Chairman of Russian parliament's Upper House speaks about independence of mass media

The mass media, financially independent of the state and of commercial structures, are "an ideal which they must strive to become." Speaker of the Federation Council (Upper House) Sergei Mironov told reporters about it on Thursday.

"This is an absolutely correct approach to the freedom of speech," said the Speaker. At the same time he underscored that so far "it does not often happen to achieve this ideal." "Sometimes, it is necessary to take into consideration also the state mass media, including TV channels, so that the citizens of Russia could receive a diverse information," said Sergei Mironov.

On Thursday he took part in the session of the round-table conference, devoted to the mass media market in Russia, in the context of the Petersburg Economic Forum.

Sergei Mironov said that "nobody must interfere in the journalistic activity and infringe upon the freedom of speech." However, the state policy must be comprehended and thought out in the information sphere, he is convinced.

The Speaker of the Russian Federation came out for the development of the regional aspect of the information policy. According to him, in the regions people so far know little about the activity of the federal bodies of power and, in particular, about the Federation Council.