The political bloc of the Russian presidential administration has “insistently asked” state and loyal media outlets to use the word “ban” as little as possible in their articles, the Russian independent publication Meduza has quoted two employees of pro-Kremlin publications and an employee of a state media outlet as saying.
Separately, they said, media outlets were asked not to put the word “ban” in headlines and generally advised to “write less” about bans, restrictions and fines.
“There is an exception,” the publication quoted one journalist as saying. – [Writing can be done] when the ban is cancelled.” As Meduza noted, no ban has been cancelled in Russia in recent years.
At the same time, the Russian presidential administration did not specify what wording can be used to replace “ban”. For example, the last ban imposed by the Russian authorities on filming drone attacks and their consequences, the publication noted, was called “restrictions” in some media, while others wrote about responsibility for “violation of anti-terrorist security measures.”
Instead of multiplying news about bans, the journalists found, employees of pro-Kremlin media outlets were advised to “highlight positive and therapeutic initiatives of the united Russia party,” such as how deputies and officials are “fighting” the bans. In particular, the media were asked to reveal that Sergei Boyarsky, chairman of the State Duma’s Committee on Information Policy, did not support in parliament a ban on social media for children under the age of 14 proposed by a member of the Public Chamber.
The Kremlin has not yet commented on the Meduza publication.
Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Russian MPs and senators “not to dwell” only on prohibition laws, saying that “developing new penalties for violators is certainly necessary, but it is counterproductive to dwell only on that.”
Until the end of April, Putin’s ratings in polls conducted by the state-run social service VTsIOM had fallen for seven consecutive weeks, which commentators attributed to possible dissatisfaction with Internet blockades and growing economic problems.