05 March 2004, 15:51
Information Center of the Council of Chechen NGOs faces threat of closure
The only professional and constantly working independent journalistic organization in Chechnya receives no subsidies and grants and publishes a daily news summary using its own funds.
Reports by the Information Center are well known among journalists writing about Chechnya. The Council's reports are published on numerous sites of Chechen emigrants and used by other independent mass media. The Center's journalists work under the most difficult wartime conditions, under the threat of repressions and extrajudicial punishments on the part of various forces in Chechnya that are interested in hiding reliable information on the developments in the republic from the society.
The situation when such important work depends on several thousands of dollars per month seems to be depressive. The journalists are ready to renounce their own well-being for the sake of telling the truth about developments in Chechnya to the world. They cannot arrange contacts with rich sponsors, go to European capitals, and haunt the threshold of American foundations. They are occupied with complex daily work, for which they, unfortunately, do not get worthy pay, international prizes and wide recognition.
Source: Prima News Agency
