Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is reporting (NEWSLINE Vol. 10, No. 228, Part I, 12 December 2006):
The U.S. Treasury’s Committee on Foreign Investment is planning to investigate Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s links to the Kremlin before deciding whether to approve the $2.3 billion sale of Oregon Steel to the steel maker Evraz Group, which he controls, Britain’s “Financial Times” reported on December 11. Abramovich, the Kremlin-appointed governor of Siberia’s remote Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, is generally considered politically close to the Kremlin, and reportedly Russia’s richest man (see “RFE/RL Newsline,” November 21, 2006). In Washington, a Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment, saying that they do not discuss their reviews, “The Moscow Times” reported on December 12. The “Financial Times” cited Daniel Lucich, a former deputy assistant treasury secretary, as saying that the U.S. authorities want to know whether Evraz “is owned, controlled, or influenced by a Russian or other government interest.” The paper did not say when the review will take place. If the deal goes ahead, it will be the largest Russian takeover of a U.S. firm, the British daily added.
A search of media reports on this found this level of reporting to be the norm:
Late last month, Luxembourg-based Evraz Group SA, the largest domestic steelmaker in Russia, signed a deal to buy Oregon Steel Mills in Portland for $2.3 billion.
Will the media catch up and report or just move on? Armchair Generalist has a good example of selective reporting by the US domestic press with a plot by a Muslim making the headlines and what seems to be a more dangerous plot by a guy looking to blow up Congress barely making news. Both are examples of discretionary information management by the media.
