Russia's Medvedev: 'boring' media not a problem

By Oleg Shchedrov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President-elect Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday it was natural Russia's media had become "a bit boring" as they matured, answering critics who accuse the Kremlin of turning the press into an obedient mouthpiece.

Medvedev takes over as president next month after an eight-year rule by his mentor Vladimir Putin that has seen the biggest media outlets come under the control of the state or Kremlin-friendly business groups.

Medvedev spoke about Russia's media in a question-and-answer session with journalists at the Argumenty i Fakty paper, which helped pioneer critical reporting during the Perestroika reforms of ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

"(The media) has become more technologically sophisticated and perhaps a bit boring because of that," he said. "It has become less sensational and tough than in the 1980s."

"Perhaps that is good," he added. "The media has become more respectable along with the rest of society."

"The audience and the forms of reporting have changed, but one thing should remain intact -- the need to write the truth and be responsible for stories you publish," Medvedev told journalists.

The debate over media freedom was revived this month when executives at a Moscow newspaper closed it down "for commercial reasons" after it printed a report about Putin's private life.

Kremlin supporters say Russia's media has never been more free. They also say in the 1990s, cited by many critics as the high point of media freedom in Russia, the press was controlled by business interests who used it to serve their own ends.