Close Shave for Russian Press Freedom
Dmitry Medvedev has dropped a proposed libel law that would have shut down publications accused of libel without a court order, reports the liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy.
Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Russian Union of Journalists, welcomed the move, and said that he was sure that Medvedev, a lawyer by training, would have been professionally disgusted by the draft legislation.
Phew!
Here is a Reuters article about it in English, according to which “the move could awaken hopes of greater media freedom under Medvedev”.
All good news. However, seeing that the original bill was submitted by the Kremlin controlled United Russia party, and that there is this great charm offensive underway to make Medvedev seem really liberal, could the whole thing have been an elaborate good cop bad cop routine?
