7
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Russian Media: Struggling Against
New Controls
Russian media were perceived as at least partly independent until the middle
of 2014, when President Vladimir Putin initiated a crackdown on all critical
outlets. In May, after citing the Internet as “a special CIA project,” he signed
a new law requiring many online sites to register with the government. In
September Russia’s parliament endorsed a law to tighten control over Russian media, including the leading business daily and the Russian edition of
Forbes, by limiting foreign ownership to 20 percent. The vote was 434 to 1.1
The media in the country have had many different voices even if the state
attempts to dominate them, especially television, where most Russians get
their news. Numerous political forces have their media outlets and various populations generate information, produce and receive analysis, and,
perhaps most important to the mass audience, get the entertainment they
want. The media are also the place where the various forces of Russian society interact or confront each other and supply the instrument for extending their influence. To some extent the state controls the traditional media,
but the new media have been taking over the audience and evading state
controls.
More Than History
To paraphrase the famous Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, who said
that a poet in Russia is more than a poet, the media in Russia have historically always been bigger than simply “the media.” The Western, especially
The World News Prism: Digital, Social and Interactive, Ninth Edition.
William A. Hachten and James F. Scotton.
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Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
American, journalistic tradition emphasizes facts and commerce. The US
press, for instance, was created for two purposes: to provide commercial information (the first American newspapers printed trade tariffs for
maritime shipping) and to be sold – so news had to be in demand, and
this demand had to generate money. The first Russian private newspapers and journals were created for cultural and educational purposes. In
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, outstanding cultural figures, such
as Russian poet and playwright Nikolai Novikov; Aleksander Sumarokov,
considered “the father of Russian theatre”; writer Denis Fonvizin; famous
fable writer Ivan Krylov; and even Russia’s most famous poet Aleksander
Pushkin, started journals. Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of Russia’s most famous
novelists, co-edited a journal with his brother. Lenin’s newspaper Iskra
played a key role in preparing the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, in line with
his perception of the press as “the collective propagandist and agitator.” Also
noteworthy is the phenomenon of “thick journals” that emerged at the dawn
of journalism in Russia and survived throughout the three socio-political
systems that Russia has gone through in the last hundred years. These journals, combining fiction with political essays, served as a platform for sociopolitical discussions and a kind of a proto-parliament, formulating social
ideas and shaping the public environment.
When I studied journalism at a Soviet university in the 1970s, we were
not taught to strictly delineate between genres, to provide dispassionate
reporting, or, when reporting a conflict, to seek opinions on various sides
of the story. Though there were several layers of “scientific” and literary
editing, proofing, and copyediting, we were well aware that the facts could
still be either not reported at all, or interfered with for political and ideological reasons. Yet in my academic group we were all obsessed with politics, with doing good, making ourselves valuable, making the country and
the world better places. The press in those days enjoyed a huge readership and had a real-life impact. If something was published, there was
a reaction. In the summer before the sophomore year, I interned with a
local newspaper Slava Sevastopolya in the Crimea, now Ukraine. People
brought us letters with their complaints, sacks of them, on a daily basis,
expecting in this way to make their situation public and to solve their
problems. Years later, after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased controls
on the media, Russian journalists were able to practice this freer journalism. When I co-taught a 1993–94 seminar with Professor James Scotton
at Marquette University, however, the class concluded that journalists in
the post-Soviet era were finally free to live up to their early hopes but also
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
101
doubted that in an impoverished Russia this freedom could continue for
long.
Granted, the national newspaper Pravda was required reading for 20
million members of the Communist Party. Yet other newspapers and
magazines had multi-million circulations as well, due to the high level
of education in the country and the lack of other information sources.
However, even though most readers trusted every word published or
broadcast in the government-controlled media, there were plenty of people
who did not. Many journalists used hints and innuendos to try to get their
message through, and the educated audience was skilled at reading between
the lines, finding bits and pieces of information hidden deep inside the
texts, and deciphering the meaning.
In the perestroika (reform) and glasnost (openness) period initiated by
Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s, journalists became the heroes of the time.
Contrary to the common belief, Gorbachev’s glasnost was not yet freedom
of the press. He only opened the door a crack. It was the mass media that
rushed in and opened it completely. The press became freer by the day
thanks to journalists: first they criticized Stalin, then Lenin, then the state
structure, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and even the KGB,
the secret police. After that all the skeletons came out of the closet. Crowds
gathered at the newsstand in front of the Moscow News office on Pushkin
Square eager to read each new edition. People cut out and saved the best articles – the logic being that even if their liberties were taken away, they would
at least have reading matter. Historical documents uncovering true stories
of the past were seen as topical and timely. Television gathered dozens of
millions of viewers for the new live political shows.
Of all public professional groups in the early 1990s, journalists enjoyed
the greatest trust, more than the military, national politicians, or social
activists. Freeing itself from ideology and repressive control, journalism
pursued the truth and, as in Russian journalism in earlier times, their own
means of self-expression. Mass media may not always have been the most
professional, but periodicals competed with one another in the depth and
import of their content, elegance of language, grandiosity of phrasing, and
strength of headlines. The emotions and opinions of Russian journalism in
those days were much like contemporary blogging.
