#11 - JRL 2007-8 - JRL Home
Putin Urges Journalist To Work Out Principles Of Conduct

MOSCOW. Jan 11 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin believes journalists should work out certain principles of conduct, which would prevent mass media from being discredited.

"Certain rules of conduct should be worked out inside the journalist community, which would not discredit journalists and exclude commercial activity. As soon as journalists engage in commercial activity, they see their task not in bringing information on one or another problem but in pursuing their commercial interests, making journalism lose its prestige," Putin said during a session of the Presidential Council for Assistance to Civil Society Institutes and Human Rights, which took place in the Kremlin on Thursday.

"This does not mean we shouldn't do everything to protect those who do their job conscientiously," he said.

The council's chairwoman Ella Pamfilova expressed concern over the situation with the mass media in Russia.

"Things are getting harder for honest, decent and independent journalists," she said, adding that reporters were coming both under administrative and economic pressure.

"The serious press is being ousted by tabloids," Pamfilova said.

She complained that many state structures did not provide information to journalists.

"Society suffers from a lack of objective information," Pamfilova said.

At the same time, she rejects criticism of democracy in Russia.

"I cannot agree with that. But it's hard for democratic institutes to develop without the freedom of the press," Pamfilova said.