USA TODAY… “Whenever I watch state-run television news, it seems to me that Vladimir Putin is really great and his policies are a success,” she said. “But when I check out Internet websites and social networks and see what’s really going on, it’s an eye-opener — to say the least.”
As Internet use in Russia has risen, the approval ratings of Putin and his United Russia Party have fallen. In recent elections, United Russia won barely half of the vote, well below the 64% the party took in 2007.
Journalists and political analysts say Putin has not been able to clamp down on aggressive reporting of his regime on the Internet as he has done with newspapers and television stations in his 11 years in power… (more)