Journalism in the 1990s was in a way a continuation of traditions inherited from Russian literature. This journalism was more open and critical
than in Western countries, though it continued to function in harsh economic conditions that were more like those in Latin America and Asia,
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
where government control of the media was much stricter. The Russian free
press of the 1990s was passionate and denunciatory. One study said the Russian media of the period had “unprecedented freedom from censorship.”2
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly . . . and the Legislative
Copyright © 2015. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
The good
In the crossfire of criticisms from all sides, liberals and communists, inside
and outside the country, east and west, one simple fact is often not recognized: Russian media in the two decades since the disintegration of the
Soviet Union in 1991 are greatly changed. For one thing, Russian media have
moved away from being part of the literary culture toward a more commercial orientation. There are some 78,000 registered media outlets in Russia,
with 60,000 actually operating. In the early 2000s, fifteen new magazines
would launch every day. Leading journalists, TV and radio hosts became
some of the country’s best-known public figures. The sheer numbers and
better quality of TV sets (in the Soviet days some early Russian color TVs
exploded), computers, and mobile phones have created a completely different media situation. Yet it was not technological progress but political
change that was the major factor driving changes in the mass media. After
the downfall of communism, the new 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation stipulated that “The freedom of the mass media shall be guaranteed.
Censorship shall be prohibited.”3 The 1991 law “On Mass Media,” the first
in a post-communist state, remains the main piece of legislation governing
the production and dissemination of information in Russia, and outlaws any
restrictions on the media, “with the exception of those prescribed by the legislation of the Russian Federation on mass media.”4 Using a Chinese saying,
it is a garden where all flowers bloom – though the conditions for them are
far from equal and are getting harsher.
Back in the Soviet days, criticisms of the authorities were not possible and
only “certain problems” and “certain individuals” could safely be exposed.
Some economic information found its way to readers, but political information was totally censored. In the Soviet days, information about the world
behind the Iron Curtain was portioned and doctored, but now Russians
can compare their own country with other countries while freely traveling
abroad, navigating the Internet, or even watching government-sponsored
TV. The foreign press was not accessible to Soviet citizens before the
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
103
dramatic political changes in the 1990s. The New York Times or Washington Post could be bought only in luxury hotels that “simple citizens” were
not allowed to enter. Libraries kept these newspapers in special storage
spetskhran for restricted use only. Well into the 1980s, there were only two
TV channels, and even they transmitted only until 10 or 11 p.m., with a
long interruption (setka) during the day. Foreign radio transmissions were
jammed.
Nowadays, several national and dozens of local TV channels and numerous satellite “dishes” transmit an endless number of Western channels,
Euronews is broadcast on the national Kultura TV channel and is also
part of the basic cable package. The world’s major newspapers are sold in
many cities. Russia’s leading national business daily, Vedomosti, is published
together with the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal. Digital media are
opening new frontiers.
In the Soviet days, hurricanes and wildfires made their way into the news
only if they happened in other countries. Soviet reality would allow none of
them. Planes crashed and trains went off track only elsewhere, not in Russia.
Currently, newsworthy events happening in Russia and in the wider world
are fully covered by local media. Even in extreme cases, such as during the
2008 war in the Republic of Georgia, Russian media gave a more comprehensive report than Western sources. In Soviet times the most strictly controlled outlets were Western newspapers and magazines with caricatures of
government and Communist Party chiefs. Humor and sarcasm now abound
in the non-government media and there are no sacred cows or untouchable
topics any more, at least in the print media and, especially, in the blogosphere. Shenderovich’s “Soft Cheese” on the Echo radio station of Moscow
and the new TV project “Television on One’s Knee” may upset some authorities but they are hilariously funny. Comedian Dmitry Medvedev, dancing to
the “American Boy” music at the graduation party of St. Petersburg University’s legal department was a big hit on Russian TV and in the blogosphere,
while President Putin’s alleged adventures are a source of endless jokes in
print and electronic media.
Some Western methods found their way into Russian media through
expanded contacts, increased exposure, and also through various schools
and training sessions organized by Western organizations, especially in
the 1990s. Investigative journalism has become widespread. Young people go into the profession, and the best Russian universities offer advanced
multi-media training to journalism students. Russian journalists have been
awarded many international prizes for reporting.
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
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The not so good
The distribution of media around Russia is very uneven. Those living in
rural districts have much less access to quality broadcasting and newspapers. In most of Russia’s vast territory only the national TV channels (TV 1,
Rossia 1, NTV, and Kultura) and radio Echo of Moscow and Mayak are available. The picture of what is happening in the world is generally conveyed by
the national TV channels.
Media freedom generally expanded during the 1990s rule of Boris Yeltsin,
Russia’s first freely elected president. Since Putin succeeded Yeltsin in 1999,
direct and indirect control over the Russian media has steadily expanded.
In trying to control the mass media so that they could no longer expose and
denounce government errors and lies, Putin moved as early as 2000 to limit
their freedom, especially national television. Pressure on radio, newspapers,
and magazines soon followed. Government control over the media continues to grow. Not a single region in the country has a completely free mass
media, and those territories with relative freedom allow no criticism of the
local leadership.
