MOSCOW, March 27 (Itar-Tass) – The 7th Congress of the Union of Moscow Journalists /SZhM/ on Wednesday will sum up the results of SZhM work and discuss the place and role of public organizations at the present time. The Congress is held once in four years. The Union of Moscow Journalists, set up at the Founding Congress on July 28, 1990, brings together more than 15,000 people. Taking part in the 7th Congress will be some 200 delegates.
"The delegates will hear the presidium's report on the work done and the mass media situation. The rappporteur is editor-in-chief of the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets Pavel Gusev, the Union's First Secretary Lyudmila Sherbina told Itar-Tass.
Taking part in the discussion will be director general of Public Television Anatoly Lysenko, editor-in-chief of the Moskovskaya Pravda Shod Muladzhanov, editor-in-chief of the Argumenty i Fakty Nikolai Zyatkov, president of the Guild of Press Publishers Sergei Moiseyev and other persons," Sherbina said.
The Congress then will elect its leadership by voting on the candidates to the presidium and the auditing commission.
"The presidium members support re-election of Pavel Gusev to the post of chairman. But everything will depend on the delegates," she added.
Last week, the State Duma adopted a statement on inadmissibility of abuse of freedom of expression by the mass media. The document was voted for by the United Russia and Liberal Democratic Party factions. It addressed the spat between head of the parliament committee for labor and social policy Andrei Isayev and editor-in-chief of the Moskovsky Komsomolets Pavel Gusev.
The article titled "Political Prostitution Changes Gender" was carried by the newspaper and sparked uproar. It targeted three United Russia female lawmakers Irina Yarovaya, Olga Batalina and Yekaterina Lakhova.
The statement said the article "overstepped all thinkable boundaries of cynicism, partiality and ordinary boorishness."
"Despite the general indignation and numerous demands by public organizations, the editor-in-chief and the founder refuses to apologize and even do not realize how base their action is," the authors of the document said.
Lawmakers demanded an apology from Gusev, saying he no longer could be head of the Union of Moscow Journalist and a Public Chamber member.
Liberal Democratic Party /LDPR/ leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky called for revoking the State Duma accreditation from the MK journalist, restructuring the newspaper and taking it away from Gusev.
Pavel Gusev said he had nothing to apologize for to the public because he had not insulted anybody.
"I'm not going to apologize to anybody; because I have not insulted anyone. It's Andrei Isayev who should apologize to journalists. I have nothing to apologize for," Gusev told Tass.
He had complained about Isayev's threats against journalists to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee. Isayev had said in his blog that the editor-in-chief and the author /of the article/ would "answer harshly."