Dear Mr. Chairman:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonpartisan
organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is very
concerned about a bill, titled "On Amendments and Addendums Brought
into Certain Legislative Acts," currently under consideration in the
Russian Parliament. The bill, which is scheduled for a second—and
possibly final—reading in the lower house of the Duma on June 11,
seeks to strengthen state regulation over independent media outlets,
particularly their coverage of election campaigns.
Central Electoral Committee (CEC) chairman Aleksandr Veshnyakov noted
in the online daily Gazeta.ru that the purpose of the bill is
to minimize the use of dirty campaigning techniques in the forthcoming
December 2003 parliamentary elections and the February 2004 presidential
elections. In particular, he said that the bill seeks to minimize the
use of "black PR," a relatively common practice where political
parties bribe journalists to write favorable articles about their candidates
or negative articles about their opponents.
Economic underdevelopment and low advertising revenue means that journalists
in Russia are underpaid and sometimes accept bribes from political campaigns
to supplement their incomes. While "black PR" is a broad and pervasive
problem in Russia, under the approach outlined in this bill, the media
are the primary targets for punishment, rather than the corrupt politicians
who offer them bribes. "Black PR" reflects a lack of transparency in
campaign finance in Russia, a more appropriate measure to address this
problem would be campaign finance reform, rather than media regulation.
In addition, numerous media reports, as well as several Moscow-based
legal analysts interviewed by CPJ, have criticized the bill’s vague
language, which grants broad, excessive, and arbitrary authority to
the Russian Media Ministry, the CEC, and regional electoral commissions.
These agencies would have the authority to shutter media outlets during
electoral campaigns for engaging in political commentary deemed to favor
a party or candidate.
But these agencies are often highly politicized and selective in enforcing
regulations. For instance, the regional electoral commissions are often
lenient on media coverage that favors incumbents and harsh on coverage
of their opponents. And the CEC often enforces the rules more stringently
on independent media than it does on state-run media.
Thus, CPJ believes that granting excessive and arbitrary authority to
federal and regional officials to shutter media outlets during election
campaigns will not solve the problem and will adversely affect Russia’s
already poor press freedom record by denying voters a variety of information
and opinions about candidates. For this reason, we call on you to delay
passing the bill and to work more closely with press freedom and media
training organizations based in Russia to formulate more realistic and
effective amendments.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We await your reply.
Sincerely,
Ann Cooper
Executive Director