Economic problems contribute to media instability and also push the
press into the hands of local authorities and businesses. For example, in
the Altai region, according to Yuri Purgin, president of a publishing house
that owns twelve newspapers and magazines, a radio station, and four websites, “80 percent of the regional press in one way or another belongs to the
state.”5 Leonid Nikitinsky, in his 2013 book Tomorrow’s Issue, argued that
in all of Russia’s regions there are contracts between local media and the
regional authorities for “informational services.” This brings income to the
media but at the same time blocks material critical of the authorities and
can virtually turn the media into the mouthpiece of the state. According to
Nikitinsky, younger journalists do not differentiate between public relations
and journalism.
The income of newspapers and journals in Russia is lower than in Western countries. The distribution chains disintegrated in the 1990s, subscriptions plummeted, and advertising – a relatively novel source of media
income in Russia – has not made up for the circulation losses. The state
plans to spend 172 billion rubles (about 5 billion US dollars) to support
mass media over the next three years, but this may not improve the economic situation for most media.
Because of economic problems, the number of serious – and expensive
– articles has been steadily declining. According to Nikitinsky, “before, the
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
105
news smelled of sweat and blood,” but now there is a lot of sensationalism,
sports, and society news. Journalists, avoiding conflict, turn into columnists,
and news reporting has moved toward news entertainment. Journalism and
journalists have lost much of the trust and authority they enjoyed in the
early 1990s. Putin’s changed policies since his 2012 return to the presidency
are reflected in the media as well, with a growing tendency toward antiWestern, and particularly anti-US, posturing. Although the new policies
have been criticized by the opposition media, the Russian people overall are
being told that the United States wants to dominate, that the West has an
inherent prejudice toward Russia, and even that current international conflicts are the result of deliberate schemes instigated by Western politicians.
Journalism education also does not seem to hold a solution for current
media problems.6 Deputy Minister of Mass Communications Alexey Volin
told journalism students and professors at Moscow State University in 2013
that journalists should serve their editors and be prepared to do what they
are told without aspiring to a higher mission.7
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The ugly
Direct government attempts to discredit the media have also been on the
rise. In the Duma, Russia’s parliament, Deputy Andrey Isayev, an ally of
President Putin, said, “The media is the most corrupt sphere in the life of
the country. Journalists, as of today, are unfortunately the most backward
class of our society.”8
There have been many cases of persecution of journalists, beatings, and
arrests. Photographer Denis Sinyakov was jailed for two months after he
was arrested along with the Greenpeace activists who boarded a Russian
oil rig in the Arctic Ocean in 2013. Igor Domnikov, correspondent of the
Novaya Gazeta, was beaten in 2000 after publishing articles criticizing
Lipetskaya Province authorities; he died two months later. In 2008 reporter
Mikhail Beketov, who had exposed wrongdoings in the Moscow satellite
city of Khimki, was brutally beaten and crippled, as was Oleg Kashin, a
journalist and blogger who had published articles on road construction,
youth movements, extremists, and opposition demonstrations. After a
series of critical articles, Sergey Sokolov, investigative reporter with the
newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was kidnapped and threatened with death.
Russia is fourth in the world in the number of murdered journalists,
according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Correspondent Anna
Politkovskaya and six other Novaya Gazeta reporters were murdered
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Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
while performing their professional duties. Many cases remain unsolved,
including the murder of ORT TV’s news anchor, Vladislav Listyev.
Journalists and editors risk their jobs by displeasing local authorities, particularly around election time. And there are, of course, many other ways the
authorities can block journalists. Natalia Morar, the Moldavian correspondent of the liberal magazine The New Times, was denied entry into Russia
after she wrote some critical articles. Manana Aslamazyan, who headed an
organization that trained regional television journalists, was forced to leave
the country. Newspapers and magazines have also been swamped with court
cases for publishing supposedly libelous articles. Aksana Panova, a successful journalist who created the Ural region’s leading news service Ura.ru, was
prosecuted on four charges of alleged tax evasion and financial manipulation. Panova initiated an innovative campaign to force municipal authorities to repair the roads. She painted the face of the responsible bureaucrat
around each pothole.
The authorities have their own public relations staffs writing thousands of
posts praising current leaders and criticizing the opposition, liberal leaders,
and America.9 Fake issues of opposition publications have even turned up,
filled with material expected to alienate their allies. Opposition and independent websites, such as Grani.ru and the website of the radio station Echo
of Moscow, have been targeted by numerous computer attacks.10
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The legislative
Efforts to control the mass media have included repressive legislation and
direct government takeovers. In 2012, 79 staffers at Lenta.ru issued a statement of angry protest, reading, “Over the past couple of years, the space
of free journalism in Russia has dramatically decreased. Some publications
are directly controlled by the Kremlin, others through curators, and others
by editors who fear losing their jobs. Some media outlets have been closed
and others will be closed in the coming months. The problem is not that we
have nowhere to run. The problem is that you have nothing more to read.”
Ilya Krasilshchik, an employee of one of Lenta.ru’s sister companies, wrote:
“Advice for beginning journalists: pick a new profession.”11 The fear of libel
prosecutions under new laws also limits criticism of government officials.
Irek Murtazin, editor in chief of the newspaper Kazanskie Vesti, received a
prison term for an allegedly libelous article in the social media source Live
Journal. Putin again made libel a criminal offense soon after he returned to
the presidency in 2012.
