His Excellency Boris N. Yeltsin
President
Moscow
Russia
Vienna, 26 July 1994
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI) is most concerned about the adoption by the State Duma of Russia of a draft law which seeks to introduce new controls on state news broadcasts.
The draft law on “state media coverage of the activities of public authorities”, prepared by Russian government and parliament, seeks to curb broadcast rights by stipulating what kind of information should be broadcast by state-run television and radio companies. We are informed that articles 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 15 and 17, in particular, are aimed at turning state TV and radio into dutiful instruments of the authorities.
Article 6, for example, obliges state broadcasting companies to report within 24 hours any statements or declarations by the president, government and parliament, while article 7 stipulates that stations included in their news programmes information on any decision taken by the president, constitutional court, government or parliament, as well as declarations by federal ministers, press conferences by parliamentary committees, factions and deputies group, etc. At the same time, the draft law forbids and comment of analysis of this information. In addition article 9 provides that 10 to 30 per cent of news time should be reserved for information about the activities of the chambers of parliament.
Article 12 stipulates that broadcasting companies must provide in any other information programmes “comprehensive and objective” coverage of activities by state institutions, positions taken by factions and deputies’ groups and members of parliament.
To ensure that these obligations are upheld, article 15 of the draft law seeks to establish a federal commission on TV and radio broadcasting as a watchdog group. In this connection, article 17 ensures that persons who violates the stipulations are charges under civil or criminal law.
IPI, representing, editors and leading journalists from newspapers, magazines, broadcasting organisations and news agencies in over 80 countries, believes that the adoption of such a law would have the effect of limiting pluralism and the independence of the Russian broadcast media. We regard this initiative to be a serious setback to freedom of expression in Russia and a return to censorship.
We understand that the draft law, which has been adopted in the second reading by the Duma, must now be presented to the Upper Chamber before it goes to the President of the Russian Federation for signing. The Institute strongly urges your Excellency not to sign this law and to ensure the complete and immediate extension of the freedom of the press to include freedom of broadcasting.
Such legal provisions would seriously hamper the transition from state-controlled broadcasting to an editorially-independent public broadcasting system. Broadcasters must be guarantee the right to exercise their profession without political interference. The principle of editorial independence in public broadcasting should therefore be enshrined in the national constitution and in broadcasting statutes.
We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Johann P. Fritz
Director
