Penza, 31 January 2018. PenzaNews. The Left Front started a campaign against suppression of issues and current events by the mass media that work in the territory of the Penza region.

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A one-person protests held by Sergei Padalkin, press secretary of the regional department of the movement, near the gubernatorial house in Penza, where a meeting of heads of eight TV channels broadcasting in the Penza, Samara, Sverdlovsk and Ulyanovsk regions, in the Perm Krai, Mordovia, Udmurtia, and Chuvashia was conducted in the morning on January 3, was the first event held within the campaign.

The activist was holding the Left Front flag and a poster reading "Does Penza have mass media? Journalists distort facts! The television suppresses problems!

Some people driving along Sovetskaya street slowed down near the protester to read the text. Many of them expressed their approval.

Commenting on the motives that made him take part in a protest near the gubernatorial house, Sergei Padalkin expressed confidence that Penza mass media are very selective when it comes to events that should be covered.

As an example he mentioned the latest rally of construction investors, which had not been visited by representatives of any TV channels even though about 300 people had participated in it.

"When the opposition holds different events, protests, let's say near the Legislative Assembly or the Penza City Duma, journalists go to the session and pretend that nothing is happening," the press secretary of the regional Left Front department told PenzaNews.

He reminded that 5 years ago Penza media "with no worry covered campaigns held by the opposition" giving the floor to supporters of different points of view.

"Nowadays we are observing censorship or self-censorship. We think that there are almost no independent and objective mass media in the Penza region," Sergei Padalkin said.

Answering the question why some mass media are trying not to notice certain events he suggested that this is caused by financial dependence of the media.

"I think this is connected with the fact that many TV channels and some other mass media receive large subsidies, are bound by various contracts. For this reason they are afraid of a negative reaction from the authorities.

Sergei Padalkin said that by the end of the day notices about rallies against suppression of current events near three television companies Nash Dom, Express, and Penza would have been submitted to the Penza administration.

"An action near the Information Policy and Mass Media Department will be another step of the campaign because the department is in charge of work with journalists and can influence them," the interlocutor said.

He added that the new head of the office Oleg Sinenkov is hardly interested in changing the situation as he was definitely not appointed to give an order to cover opposition's activities.

However, according to Sergei Padalkin, Left Front representatives are still continuing to advocate the idea that "the journalist must be objective to begin with".