My View

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the newly independent countries that appeared as a result of this had the opportunity to change the principles of regulating journalism and ensure freedom of speech, which was not available for a long time. However, the governments far from all countries decided to follow this path. At the moment, it can be observed that in most post-Soviet countries the restriction of freedom continues in the media and especially the use of political censorship.

In the USSR, the use of censorship for the restriction was widespread in all types of media, rejecting any dissent. During communism, people received guaranteed public education, medicine and life support, but at the same time were deprived of the right to express their personal opinions and deprived of their freedom of action. After the collapse of the union, however, each country had a period of formation, when the new government earned the trust of citizens and tried to develop the country, promising complete freedom and rejection of communist principles. Democracy replaced communism, or, at least, it looked like that. Based on past experience, the governments of post-Soviet countries, due to the already established self-censorship among citizens, introduced political censorship in the media. A fictitious democracy has been formed in the countries.

The implementation of censorship in post-Soviet countries have a number of distinctive features, such as the presence of "stop lists" - a list of people who are not allowed to be mentioned on television or in print media. This list most often includes opposition politicians and individuals with ideas different from generally accepted standards. Although the governments officially do not confirm the existence of stop-lists, TV and radio journalists disclose the fact of this on the Internet. Another feature of media regulation is the lack of opportunity to challenge a government censorship decision. This is expressed in the maximum vagueness of the concept of censorship and the protection of freedom of speech in the legislation, as well as in the non-provision of a court acquittal. Thus, the code of laws does not explain how the law works, but its very existence allows to condemn the source of information that came under censorship.

As a result, it can be noted that censorship in post-Soviet countries is a massive tool for regulating information in the media. The historical and political basis for limiting information, moreover, makes media develop and adapt in a completely different direction. While around the world, there is now a problem with fake news due to an oversupply of information, in post-Soviet countries, in turn, on the contrary, there is a lack of information.