| To Director General of the "First Channel" Konstantin
Ernest
and Chairman of VGTRK Oleg Dobrodeyev
on the need for live broadcasts
of the television debates
envisaged by electoral legislation
Respected heads of the state television companies,
The State Duma of the Russian Federation expresses its concern over the
decision adopted by the First Channel and VGTRK to abolish live broadcasts
of debates.
The pre-recording of debates deprives them of any sense, violates the
constitutional right of citizens to obtain information and contradicts the
letter of the law "On Guarantees of Franchise". The failure of
this law to mention a norm on the live broadcasting of debates is attributable
to the fact that nobody had even considered the possible pre-recording of
all the debates due to its absurdity.
Any editing of comments by candidates in the debates is particularly unacceptable.
Showing only pre-recordings of debates may lend grounds to suspicion of
falsifications. Even if the records are only slightly edited, such accusations
are inevitable.
The abolition of live broadcasting cannot be justified by concerns that
participants in debates may violate electoral legislation. Liability for
possible violations should be borne by the people who breach the law, rather
than the organisers of the debates. We would like to assure the heads and
journalists of state television channels that we will do all we can to protect
their interests.
The gap in electoral legislation allowing for the possible abolition of
live broadcasting of debates will certainly be eliminated. However, this
cannot be done within the period remaining before the elections. Consequently
the State Duma of the Russian Federation calls on you to review the decision
to broadcast only taped versions of pre-election debates envisaged by the
law and guarantee to all participants in the debates that their speeches
will be broadcast live.
See also:
Activities
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