Vladimir Putin calls for regulating advertising revenues

The mass media advertising revenues "should be systematised in clear and sensible law regulations," said President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday when meeting in the Kremlin the delegates of the All-Russian conference "Mass Media Industry: Direction of Reforms." "Advertising revenues are the most important source of mass media prosperity," the president said, "and access to this market should be maximally transparent and free from administrative obstacles." This is a topic for cooperation between legislators, anti-trust bodies, the press ministry and professional organizations of media associations, he believes.

"Many years have passed," Putin said, yet the advertising market "is still monopolized and little diversified." The participation of the regional mass media in the sector "is evidently not proportionate to their position and audience, as well as to the role of the local mass media in the country's life," the president stressed.

"The current situation makes the local mass media utterly dependent on local and federal subsidies or on corporate interests that are not directly connected with mass media affairs," he said.