13.11.08

Practically every article of the current law on the media is up for amendment. For example, one bloc of amendments concerns expanding the right of journalists to receive information. Responding to their queries will become mandatory not only for state officials and bureaucrats, but also for commercial organizations. The United Russia faction's presidium also proposes to delete the Criminal Code's penalties (arrest and imprisonment) for defamation and insults in the media, and to establish upper and lower limits for defamation damages payments.

Moreover, according to these amendments, no journalists can be questioned in court as witnesses about circumstances they learned of while working on articles or stories. At present, this immunity only applies to lawyers, priests, and members of parliament.

The immediate question: why all this sudden "love" for the media on United Russia's part?

Oleg Panfilov, director of the Center for Extreme Journalism, maintains that "the authorities are just playing a game of their own." Panfilov told us: "Politicians are well aware that 95% of Russian citizens get all their news from Russian television broadcasts, which are completely state-controlled and actually amount to propaganda." Thus, the state can afford to relax a few minor points. According to Panfilov, not even the best law "can change the news situation until the state shuts off its propaganda machine."

Alexei Simonov, head of the Glasnost Defense Foundation, maintains that the Kremlin has had little to do with the text of the amendments. Simonov told us: "They have been seeking to amend the law on the media for several years, and finally thought of approaching the author of the current law: Mikhail Fedotov, secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists. Naturally, in working on the amendments, he is taking the media's needs into account." However, Simonov is not certain "that the bill will be passed in this form," since the Duma hasn't debated it yet. Simonov's conclusion: "The amendments do contain some good points, but these may be deleted by the time the bill is passed."

Alexei Makarkin, deputy general director of the Political Techniques Center, maintains that United Russia "is just transmitting liberal messages from above." Makarkin said: "Suffice it to look at Dmitri Medvedev's address to parliament. A number of liberal directions can be traced in that. I think that the media- related initiatives may be regarded as part of the general context of liberal proposals from the authorities." Makarkin's prediction: "If these initiatives become law in their current form, this will facilitate a thaw in relations between the authorities and the media."

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Source: "Novye Izvestia"