The head of the Russian Orthodox Church proposes to create a censorship and supervisory committee to combat vices

The head of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, Metropolitan Kornily, took the initiative to create a censorship and supervision committee to combat vices in various areas of public life. The letter addressed to the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Alexander Sokolov speaks of "a well-coordinated attack by the forces of evil on the minds of the youth of Russia."

Advertising, "openly mocking the Divine commandments, the denial and desecration of the historical heritage of the Russian people and its statehood in print and on the air, public swearing and pornography, television training in violence, smoking, open involvement in alcoholism and drug addiction literally accompany the child from morning to night", the Metropolitan notes.

"Before our eyes, a generation is growing up, deprived of the main value of a person - freedom. The freedom of one's own choice between good and evil," the head of the Russian Orthodox Church says.

In connection with the foregoing, Vladyka Cornelius considers "possible and timely" a joint initiative of the ROCC Church and the Ministry of Culture to create a public censorship and supervisory committee "to control the moral content of works and events of an educational, educational and entertainment nature in the areas of print intended for children and adolescents, theatre, stage and mass media.

According to the intention of the author of the appeal, the committee should include representatives of "traditional" religions, figures of culture and science, teachers, military men. Like already existing similar committees, the censorship committee should act in close cooperation with the administration of the President of the Russian Federation. Regional branches of the proposed structure should monitor the repertoire of children's theaters, monitor children's television and radio programs, specialized magazines and books, promotional products of shops and kiosks, and report violations to the central committee.

The Russian Orthodox Church welcomed the proposal of Metropolitan Cornelius. "The Media Supervisory Board, which would include responsible and competent experts, could put a stop to many programs on our television. The decision to create it, in my opinion, has long been ripe," the priest told . Interfax Vladimir Vigilyansky.

He also urged not to be afraid of the word "censorship", "behind which" stretches a trail of unseemly actions in the history of Russia, especially in the Soviet period. "According to Father Vladimir," one should distinguish between preliminary and subsequent censorship. The second type of censorship exists in almost all countries of the world. For example, if in the United States a naked woman is shown on a public channel during the daytime, the channel will not do well - it will pay a very high price for its rash act."

At the same time, Deacon Andrei Kuraev noted in an interview with an Interfax correspondent that moral censorship can become effective only if political censorship is mitigated, “because you can’t crush everything, plug all holes, the steam must somehow come out. there will be limited discussions on socio-political topics, predictability in the behavior of political commentators, the more outlets will appear in a kind of informal culture.

The Council of Muftis of Russia also supported the initiative of the Russian Orthodox Church. "The moral state of Russian society is alarming. The initiative of Metropolitan Korniliy deserves close attention, it should be listened to and taken seriously," Kharis Saubyanov, head of the staff of the Council of Muftis, said. However, the new body should be created only as an advisory one, the mufti stressed: "The very name 'censorship committee' evokes associations with Soviet times."

However, representatives of the journalistic community spoke out against the idea of ​​the head of the ROCC. told Interfax . "This proposal is certainly unconstitutional, because, thank God, we still have Article 29 of the Constitution, which prohibits censorship. Therefore, the implementation of such a proposal will be called a crime," Secretary General of the Russian Union of Journalists Igor Yakovenko At the same time, he noted that "the problem of morality in the media, raised by representatives of the Church, certainly exists, but it is solved in other ways."

Elena Zelinskaya, a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, vice-president of MediaSoyuz, spoke in the same spirit: They shouldn't even think about proposing the creation of some special bodies to solve this problem. Their task is to draw attention to its existence, and the media environment should already think and take some measures to resolve the current situation."

According to Alexander Sokolov, Minister of Culture and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, Metropolitan Kornily's initiative "should be most carefully perceived and discussed, of course, collectively." But at the same time, the minister added that it is necessary "to avoid the formulations that are proposed there - 'supervisory and censorship body'." "This in itself raises some concerns regarding the return to the practice, which we, of course, do not mean," A. Sokolov emphasized.

And State Secretary, Deputy Minister of Culture and Mass Communications Pavel Pozhigailo noted that very serious work is being carried out in this direction, "but not in the context of restrictions or prohibitions." "In general, of course, the question is not about restrictions, but about the participation of the state in the formation of the state order for cinema, for social advertising, for children's films, and so on," he said.

On April 10, the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church published a response dated March 22 to Metropolitan Korniliy from the Deputy Minister of Culture and Mass Communications A.E. Busygin.

"The leadership of the Ministry of Culture of Russia," the letter says, "shares your concern about the current situation in the mass media.

However, in accordance with Article 19 of the Federal Law of December 12, 1991 No. 2124-1 "On the Mass Media", media editorial boards build their broadcast policy on the basis of professional independence. Issues related to the placement of broadcasts on television, including the choice of topics, genre of broadcasts, authors and presenters, are exclusively within the competence of the management of television companies.

A.E. Busygin notes that “by order of the Ministry of Culture of Russia dated June 23, 2006 No. 281, a Public Council was established to support socially significant projects and public morality in the media under the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation” and that “currently one of the workers groups of the Council are working on developing a definition of the concept of "public morality" and its criteria, developing identification signs of violations of the criteria of "public morality", a methodology for introducing a mechanism for conducting continuous monitoring of violations of "public morality" in the media and its effective support. All these materials "will be offered for consideration by the Council in order to include them in the prescribed manner in the relevant regulatory legal acts." Cornelius' appeal "was forwarded to the secretariat of the said Council in order to take into account the provisions set forth in it when preparing these materials."

"However," the letter concluded, "taking into account your desire to create a public oversight committee to control the activities of the mass media, we consider it appropriate to address this issue to the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation."

On May 16, the ROCC website published an appeal signed by Metropolitan Kornily to the Secretary of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yevgeny Velikhov. The document was considered and approved in April at a meeting of the Metropolitan Council. It again raises the question of creating a public censorship and supervisory committee. "... We must somehow avoid the usual bureaucratic red tape in the decision on this initiative, because every missed day causes irreparable damage to our people and state," the appeal says. Public Committee to the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, to the Chairman of the Federation Council, to the relevant committees of the State Duma, to interested ministries, to the mass media and public organizations.

Sources

• Old Believer Metropolitan Kornily proposes to create a censorship and supervision committee in the country // Interfax-religion. 2007. March 20.
• The Moscow Patriarchate would welcome the emergence of a Media Supervisory Board in Russia // There. March 22.
• The Council of Muftis of Russia calls on the authorities to carefully consider the initiative to create a media watchdog in the country // There. March 23.
• Representatives of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation are categorically against the introduction of censorship over the morality of the media // There. 26 March.
• Morality Control Committee should not turn into censorship body - Minister Sokolov // There.
• Reply of the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications // Official website of the Russian Orthodox Church. 2007. April 10.
• Appeal to the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation // There. 16th of May.