Translated material
The Duma did not prohibit mention of the religious affiliation of terrorists in the media
The State Duma did not pass in the first reading a bill banning mention of the nationality and religious affiliation of terrorists in the media.
On May 13, 2016, the State Duma, during a plenary session, did not approve in the first reading a bill banning mention of the nationality and religious affiliation of terrorists in the media. Only three deputies supported him, the rest did not vote.
The relevant committee on information policy recommended rejecting the bill. He was also criticized by the Committee on Nationalities Affairs, the Legal Department of the State Duma and the Russian government.
The bill was submitted to the State Duma on December 1, 2015 by the Chechen parliament. Its authors proposed to include in the federal law “On Countering Terrorism” and Art. 4 of the law on the media, that the dissemination of information about the nationality and religious affiliation of persons involved in terrorist activities " is regarded as an insult to the national and religious feelings of honest, respectable citizens, true believers who have nothing to do with such activities, and is equated to actions aimed at inciting interethnic and interreligious hatred ."
The SOVA Center has repeatedly drawn attention to the problem of unmotivated mention of the ethnic and religious affiliation of participants in criminal episodes in the media. In our opinion, this is a powerful tool for the formation of negative ethnic stereotypes. However, situations are quite possible in which such references may well be motivated, and descriptions of crimes without them lose their meaning. In our opinion, the mention or lack of mention of ethnic or religious affiliation in crime chronicles is a matter of responsibility and professional level of the journalist, and is by no means a subject of legislative prohibition.
Previously, proposals to ban references to the nationality and religion of criminals were made in 2006 - 2007 ,2010 and 2012 .
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