President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday that journalists must follow their mission by reporting the truth, but the limits of free speech are hard to determine.
Medvedev’s remarks to an international journalists’ forum reflected ambivalence about the news media in Russia, where all national television stations are state-run or under heavy state influence and where independent journalists have been killed and intimidated.
“It’s a complex philosophical theme — where are the limits, what is taboo, what shouldn’t occur in a civilized society, taking into account how we understand our civilization,” Medvedev said.
“The main responsibility of a journalist is to speak the truth. But how he does it, that’s your decision,” he said.
Medvedev indicated some liberal leanings at the forum by taking a mild swipe at a journalist from Uzbekistan, where news media are either official or heavily censored.
The journalist noted that free speech sometimes means allowing use of “an irregular lexicon.”
Medvedev responded, “First of all, I hope everything is fine with freedom of speech in Uzbekistan.”
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