOKO's position with the
"well-balanced" position of the Union of Right-Wing
Forces (SPS).
The second wave of such publications took place after the second
reading of the draft law to reform the housing and communal services
sector (on March 21, 2003) and was called "Red YABLOKO -
Yavlinsky Fights for the Communists' Votes." Criticising
the position of the YABLOKO party on the reforms in the housing
and communal sector and RAO UES, the article stated that the party
and its leader were populists exploiting communist ideas. The
article was reproduced in the same 30 regions and also in a number
of national newspapers.
According to independent experts, about USD170,000 was spent
on the campaign
See also:
State Duma
elections 2003
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