Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged on Wednesday the maintenance of a permanent unbiased dialogue between European and Asian media outlets.
Medvedev attended on Wednesday a European and Asian media forum organized by RIA Novosti.
"Hearing each other better, understanding each other better and absorbing the information being created in our countries better, without any blinkers or ideological bias is a very good goal," the president said.
He pledged that Russia would switch to digital broadcasting by 2015.
"Huge funds - federal and commercial - have been set aside for that," Medvedev said. He also said it would be good to synchronize the process with the CIS.
In a state-of-the-nation address to Russia's parliament in November, Medvedev called for widespread access to broadband Internet and a nationwide transition to digital television and 4G cellular communications within the next five years.
The first package of Russian digital broadcasters so far includes eight TV channels and three radio stations, and the Mass Communications Ministry said late last month that work to activate a second package of digital channels would be completed within the next two weeks.
Medvedev described blogs as a good form of communication between officials and the population.
On journalism, Medvedev said freedom of speech was a 'sensitive issue' that required journalistic responsibility and competence.
"A journalist's major duty is to tell the truth - how you do it depends on you," the president told participants in the forum.
MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti)
