Article: Soviets Shut Down News Agency;Move Against Interfax Follows Censoring of TV News Program

The Soviet government shut down the fledgling independent news agency Interfax today, a move that Soviet journalists said is part of the Kremlin's general shift toward more hard-line policies.

The closing of Interfax, a Soviet-French-Italian joint venture, came just two weeks after the state broadcasting authority Gostelradio barred from the air the country's most popular and irreverent television news program, "Vzglyad" ("View.") The program was initially barred after it tried to broadcast a live interview on the resignation of Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze.

Although both the print press and television remain far less restricted than under previous Soviet leaders, journalists here ...

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