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
107
The most frequently blocked websites have been those of electronic
libraries, blog platforms, and personal blogs, as well as sports portals and
even poker games.12 In November 2013 Internet provider Rostele.com
blocked some of the resources of Russia’s leading social network VKontakte
by order of a Moscow court.
Confronted with criticisms, state officials promised to amend the law and
called on Internet companies to consider self-regulatory measures. At the
meeting of the Council on Human Rights in September 2013, Putin said that
he recognized that “intellectual rights should be provided for and one must
not overdo [it] in order not to kill the Internet.” Still, the trend toward more
regulation of the media is increasing. The Federal Security Bureau wants to
require Internet providers to record all communication and allow the FSB
direct access to this material. This is in clear violation of the Russian Constitution, which guarantees the right to privacy in postal correspondence,
telephone discussions, and other communications.
In 2013 the Russian Ministry of Communication proposed to centralize all telephone and electronic communication. Leading Russian Internet
companies and providers have publicly opposed the proposal.
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All Those Media: Broadcast, Print, and Digital TV
Under Siege
Although 2013 registered the first decline in TV viewers, the vast majority
of Russians still get their news from the television. Of those polled by the
Levada Center, 88 percent said that they preferred TV, a drop from 94 percent in 2009. In a country where the four national channels (TV1, Russia 1,
NTV, and Kultura) are available to the overwhelming majority of the population, it is not surprising that the authorities use television as the main
instrument to influence the people’s minds and win their hearts.13 Within
ten years of Putin succeeding Yeltsin, the government had control over the
national television channels. Unlike the situation in the United States, in
most of Russia outside Moscow, St. Petersburg, and some other big cities,
only the national TV channels are freely and easily accessible. There are various TV satellite and cable packages available for a fee. Some 56 percent of
the TV audience receives cable transmission, while 35 percent get satellite
transmission, and 9 percent receive TV via the Internet.14 The government
is trying to spread cable, perhaps trying to distract the population from the
Internet toward media that are easier for the state to control.
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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108
Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
Broadcast television gets the bulk of advertising money in Russia. Cable
and satellite advertising, though growing, only receives around 2 percent
(3 billion rubles against 139 billion rubles) and its revenue is only growing
slowly. Advertisers use special TV channels only when they believe that they
can reach a precisely targeted audience.15 This vast disparity in commercial financing between the national channels and other TV stations results
in huge differences in production quality. For this and other reasons, the
five national channels lead in the size of their TV audience. The government’s Channel 1 remains the most popular, with 14 percent of the TV
audience, closely followed by the state-affiliated Russia 1 channel and privately owned NTV (both around 13 percent). The Kultura channel attracts a
smaller but generally better-educated audience. NTV, the first private television station and the flagship of independent journalism, was essentially
taken over by the government in a murky sale to a new owner. After the
changes, all the channel’s star reporters and news anchors left. Meanwhile,
the “new” NTV in 2012 and 2013 showed two documentary films under
the overall title “The Anatomy of Protest.” The films generally portrayed
protests as being led by unpatriotic groups with funding from Western and
anti-Russian sources. The NTV’s directorate for legal programs, which produced the films, is staffed mostly by former security services recruits. The
films were sharply criticized by the journalism community. The four dominant national channels are followed by a group composed of TNT, STS,
Channel 5, and RenTV, each with about 5 percent of the television audience.
Other channels with small audiences include TV Center, TV-3, Domashniy,
Perets (Pepper), military-patriotic-oriented Zvezda, Russia 2, U, Pyatnitsa
(Friday), Russia-24, Ru.TV, Euronews, and Muz-TV.16
The channel dedicated to news, Russia 24, created several years ago,
leads the list of most often quoted TV channels. Also on this list are the
liberally orientated channel Dozhd (Rain), government-affiliated Russia
Today which transmits both locally and abroad in many languages, the
three primary national channels, Channel 1, NTV, and Russia 1, followed by
EuroNews, Kultura, and TV Center. There have been recent efforts to overcome government controls and reach Russian TV audiences. A new lowbudget TV project, Televideniye na kolenke (“Television On One’s Knee,”
which in Russian implies self-made television) was started in 2013. The
project’s slogan is “Better make television on one’s knee, than have television
on its knees.” The first three programs, released on YouTube, were enthusiastically received in the blogosphere, but the project has yet to prove its
financial viability. Sergey Parfenov, a former megastar of the NTV channel
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Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
109
before the change in ownership, had a 2012 political program on the liberal
Dozhd TV channel financed by crowdfunding over the Internet.
LifeNews TV, launched in 2013 with substantial financing and the slogan
“To be the first on urgent news,” has said its goal is to become the number one information source in the country. Eighty percent of its news is
not scheduled since it tries to be first to cover breaking news events. Viewers using smartphones provide information to supplement the station’s own
reporting. By the end of 2013 up to 30 million Russians had access to LifeNews and it hoped to reach 50 percent of the country’s population by the
end of 2014 via various cable networks.
The state uses television to formulate its agenda, raise the popularity
of the country’s leaders, and influence the population. On governmentcontrolled channels such as Channel 1 there is heavy coverage of the trips
and meetings of the president and the premier. Government control over
the national channels is concentrated primarily on news and political programs, but combined with the dictates of the ratings system, also defines
the style and quality of other television broadcasts. Since the beginning of
President Putin’s third term in 2012 the tone of the political news programs
has become more anti-Western. Top opposition politicians and commentators or experts who are identified with the opposition are generally not
shown on government-controlled national TV. Still, the TV audience in
Russia does not fully trust what it sees. Although a recent poll found a slight
majority of 51 percent that still considered TV the “most trusted” information source, that was a sharp decline from the 79 percent who did in 2009.
