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Press should be objective if it wants people to believe it — Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he did not see any prohibitive trends in the Russian media

Russian President Vladimir Putin Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Russian President Vladimir Putin

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

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MOSCOW, December 5 /TASS/. The press should be objective if it wants people to believe it, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Russian human rights ombudsmen on Friday.

The president added that he did not see any prohibitive trends in the Russian media and called on Russian media outlets not to fulfill the authorities’ orders.

“Of course, I have heard about some prohibitive trends in our media. But I personally do not see any real prohibitive trends. According to western experts, western media is creating some parallel reality when covering the events in Ukraine,” Putin said, adding that western media outlets were just fulfilling a political order received from their respective governments.

“Perhaps, we have something like this in separate areas. Is it good or bad? If you ask me, it’s bad,” Putin told the ombudsmen.

If the press wants people to believe it, then it should give an objective and extensive coverage of events. “Naturally, everybody has to comment (on events) but in that case, authors should make it clear that it’s their personal point of view,” Putin concluded.

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