Duma to prohibit public broadcasting of victims of terrorism

State Duma of the Russian Federation intends to amend the “mass media” law, according to which TV companies will be forbidden to broadcast peoples’ bodies that had died as a result of a terrorist act, reports “Gazeta”.

Head of the Duma’s Committee of information politics Valery Komissarov introduced the idea. State Duma has examined the issue closely without delays Tuesday and forwarded it to political parties and committees for further consideration.

The new asset will be termed “Guidelines for reports about terrorist acts.” It will be mainly aimed against informational terrorism and negative psychological influence. Komissatov provides several examples of other countries who had at one point encountered the problem of terrorism. However, majority of those countries lacked specific guidelines regarding public broadcasting of peoples’ bodies.

For instance, according to chief editor of Moscow's Bureau of Russian Services Konstantin Eggert, journalists of the British company BBC abide by the rules of the Royal charter and rules of the corporation. They avoid broadcasting overly realistic scenes.”

“In case some scenes are of major significance, a reporter must warn his viewers that the report may be emotionally difficult to watch,” stated Eggert.

Representatives of several Russian broadcasting companies also state that the ethical code does not permit them to show scenes that may shock TV viewers. According to chairman of Psychoanalyses of the University of Psychology and Psychoanalysis Mikhail Romashkevich, arguments regarding the influence of graphic scenes on a human psyche have been under discussion for many years. People are still waiting for the final outcome. On the one hand, people should have a right to know the facts. On the other hand, a reporter should be careful not to offend anyone.  

Source: Lenta.Ru