Content on the main Russian TV channels is similar to that in the United
States, although the Kultura channel, with its predominance of educational
and cultural programs, is more like the BBC. One difference between US
and Russian TV content, however, is the much larger percentage of both
political news and entertainment news on the main US channels. On Russian television there are both significantly more soap operas and, at the same
time, more cultural programming, in particular programs dealing with history theater, literature, and classical music.17
There are many foreign programs on Russian TV. Films are split almost
equally between Russian and international productions along with new and
old blockbusters, action films, and world classics. Many of the programs
are franchised local variations of Western shows. Let Them Talk remains
the most popular show on Russian TV, with up to 30 percent of viewers
watching it, and its host Andrei Malakhov is cited in polls as the most trusted
TV anchor. Though high in the ratings, the program has been criticized
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
for its sensationalism. On one show a man and a woman had their DNA
tested to see if he was the father of her child. The results were reported live
on the program. The second most trusted TV figure is Vladimir Pozner,
formerly number one and a giant of Russian journalism. Pozner was explicit
in his liberal pro-Western views although he has become more cautious in
a period of growing authoritarianism. He made what he claims was a “slip
of the tongue” during his show when commenting on a new law prohibiting
American adoption of Russian children. He called the State Duma the “State
Dura” which in Russian means state fool: the Duma hurried to initiate a bill
prohibiting citizens of other countries from working on Russian TV. Pozner,
although he had lived in Russia for many years, was born in France, has a
French mother and American father, and holds US, French, and Russian
citizenship. His Russian citizenship was revoked by the government despite
his apology.
Standing apart in Russian TV programming is Wait for Me, which looks
for people who have either disappeared or lost each other. In Russia there
are still millions who were displaced, imprisoned, or who lost relatives and
friends during World War II and the Stalin era. Over the year, the program
has become a grand opera of people lost and people found. Helping families and friends reunite after years of separation, filming their stories and
broadcasting their reunions stirs human emotions and attracts a huge television audience. Russian-made series constitute the favorites of TV’s most
ardent watchers: housewives and pensioners. The program list is split into
two categories: (1) banal themes, awkward plots, lots of tears, and clichéd
dialogue that make the hardiest proponents of democratic freedoms want to
ban them; and (2) high-quality productions, with fine actors, unique scripts,
and amazing filming, such as the 2005 Bandit Petersburg film or the 2007
film Liquidation. There have also been several screenings of Russian classics
on Russia 1.
There are also many TV channels that through digital transmission are
becoming increasingly available throughout the entire country. The Public
Television Channel, started in 2013 with government funding, was meant
to sway “opposition” viewers, attract intellectuals, and offer educational,
socially oriented broadcasting, with an additional regional focus: “Utopian
television, created by Utopia,” as it was characterized by its own director.18
Public Television has so not far lived up to expectations and has run into
financial problems. As part of the Kremlin’s effort to build conservative
support and counter liberal opponents, in 2005 the Spas TV (Savior TV)
satellite channel was launched, featuring religious programs. Official figures
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
111
claim an audience of 10 million, but Spas TV has been criticized for uninteresting content and broadcasting old shows. Only 7 percent of Russians
are regular churchgoers.
Copyright © 2015. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Radio: “The Rest Is Just Appearance”?
Short-wave and medium-wave radio in the Soviet Union were reserved
for the military. Every apartment was equipped with a radio receiver
(the monthly fee was included in the rent) to be used for announcements in case of war. Many educated Russians turned to the Voice of
America, the BBC, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Liberty for information. Although the number of radio listeners has decreased dramatically
in recent years (41 percent of the population in 2009, 16 percent in 2013),
radio continues to be an essential part of the media landscape, especially in remote areas. In some areas of Kamchatka on the eastern edge
of Siberia the only accessible media outlet is a single local radio station.
The most popular radio stations combine small talk with local or Western pop music and discussions of all sorts. All stations, unlike in the
Soviet days, transmit mostly around the clock. The same “light music”
heard in the United States (“elevator music”) is broadcast on many Russian
stations.
The Echo of Moscow is a major source of independent news in Russia.
The radio station is owned the state gas monopoly Gazprom. The station
has become the most popular in Moscow and was number 13 nationwide in
2012, according to the Russian Public Opinion Research Center.19 In 1991
the station reported citizen resistance to the attempted coup by communist hardliners; Moscow television was showing the ballet Swan Lake over
and over again while ignoring the dramatic events on its doorstep. Echo
of Moscow correspondents were in Kiev in December 2013 to report on
clashes there over whether Ukraine would join the European Union or keep
its ties with Russia.
Although TV has been the main target of state control, radio has also
experienced government pressure in recent years. Regions and cities have
blocked unfavorable radio stations or specific broadcasts. When radio station Serebryanni Dozhd (Silver Rain) was broadcasting a live interview with
Aleksey Dymovski, a police officer who posted an Internet video criticizing abuse rampant in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the transmission was
blocked to cities in Moscow Province.
