Medvedev criticizes media bill

Jun 3, 2008, 11:16 GMT

   Moscow - Russia's new president Dmitry Medvedev has rejected a bill that would allow courts to shut media for publishing libelous statements, Russian newspapers reported Tuesday.

In a letter to Russia's lower house on Monday, Medvedev said the bill threatened media freedom and should be scrapped.

   Enactment of the legislation could 'create obstacles to the normal functioning of mass media,' Medvedev was quoted as saying in the letter.

   Observers were puzzled whether Medvedev's statement could be read as his intention to take a more liberal line than his strong-armed mentor and predecessor Vladimir Putin, who is accused of a rollback of civil freedoms during his eight-year tenure.

   The most contentious inclusion in the bill, which was approved 399-1 in its first reading, is a three-strikes-your-out policy that allows the courts to close media outlets for publishing slanderous or extremist statements.

   Oleg Panfilov, the head of the Centre for Journalists in Extreme Situations, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa at the time that the bill could serve as a tool of the authorities to threaten wayward media.

   The controversial amendment was added by the bill's author United Russia deputy Robert Shegel, a former spokesman for the pro-Putin youth group Nashi, after tabloid Moskovsky Korrespondent ran an article linking Putin to 25-year-old Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva.

   The tabloid caused a stir with its announcement of Putin's divorce in a media climate where the personal life of ex-KGB officer Putin never makes print and his wife and daughters are closely guarded from the public eye.

   While Moskovsky Korrespondent's article appeared on the Friday, other media did not carry the rumours until the following Wednesday and even then cited foreign publications who had picked up the story.

   The tabloid was shut down shortly after Putin dismissed its story as 'rubbish.' Publishers cited financial reasons for its closure, but critics charge the incident was an example of the Kremlin's heavy handedness in dealing with the media.

   With Putin at the helm most major television networks and high circulation journals came under the Kremlin's control. 

   But significantly Medvedev's letter came after the ruling United Russia party, had changed its position on the bill, perhaps denoting his will to make his position known on the issue, business daily Kommersant said Tuesday.

   'Medvedev has considered it necessary to declare his position on the question in spite of the fact that United Russia had already taken the decision to reject the legislation and draft a new version of the law,' wrote the newspaper.

   Medvedev's letter follows an inauguration speech that promised more personal freedoms and a stronger, more independent rule of law, which has fostered hope among rights campaigners that the former corporate lawyer hails a thaw in Kremlin policy.

   But other observers are skeptical that the political transition will bring change, pointing to the influence Putin has maintained as prime minster and the long personal relationship between the two leaders.