| “Since 2001 all the bright journalists have been
either shut up or sacked. The recent example is the case with Leonid Parfyonov.”
YABLOKO party leader Grigory Yavlinsky
made this statement during a live broadcast on Ekho Moskvi radio station.
“NTV was ruined, than TV-6, and TVS, they did it all the time and
to everyone,” stressed Yavlinsky.
According to Yavlinsky, every public politician should be ready for
criticism in the mass media. “Another thing is that every public
person should have the opportunity to protect his honour and reputation
in an independent court”, noted Yavlinsky. “Then everyone
engaged in libel would think whether it would be better to get the money
promised for publishing such libel or pay a penalty that would five times
exceed the remuneration for spreading libel.”
Yavlinsky is certain that the authorities should be criticised, “but
there should be no insulting.” “And in general one should
not insult any one, either the authorities, the public or people in jail,”
noted Yavlinsky. According to Yavlinsky, criticism is a very subjective
thing, and it is impossible to legislatively determine which joke or caricature
of the authorities or a definite person is insulting and which is not.
“And there is also a thing called satire which all the leaders have
always had great problems with. In Russia, for example, the leaders of
the previous regimes were always sensitive to funny stories about them,
stressed Yavlinsky. – Therefore the issue of admissibility of criticism
of the authorities is directly linked with the culture of this society,
the time and historical moment society is undergoing.”
See also:
Freedom
of Speech and Media Law in Russia
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