After some back and forth, Duma deputies will present a bill that, if passed, would bar foreign-born journalists who criticize Russia or its government bodies from holding positions in Russian media, especially television stations, that have government participation or support.
The draft bill was prompted by comments made by famous Russian journalist and commentator Vladimir Pozner on the ban on Americans adopting Russian children. He called the Federal Duma “Gosudarstvennoy duroy” (“Federal Dummy”). He later apologized. In response, four Duma deputies representing all of the parties in the Duma sent Pozner a letter in which they criticized his words, saying they “offended the Russian parliament” and “discredit the government” and came together to sponsor this bill. Pozner holds Russian, French, and American citizenships.
Mikhail Starshinov, the head of the group of deputies who sponsored the bill, pledged to have it written by 18 January. He stated that the main goal of the bill is to “forbid those with foreign citizenships to work in government mass media and use it to conduct systematic defamation of Russia and its government bodies.”
If passed the law would potentially have great reach in Russian because the Russian state is the major player in the country’s media sphere. According to Freedom House, the Russian government owns all six national television networks, two national radio networks, two of the 14 national newspapers, more than 60 percent of the roughly 45,000 registered local newspapers and periodicals, and two national news agencies. Many other media sources are owned by companies with close ties to the government.
Shares of TV audience as of December 2012. Stations in blue are government-owned, stations in purple are owned by government-friendly companies, the station in red is politically independent, stations in yellow are privately owned and largely entertainment-focused.
However, it seems the bill will not have much actual impact on anyone besides Pozner at this time. According to TV Rain, there are not many journalists on Russian federal channels who have multiple citizenships.
The Russian government, and ruling party United Russian in particular, appear to be highly concerned about foreign influence in the country. In July United Russia floated a bill to dub media sources that receive financing from abroad or work in partnership with foreign media “foreign agents.” The bill’s sponsor Yevgenyy Fedorov, justified the move, stating “many mass media sources obtain funds from abroad and act as the mouthpiece of foreign governments.” Fedorov stated that he was inspired to write the bill because “manipulation [of the Russian political sphere] takes place with the help of foreign money not only through NGOs, but possibly through the mass media as well.” The bill was not approved at the time, but in November, a softer bill was introduced that required media sources with more than 50% foreign financing to inform their readers that they are financed from abroad. This followed the passing of a controversial law that required NGOs that receive financing from abroad to register as foreign agents and undergo much more intense auditing.
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