Russian journalists are used to being kicked when they’re down.
But new proposed legislation could go much further by basically branding the country’s already curbed, cowed and embattled reporters accessories to terrorists.
According to the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers,
The proposal, which was presented to the country’s lower parliament, the State Duma, on 24 April, would give the Federal Security Service powers of censorship over articles deemed to “aid extremists” or “appear undesirable”, and calls for fines and imprisonment for journalists and editors who do not
comply. Documentation blaming “certain media outlets” for the rise of extremist activities in Russia has accompanied the legislation on its route into parliament.
You can’t fault the proposed law’s timing: Monday was World Press Freedom Day.
Sounds like a great opportunity for journalists to hold off worrying about all those pictures of Stalin popping up on Moscow buses and concentrate instead on praising the spectacular work of our armed forces in beating those Somali pirates!