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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112
Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
In 2012 the US-funded Radio Free Europe switched to online service only
and dozens of journalists in its Moscow bureau lost their jobs. Since the
Soviet times Russians have listened to Radio Free Europe to hear independent opinions and unbiased news.20
Copyright © 2015. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Print Media Keep on Kicking
Compared with television, print media have retained a certain measure of
freedom, probably because their smaller audience reduces their significance
to the authorities. The number of people reading newspapers has gone down
to 20 percent of the population, from 37 percent in 2009. Magazines and
journals are read by only 4 percent, compared to 8 percent in 2009.
As opposed to Western countries, where printed newspapers are increasingly giving way to digital media, the Russian print media have just started
feeling competition from the Internet. The problem, however, lies in distribution. Distribution chains were destroyed with the disintegration of
the Soviet Union, and the state-owned postal service is so unreliable that
even in Moscow newspapers are often not delivered. Local authorities often
try to “cleanse” their cities of kiosks, stands, and pavilions, so the number of places selling newspapers in some cities has fallen dramatically,
though their number was already significantly lower per capita than in
most European countries. Also, the orientation of newspapers still alienates what could be a mass readership since they pay little attention to people’s everyday problems and the issues that interest them most. In Russia
there is also no tradition of adapting the use of language to a less educated
audience.
The tabloids Moscovsky Komsomolets and Kovsomolskaya Pravda, as well
as the newspaper Argumenty i Facty, have a nationwide circulation, and
big cities throughout the country have centrally published “serious” dailies.
Although the national tabloids have bigger circulations than regional newspapers, some local papers known for their independence are very influential. In some localities there are also free municipal newspapers.
Though, compared to the television, the printed press is less controlled by
the state, the government uses it for its purposes as well. Rossiyskaya Gazeta
is the source of much official information such as new laws. With 200,000
to 400,000 subscribers and many copies going to libraries and government
institutions, overall readership is estimated at 1.35 million daily. Unlike
the Soviet Union days, however, there is nothing like Pravda, the official
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
113
Communist Party newspaper that circulated millions of copies daily then,
but now sells only about 100,000 copies a day.
Although the number of objective, high-quality Russian newspapers has
declined, you can still get the picture of what is happening in the country
and follow domestic and international developments by reading the printed
press. The leading Russian socio-political newspaper Kommersant, the business newspaper Vedomosti, and Novaya Gazeta and many local newspapers continue to give an unbiased picture of what is happening. Novaya
Gazeta, an outspoken opponent of Putin, has published articles by Putin’s
chief opponent, business oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who has been in
prison on fraud charges since 2003.21 Although newspapers all over Russia
have cut print-runs, many are reaching new online audiences.
Magazines continue to have influence. The Russian version of Forbes has
investigated some murky business deals in the country and had a circulation
of 2.9 million in 2013. One of its editors, Paul Klesbenikov, a top investigative reporter, was murdered in 2004. Other influential magazines include
Russian Pioneer (236,000), Snob (99,000), Itogi (65,000), Expert (62,000),
GQ (61,000), The New York Times (53,000), Afisha (50,000), and Russian
Reporter (44,000). Snob, a literary magazine started in 2010 by New Jersey
Nets basketball team owner Mikhail Prokhorov, was the fastest-growing in
2013.22
But pressure on print media is increasing. Local newspapers have directives dropped on them from above about the publication of particular material, sometimes with special lists of “recommended” keywords for articles.
There have been reported instances of direct censorship.
Where All the Young People Have Gone: The Internet
The Internet and its social networks is the domain where remarkable
changes are taking place. Russian has become the second most frequently
used language over the Internet. Over half the population of Russia, around
70 million overall, use the Internet, and half of these from a personal or
household computer. Over half of Internet users and one-third of those
using social networks do so on a daily basis.23 Each Internet user spends
about one hour daily online. Though Internet saturation is still lower than
in western Europe, Russia is catching up fast.
The Internet has introduced an additional layer to society, separating its
users from those without access. Moreover, the Internet itself also remains
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
Incorporated, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ku/detail.action?docID=1977591.
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114
Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
divisive, with each category of users having the specific sites they visit
and their own social networks. So far people active in social networks are
no more likely than the general Russian population to support political
protests, according to research by Russia’s New Economic School.24 Also
noteworthy is that social networks are not much used by Russia’s rising
nationalist groups.
According to a 2013 poll,25 the number of Russians using the Internet
(21 percent) and social networks (14 percent) as a primary news source is
growing rapidly. Moreover, twice as many respondents perceived the Internet and social networks as the most trustworthy source of news (14 and
11 percent respectively). In Moscow,26 social networks have overtaken radio
as the most popular source of news. In Russia local social networks dominate, with one, Yandex, more widely used than Google.
Though TV still gets over half of all advertising, the Internet’s share
(15 percent) is rapidly growing and in 2013 surpassed that of print media.
