President Dmitry Medvedev proposed setting up public television in Russia whose policy would be governed by the public rather than by the state or the channel owners, the president said on Thursday.
Medvedev’s proposal came shortly after street protests erupted in Moscow against alleged fraud during the December 4 parliamentary polls and their coverage in the state-owned media. Federal television channels did not include news on the protests in their programs. Most of Russia’s central television channels are currently owned and controlled by the state.
“None of the owners of this new media must dominate decisions, neither the state, nor the private owner,” Medvedev said in his annual address to the newly elected parliament.
He said the new television would employ all the latest information technologies and make the Russian media market more competitive and interesting.
However, Anna Kachkayeva, head of television and broadcasting in Moscow State University's journalism department, said the president’s project might not be so easy to implement.
“The stumbling block would be the people who become members of the public supervisory council that lies between the money and the editorial policy,” the expert said.
