Lies and the Lying Liars in Russia

This whole wretched hostage situation in Beslan, Russia has been upsetting me to no small end, so Phoebe's kindly allowed me (Nick Tarasen) to guest-post on the subject.

Initial reports from the Russian government indicated that there were approximately 125 students and parents stuck inside a middle school, the apparent hostages of Chechan seperatists, in a repeat of a scene that played out last year in a Moscow theatre. I'm working out of the house right now, and the situation was rather disturbing (attacking a school!), so I followed the news closely.

What surprised me was the complete lack of updates--no news outlet (and I checked several) one seemed to have much real information on what was going on, nor did the news gain clarity as time went on. Maybe, I surmised, the situation was progressing slowly.

The next day, the estimate was upped to 350 hostages inside the school. This seemed fishy to me, but perhaps acceptable. It seemed to me there should be some way to count how many people from a relatively small, quiet town had gone missing.

Then, 26 people were released. And what really struck me was that there were no interviews with these people. We didn't hear, the people inside are fine. We didn't hear, the conditions are horrible. We didn't hear, these are their demands. We heard nothing. People trapped in a hostage situation, now free...without a voice!? If this were in the U.S., they'd be on prime time ASAP. What's going on!? Why this media vacuum!?

Meanwhile, the Russian government promised it wouldn't storm the school.

Yesterday, I watched the news on France 2 (streamed online), and they were talking to parents who indicated that there were 800 children who normally attend that school--not including the parents who traditionally accompany their children on the first day. Only 50 people escaped the initial terrorist raid on the building. This meant there were potentially 750 people--or more--in this building. Yet the government and the press were still claiming 350. What's going on? Why is the Russian government lying? What must be the living conditions of potentially more than 1000 hostages!?

This morning, when I woke up, the NYTimes had reported that, despite promises to the contrary, the Russian military did indeed storm the school, that children were injured in the conflict, and that the (still unconfirmed) estimated number of people in the building was approximately 1000, or higher.

I know the transition to democracy and free speech takes time. And I know that hostage situations require delicate handling. But given the large number of international journalists there, one would think that accurate information on simply the number of hostages would escape--but it didn't. Now that the Russian government has assuredly caused the death of some children, will it lie and pretend that it saved more than it did?

I'm deeply troubled.