TV 'making idiots of Russian people'

The Russian cabinet vented anger at television today, with the defence minister saying that it was making idiots of the people.

Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov opened the cabinet session, which focused on government policy in the culture sphere, by voicing concern about the “negative information flooding” nationwide television channels.

“We must analyse the reason for it. Is it a provocation or undervaluation of our present and, more importantly, our future?” Fradkov said.

Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov intervened, saying that the poor quality of television programming had affected the population.

“We must see what’s being done to stop making our nation imbecilic,” he said, describing most of the programs as ”vulgar”.