BBC: Forbes loses defamation case in Russia

Forbes magazine’s editor in Russia has lost a defamation case filed by Russia’s richest women, who was upset that an article in the business magazine last year implied that her husband, the mayor of Moscow, helped her company, according to a BBC report.

Forbes will have to pay $4,000.

Stephen Eke of the BBC wrote, “The amount is symbolic, considering the actors involved, but the case raises new questions about the freedom of Russia’s media to report the lives of the rich and famous.

“Following December’s stand-off, which resulted in Forbes’ publishers ordering the front cover to be changed, Maksim Kashulinsky repeatedly accused the company Inteko of censoring the media.

“However, Forbes’ publishers took the view that their Russian operation had, in their words, ‘violated journalistic ethics’.

“A quote from an interview with Ms Baturina saying ‘I am guaranteed protection, like all other investors’, was cut, so that it read, ‘I am guaranteed protection’.

Read more here. Background on the case can be found here.