The Kremlin has banned pro-government media from writing about bans. Loyal journalists are trying to get around this as best they can (which is very difficult) — and write that "United Russia" is supposedly fighting against bans, Meduza reports .
Photo: Sefa Karacan / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
"'United Russia' is not a party of bans," said Vladimir Yakushev, head of the general council of "United Russia," on May 19.
He urged deputies not to descend into "prohibitory madness" and added that in most cases, people "will figure out for themselves what and how to restrict."
Yakushev added that the party leadership decided to change public rhetoric — so that "wild" initiatives not agreed upon with United Russia would not appear in the media.
About a month ago, in late April, Vladimir Putin himself spoke in the same vein about bans. At a meeting of the Council of Legislators, the president urged deputies and senators "not to obsess over bans," as it is "counterproductive."
Although Putin was referring only to restrictions in the business sector, the Kremlin apparently agrees that focusing on bans, especially in the public sphere, is undesirable — especially ahead of the September State Duma elections and against the backdrop of falling ratings for Putin and the "party in power."
The political bloc of the presidential administration strongly asked state and pro-government media to use the word "ban" as rarely as possible in their articles. These demands began to arrive from the Presidential Administration a few days ago. Two employees of pro-Kremlin publications and a state media worker told Meduza about this.
According to them, the Kremlin specifically asked not to put the word "ban" in headlines and generally advised "to write less on these topics — bans, restrictions, and fines."
"There's an exception," one journalist says with a smile. "[You can write] if a ban is lifted." (But in recent years, not a single ban has been lifted in Russia.)
What phrasing to use instead of the word "ban" was not specified by the presidential administration.
The latest ban introduced by the authorities is on filming drone attacks and their consequences. It is already in effect in several regions, for example, in the Leningrad, Tyumen, and Irkutsk regions, as well as in Moscow, which was subjected to an unprecedented Ukrainian drone attack on the night of May 17.
Employees of pro-Kremlin media have already begun to follow the Kremlin's recommendations.
- In "Gazeta" and "Lenta," the ban on filming drones in Moscow was called "restrictions."
- In the publication MSK1, the news that a similar ban is planned for the Moscow region was titled: "Fines for violating anti-terrorist security measures to be increased in the Moscow region."
- In "Gazeta," they came up with this headline: "Moscow to restrict the dissemination of data on terrorist attacks."
"It turns out that there are supposedly no bans: just an increase in fines," an employee of a pro-government media outlet ironically remarks.
"The ban on bans" not only causes difficulties with phrasing, notes a journalist from a large holding company working with regional authorities. In his opinion, readers won't open a news story with an abstract headline that doesn't make it clear what the text is about — and as a result, won't get important information.
"The administration [of the region] introduces a ban, it needs to inform people about it. It's ready to pay [the editorial office] for this, but it turns out we can't inform them," he complains.
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