HOW DO YOU SLAY A DRAGON?

If it’s the unavoidable that the media needs to be subsidised from the national budget, then we must ensure that this is transparent, and that neither individual officials nor their corporations benefit from these subsidies. Or, to put it more simply, that they couldn’t demand a lot of small services for every “vitamin fed (to the press)”. All that the state does in the field of information must be done in the interests of society and under society’s control, and not in the interests of the bureaucracy and controlled by the bureaucrats.

Budget funds that are dedicated to support the media must be above board, politically neutral, and allocated on a competitive basis with the participation of the public. Any secret funding of media projects by the state (such as the infamous “troll factories”) must be forbidden by law, and we have to put an end to the era of spending on “specialised journalism” coming out of government funds.

If we manage to stabilise the information market and create the conditions for the rise of a variety of free media sources that can exist either on their own resources (in other words, to be independent financially), or to have government support that’s transparent and controlled by society, then we can focus on the second side of the problem: ensuring political guarantees of the independence of the media. If we don’t, in addition to the state making a slave of the media, it’ll directly invade the information space, actively abusing its position and its resources, perhaps less financially than administratively.

If we think about it, we have a limited number of tools at our disposal to do battle against state propaganda without limiting freedom of speech in Russia. In reality, the state plays a dual role in the media market: as a regulator that sets the rules of the game, and as a player itself. What we want from the state as a regulator is obvious: ensuring a fair competitive environment and guaranteeing freedom of speech for everyone. But what do we want from the state as a player? This is a rather more difficult one to answer. As the founder of various elements of the media, the state automatically has a great opportunity to influence their policies. But the state is a particular type of owner. In theory, we are the owners, because the state is spending not its own money, but every citizen’s money. So what should happen?

Countries with a developed democratic system found the answer to this a long time ago. Information resources that have been created by the state or with the state’s help are entrusted to be managed by representatives of civil society. Trusts or social bodies are in charge of state television and other information sources affiliated to the state. These are directly made up of representatives of civil society. By law, the state cannot influence their membership, and in practice such a possibility is completely ruled out. The procedure for creating these bodies is carried out as transparently as possible, which ensures that their composition is independent of the authorities and respected by society. Any violations, conspiracy or pressure being applied is considered to be a criminal act. The activities of these institutions are regulated by special statutes (rules), which exclude the possibility of legally turning these resources into tools for manipulating public opinion in the interests of certain groups or individuals.

And the last point; last, that is, in order, but not in terms of its significance. Freedom of speech and openness were, and remain, the most important measurement of democracy: they are the cloth that binds society together. Protecting them from attack by any kind of watchdog, whoever that might be, is the most important task of the democratic movement. But freedom of speech can also be subtly used by those whose goal is the destruction of all freedom. It’s very tempting not to allow them this freedom.

The subtlety of freedom of speech lies in the fact that in this battle it’s easier than anywhere else to throw the baby out with the bathwater. It’s possible to organise such a fight against state propaganda or some other evil that people won’t consider it sufficient, and instead of appalling propaganda, you’ll see even more appalling counter-propaganda. However awful it may seem, we have to admit that any word has the right to be free. We have to be careful with any attempt to limit what can and what cannot be said, written, shown, or broadcast. If you want to ban any single word at all, it could soon turn out to your great surprise that you’ve forbidden the use of a whole dictionary.