Russian President Vladimir Putin has attended the second day of the international media forum to congratulate the journalist staff and the participants of the forum on the 75-year anniversary of the establishment of the Soviet Information Bureau, which later evolved into Rossiya Segodnya.
"Information should be objective and the freedom of speech should not be oppressed or limited," Putin said.
He also said that crackdowns on journalists for spreding information are unacceptable, while authorities should support media freedom.
On Monday, the forum's first session focused on the rise of alternative media in an increasingly multipolar world and the changing role of mainstream media as it loses information monopoly, as well as issues of violence against reporters and government and business manipulation of media. Sputnik news agency and radio signed cooperation agreements with two leading Middle Eastern media outlets, while Al Mayadeen TV Chairman Ghassan Ben Jeddou called for Russian and Arab media to deepen cooperation to counteract Western media monopoly.
