The Duma\'s Information Policy Committee on 23 September rejected a bill that would have barred broadcast media from reporting any information during hostage crises. The bill was proposed by Deputy Aleksandr Krutov (Motherland), and would have allowed broadcast media to report on such matters only after the crisis had passed. Committee Chairman Valerii Komissarov (Unified Russia) told the news agency that the bill \"contradicts the letter and spirit of the Russian Constitution and restricts the work of the mass media in many ways.\" The committee voted to hold a roundtable to discuss the work of the media during such crises. Twenty-eight of the 134 members of the Academy of Russian Television -- including popular television host Vladimir Pozner, National Association of Telebroadcasters President Eduard Sagalev, journalists Viktor Shederovich and Svetlana Sorokina, and former NTV General Director Yevgenii Kiselev – they have signed a statement declaring that \"Russian television today is not free\" and that objective information has been replaced by official propaganda, \"Rossiiskaya gazeta\" reported on 25 September. The statement laments the closure of analytical-informational programs such as NTV\'s \"Namedni\" and \"Svoboda Slova.\" (ITAR-TASS)