Another attempt to change the media law

In February, a bill was submitted to the State Duma containing further amendments to the media law. The bill, developed by the State Duma Committee on Information Policy (chaired by Valery Komissarov, a former host of the My Family program), proposes to ban the showing of victims of terrorist attacks by law. V. Komissarov did not explain why it is not forbidden to show victims of, for example, man-made disasters, but it can be assumed that he is concerned not so much with the feelings of viewers or relatives as with the possibility of reducing the media effect of a terrorist attack.

However, a legislative amendment regarding the ethical standards of journalists may not have caused such a strong reaction if it had not been followed by a more radical proposal. V. Komissarov's colleague in the faction and the committee, Mikhail Yurevich, proposed to ban the media altogether from giving any information about the terrorist act before receiving official sanction from the authorities: " This legislative initiative is due to the fact that terrorists, committing terrorist attacks, are counting on destabilizing the situation in the country , - Yurevich explained his position to Gazeta. “ Destabilization occurs when the [terrorist attack] is covered by the media . ” And although the State Duma assures that this initiative will not find support, it has caused considerable concern among the majority of journalists, who unambiguously regarded it as another attempt to introduce censorship.

For the controversy about the initiative of M. Yurevich, see

Sources

• Petrovskaya Irina. We were born to present the reality as a fairy tale // News. 2004. February 21.
• Maximov Vladlen, Tkachuk Sergey. Ethereal anti-terror // New news. 2004. February 20.
• Andreev Andrey, Vinogradov Mikhail. Broadcast victims of terrorist attacks - banned // News. 2004. February 20.
• Trofimov Evgeny. Personal initiative of the deputy Yurevich // SMI.Ru. 2004. February 20.