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Elena Rykovtseva: �As Many �Ethnic� Statistics as Possible!�

September 10, 2007: Regarding the news about an examination of the bill forbidding the media from indicating the nationality of criminals and victims, journalist Elena Rykovtseva posted comments on Izbrannoe.ru under the title �What do you do if you don�t know who is guilty.�

The position of E. Rykovtseva is such: �There should be no limitations on mentioning the nationality of the criminals and victims of crimes. There should be exactly the opposite, as many �ethnic� statistics as possible! Even if �migrant� crime is actually extremely high, it is not necessary to hide the nationality of the criminal.� As noted by the journalist, however, �most likely, it seems that criminals are also interested in the matter� it is necessary for people not to focus all their attention on Avtandil and Paat who are highlighted as criminals through the reporting of �Komsomol truth�, but on Dato and Ninosha who live in the same neighborhood.�

However there is also another probability: the selective approach that the mass-media takes on the reporting of incidents. �But also then it is impossible to hide the ethnicity of criminals, and it is necessary to take statistics in hands, to use facts and to compare the "ethnic" percent of those who has made these crimes. And if it appears that the �migrant� percent is in reality much less than how it is presented by the press, then it is necessary to sound the alarm. It means that mass-media, being focused on such crimes, knowingly incite a society against migrants.�

She focuses on the idea that �authors of the bill want to hide the nationality of victims.� However, when revealing the nationality of victims is under a ban, one of the possible reasons for why these people also appeared as victims could actually be motivated by a judicial sentence�, she considers.

E.Rykovtseva's forecast is pessimistic. If this bill is accepted, it �will only waste time, replacing the word "Uzbek" with the phrase �a native of Uzbekistan.� In short, it will only contribute to the senseless Russian legislation �.



Source: Centre 'SOVA'

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