Leading online publications include the digital versions of the country’s
main dailies Kommersant, Vedomosti, RBC Daily, and Moscow News, as
well the solely digital Gazeta.ru. Internet versions of the political journal
Expert, business and entertainment journal Slon.ru, and Forbes Russia
are popular. The online business resources also include the portal Prime
with real-time market quotations, financial indexes, and commercial
analysis, the business news portal BFM.ru, business and career publication
Delovoy Kvartal, and Ezhednevnik (Daily). The political digital resources
are represented by Newsru.com and Lenta.ru, carrying the latest news, and
InoSMI and InoPressa with translations of most important materials in
other languages, primarily English. In some regions online resources have
been capturing audience from the traditional media. The international
company Socialbakers is working to attract international advertisers and
to detect inflated subscription figures of the so-called bots.27
Some social networks focus on anti-corruption revelations and the political opposition’s activities. The famous site Rospil traces corruption and
wrongdoing by state officials during state purchases. Financed entirely by
public donations, Rospil publishes articles, investigative materials, and documents, and also collects complaints about corruption. Studies by the Center for New Media and Society show that Rospil’s revelations do indeed have
a significant influence on the share prices of exposed companies, showing
that investors do use blogs as an information source.28
Groups in social networks were a major resource for Alexey Navalny during his campaign for Moscow’s mayoral elections in 2013, where he ended
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
115
up second with 27 percent of the vote. Navalny also used Russia’s key search
engine Yandex to collect money by developing the Kredit Doveriya (The
Credit of Trust). An individual who contributed the legal limit of 1 million rubles could be compensated by contributors to an “Internet purse.” A
social network monitoring system was also set up to monitor this election
with SMS messages with results sent directly from voting stations. Within
an hour the voting figures were on the site of Novaya Gazeta newspaper
and on the Dozhd television station. Rosuznik is another famous noncommercial site which publishes information on people detained during
political protests. It organizes and finances experts, coordinates the work
of lawyers, and assists activists in detention. Existing solely on public donations, Rosuznik focuses on political prisoners. The Dissernet site investigates and publicizes cases of dissertation plagiarism, which is especially
common among state officials.
The government has invested a lot of time and energy in the Internet, but
for a long time lagged behind. Electronic Russia was launched in the early
2000s to extend the Internet to the entire country and digitalize government
communications and services. Professionals, and in particular young people, have been far ahead of the government in developing social networks
and their audiences. Since the start of Putin’s third presidential term in 2012,
the government’s Internet initiatives have largely been replaced by increasing attempts to control the Internet. The press reported that the Kremlin
strongly recommended that state officials not maintain their own blogs or
interact in social networks. Although later the president’s press secretary
Dmitry Peskov denied this, it did seem to indicate a growing preference
for control over maintaining open communication channels and opportunities for getting feedback and engaging with society. The latest international
Internet ranking rates Russia’s Internet as “partially free.”
Conclusion
Old-time Russian journalism which tended to feature cultural material may
be dead in an age of mass audiences, especially on the Internet and television. The regime, though far from that of Soviet totalitarianism, is growing increasingly more authoritarian and is trying to fit the media within
its system of vertical power and to use them for its own propaganda purposes. Despite the state’s repressive measures, however, media in the country
are burgeoning. As a profession, journalism, despite lingering post-Soviet
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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116
Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
handicaps, has long traditions of endurance and excellence and thrives on
the rising public activism and sense of social responsibility within Russian
society. Young journalists continue to search new frontiers, raising important themes and using innovative formats to overcome barriers. In a period
that Russians would call bezvremeniye, which literally means “between
times” and for which there is no English equivalent, it is hard to make predictions. However, some key conclusions on the more practical side would
be:
r A society cannot function normally without independent and objective
r
r
r
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r
r
r
mass media. Independent mass media, uncontrolled by the government
and perceived as a true fourth estate, are critical for the development of
Russia.
The press need not necessarily follow in the traditions of the West, but it
must be professional, reliably presenting the facts and granting opposing
sides an opportunity to express their opinions.
Media principles should be developed by journalists themselves based
on professional self-regulation and expert opinions.
A professional journalism community must also develop house rules
that place “political technologies,” falsehoods, manipulation, and “black
PR” outside the realm of acceptable practice.
It would be beneficial for the state to eliminate the value-added tax for
on the press and to subsidize paper, printing, and distribution for the
printed press, as well as rent and other costs for radio stations. Such measures would improve the media’s economic situation and help build their
editorial independence.
All those who use the Internet and other new means of communication
must resist government efforts to take it over through close regulation.
In line with the Russian tradition of journalism, it is essential to oppose
the de-intellectualization of the press.
Vaclav Havel, the author and former president of the Czech Republic, told
a group of journalists that to keep their freedom “It is important not to get
afraid. Be able to confront the opposing force if you are sure that the truth is
on your side. Be prepared for sacrifice. Not to lose pride, which has nothing
to do with arrogance and haughtiness. And to breed within yourself what I
call personal responsibility of everyone for the entire world.” These words
seem to be particularly relevant now.
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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117
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Notes
1. Neil MacFarqhuar, “Russia Quietly Tightens Reins on Web with ‘Bloggers Law,”’
The New York Times, May 6, 2014; Andrew Roth, Russia Moves to Extend Control
of Media, The New York Times, September 23, 2014.
2. Laura Beldin, “The Russian Media in the 1990s,” Journal of Communist Studies
and Transition Politics, 18(1), 1 (2002).
3. Article 29.5 ; http://archive.kremlin.ru/eng/articles/ConstEng2.shtml.
4. http://www.democracy.ru/english/library/laws/eng 1991-1/index.html.
