RUSSIA’S PARLIAMENT BANISHES A TV STATION.

The Duma has banished reporters from Russian Public Television (ORT, Russia’s most-watched television channel) from its sessions for a month. Parliamentarians said ORT’s reporting was persistently biased. The last straw was ORT’s coverage of a Duma debate on pornography, which showed parliamentarians making ribald and sexist comments. Only 12 deputies voted against the banishment motion, with 259 in favor and six abstaining. (Interfax, AP, March 5)

Yeltsin Orders Government to Negotiate with Unions.