Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the YABLOKO party, is against the introduction of political censorship in the media and stamps as "distorted" the data of a recent public opinion poll on introducing censorship.

Mr. Yavlinsky believes that the results of the poll of a sample of the public in Russian cities, under which 57% of respondents spoke in favour of the introduction of censorship in the media, do not reflect the real situation, due to the poor wording of the question of the poll.

According to Grigory Yavlinsky, when Russian citizens answer affirmatively to questions regarding the necessity of media censorship, "they mean that [the media] should tell them less about violence, pornography, scandals and abominations, should broadcast fewer lies and distort reality less."

"This is what most citizens mean, since the freedom of mass media in Russia has resulted in a flow of this kind of filth, 80% of which has absolutely nothing to do, from the political point of view, with freedom of the press or freedom of speech," said the YABLOKO leader on the Ekho Moskvi programme on Thursday, May 30, 2002.

It is this kind of censorship that Russian citizens have in mind, and therefore the results of the poll had an "element of distortion". "We should ask a question about political censorship, we should ask whether they [citizens] would like to learn from the mass media what is going on in the government, what decisions are being taken regarding the army, corruption," continued Yavlinsky.

In this case the results of the poll would be very different, said the YABLOKO leader.

Based on Interfax reports.

See also:
Freedom of Speech and Media Law in Russia

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