5. Round table, “The Dystrophy of the ‘Organs of Truth’. ”
6. See, for example, S. G. Korkonosenko, The Basics of Journalism: A Textbook for
Universities (Moscow: Aspect Press, 2001), 85, 169, 176, 262, 266, 275.
7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vunrXEhqAuU.
8. Newsru.com site http://www.newsru.com/.
9. Alexandra Garmazhapova, “Gde zhivut troli” [Where Trolls Live], Novaya
Gazeta, September 9, 2013.
10. It is not only the opposition and independent websites, however, that become
the target of cyber-attacks. For instance, state-owned RIA Novosti reported
such assaults on its accounts throughout 2012 and 2013, the latest of them on
August 7, 2013, when hackers published fake information about Gorbachev’s
death first on German-language resource RIA Novosti Deutsch and then on
the Twitter accounts of RIA Novosti’s International Multimedia.
11. David Remnick, “Putin Moves Against the Press,” The New Yorker, March 12,
2014.
12. Andrei Soldatov, “What’s Russia blocking on the Web?,” Index, June 13, 2013;
Matthew Bodner, “Russians’ Internet Increasingly Subject to Control,” The
Moscow Times, September 19, 2014.
13. For a detailed account of the situation with Russian television, see “Pro et
Contra, Televideniye v poiskakh ideologii” [Television in Search of Ideology],
Carnegie Moscow Center, 4, 2006.
14. Mike Butcher, “Russian Online Video Market Booming, Becomes Biggest in
Europe,” IKS-Consulting, March 25, 2014.
15. Sofya Inkizhinova, “Taksist Ashot vyhodit na svyaz” [Taxi Driver Ashot Comes
Online], Expert, 44, November 4–10, 2013, 29.
16. TNS Russia.
17. Data are based on research by the Carnegie Moscow Center’s interns Attila
Juhasz and Sean Kesluk, August–November 2013.
18. Petr Skorobogaty, “Utopian Television, Created by Utopia,” Expert, November
25–December 1, 2013.
19. http://www.wciom.com/.
20. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Archives. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
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118
Russia: Struggling Against New Controls
Copyright © 2015. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
21. Free Media Online http://freemediaonline.org. The first of these lectures, “The
Modern Social Liberalism in Russia,” was published in Novaya Gazeta, 122, on
October 31, 2011; the second, “The Modern Social Liberalism and Economics,”
came out on April 16, 2012; and the third, “Between Empire and National State,”
on June 15, 2012.
22. Rebecca Mead, “Black Hole: Snob Magazine,” The New Yorker, November 28,
2010; http://snob.ru/ (retrieved February 22, 2015).
23. “The Source of Information for Muscovites, the Ninth Text Press Issue,” Levada
Center, July 17, 2013.
24. Sam Greene, “Twitter and Russian Protest: Mems, Networks and Mobilization,”
Center for New Media and Society, Moscow, May 22, 2012.
25. “Where Russians Get the News From,” Levada Center, July 8, 2013.
26. “The Source of Information for Muscovites, the Ninth Text Press Issue,” Levada
Center, July 17, 2013.
27. Yevgeny Krasnikov, “VKontakte is Awaiting Foreign Advertisers,” RBK daily,
October 7, 2013.
28. Reben Enikolopov, Maria Petrova, and Konstantin Sonin, “Do Political
Blogs Matter? Corruption in State-Controlled Companies, Blog Postings,
and DDoS Attacks,” Center for New Media and Society, September 2012;
federation.ens.fr/ydepot/semin/texte1213/MAR2013DOP.pdf.
Hachten, William A., and James F. Scotton. The World News Prism : Digital, Social and Interactive, John Wiley & Sons,
Incorporated, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ku/detail.action?docID=1977591.
Created from ku on 2020-03-26 23:02:40.
Rubric for Weekly Journal:
Section
Exemplary
Promising
Poor or needs work
Reading
(15 pts.)
Content
(10 pts.)
Identifies accurately what
the main idea of the
reading is and makes a
strong argument and
connection to broader
issues. (9-10 pts.)
Identifies the main idea, Fail to identify the main
but may not focus on it idea. (0-5 pts.)
and argument is not
strong. (6-8 pts.)
Writing
(5 pts.)
Writing is strong and Writing is generally
engaging. Contains a
good, though it may
strong opening (a thesis
lack specifics or strong
statement), and uses examples.
examples from the reading (2 to 3 pts.)
to back up its argument;
make no grammatical
mistake (4-5 pts.)
Writing is weak. Beating
around the bush. Entry
generally summarizes
the week's material
without tying in broader
ideas or connecting
ideas, or leaves out
important materials. (o
to i pts.)
Article (5
Content
(3 points)
pts.)
Makes clear connections
among the week's
materials and to the
research topic (3 pts.)
Makes some
connections although
unclear to student's
research topic. (2 pts.)
Identify the article but
make no connection. (0-1
pts.)
Writing
(2 points)
Clear and concise
sentences; make no
grammatical mistake;
provide links. (2 pts.)
Paragraph is not well
structured. Write
unnecessarily lengthy
sentences. (1 pt.)
Contain grammatical
mistakes. Sentences are
not well-structured.
Provide no link (o pts.)
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