Dagestani Press Ministry refutes data about control over journalists' activities in social networks

The Ministry has explained today that the demand of its boss to provide information about the accounts of the employees of its subordinate mass media was issued with the aim to find active Internet users among journalists and authorize them to run official pages in social networks.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 20 the institutions subordinated to the Dagestani Ministry of the Press received the order of the Minister Burliyat Tokbolatova, demanding from the heads of republic's state-run mass media to provide information about the accounts of their employees on the Internet. According to the document, the collection of nicknames and addresses of employees' personal pages is undertaken in order to monitor the activities of the entities, subordinated to the Ministry, in social networks, the "Kommersant" has reported.

The interpretation of Ms Tokbolatova's order as a restriction of the freedom of the media and interference with journalists' private life is wrong, a source from the press service of the Ministry told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to his version, the letter was sent "in order to identify the employees most actively represented in social networks in order to authorise them to run the pages of official publications in social networks."

He stressed that no responsibility is envisioned for someone's failure to provide information about the employees, who refused to provide information about accounts.

"This information is required to improve the efficiency of media presence in social networks, rather than to control the staff," he said.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.