Media Regulation in Russia - A Landscape Analysis of Laws and Trends

September 13 2016

This new report is a study of laws regulating online and print media in Russia. The legal framework governing Russian media has undergone substantial development in recent years – developments which have a significant impact on the way that journalists and media players in Russia are able to operate.

This report was developed as a resource to support the Perspektivy programme (a collaboration between Thomson Reuters Foundation, Fritt Ord Foundation and Robert Bosch Stiftung) that aims to strengthen professional standards and ethics in journalism and to promote collaboration between journalists in Russia and Russian speaking countries. It is also available as a resource for all journalists to better understand the legal framework in which they operate.

The research was conducted and the report written by DLA Piper Rus Limited on pro bono basis and facilitated by TrustLaw, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global legal pro bono programme. The report is based on a review of the evolution media legislation in Russia over the past five years and includes an overview of key trends, recent legislative developments and their implications for journalists, bloggers and media players.

Download the report here:
Media Regulation in Russia – A Landscape Analysis of Laws and Trends (pdf)

News

See all

Eirin Larsen and Hadia Tajik join the Fritt Ord Board

August 5 2025

Eirin Larsen (36) and Hadia Tajik (42) bring valuable experience from journalism, technology, politics and jurisprudence to the Fritt Ord Board.

Making the film «Farouk» – on the geologist that secured Norway its oil

July 1 2025

Geologist Farouk Al-Kasim joined the the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate in 1968, shaping Norwegian petroleum resource management for decades afterwards. Now, documentary film director Halkawt Mustafa and producer Janne Hjeltnes are making a film about Al-Kasim’s life and reflections.
“Farouk tells me something in this film that he has not talked about before, because he has always told the version he feels Norway wanted to hear,” recounts Mustafa, who has Iraqi roots himself.

Read the interview with the director and see the list of grants awarded by Fritt Ord in June 2025.

Bård Vegar Solhjell new chair of the Fritt Ord Board

July 1 2025

Bård Vegar Solhjell (53) has taken over as the new chair of the Fritt Ord Foundation Board.

Cultural newspaper TBATBA.no and new journalism grants – June 2025

June 19 2025

– Cultural journalism is under pressure. Part of the problem is media outlets failing to cover culture in formats and ways that appeal to people under 30, says Ida Madsen Hestman, editor, freelance critic, and founder of TBATBA.no. Last year, she started the kind of publication she herself would want to read.

The magazine TBA is among those awarded funding in June 2025. See the full list of grants in Norsk Journalistikk.