That which we call a ‘foreign agent’: an ode to journalism by Russia
Moscow — Russian legislators have drafted legislation that could require reporters working for selected media to be branded "foreign agents", a senior deputy said on Tuesday. Late in 2017, Russia adopted a law allowing the government to classify foreign media organisations as "foreign agents". The new legislation would go a step further, extending the definition to individual journalists working for such media. The measure is set to be given a second reading in the Russian parliament’s lower house next week. Journalists fear it will complicate their work and could herald a new crackdown on critical voices after Russian President Vladimir Putin won re-election for a fourth term in March. "Individuals would have to publish reports about their financing and how they’ve spent this money," said one of the bill’s authors, Pyotr Tolstoy, deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament. He said a new law was needed as a retaliatory measure if the rights of Russian journalists were violated ...
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