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Politicization and Self-Censorship in the Russian Media

Media Squeezed by Market Realities

Many journalists, at any rate, believed that they would regain their independence once the threat of a new Communist regime faded. They underestimated, however, the growing power of Russian financial groups that had begun acquiring media assets before the presidential election. Most Bank founder Vladimir Gusinskii, beginning in 1993, was the first to build a media empire, which now includes the newspaper "Segodnya," the television network NTV, the radio station Ekho Moskvy, and the news magazine "Itogi." He was soon copied by LogoVAZ head Boris Berezovskii and others. Yeltsin's victory encouraged business interests to expand their media holdings (See Appendix 1: Russian Media Empires).

Russian journalists did not expect or seek to become dependent on these bankers and industrialists. The 1991 law on the mass media contains no mention of media ownership or the rights and obligations of media owners. However, the Russian economy cannot support the vast majority of the country's media outlets. Surviving on advertising is not a realistic option, except for a few extremely popular publications; Russia does not have enough small and medium-sized businesses to provide a steady stream of advertising revenue.

The print media have felt the squeeze most acutely. Once freed from state control, many Russian newspapers formed self-managing editorial collectives. But since the fall of Communism, production and distribution costs have risen sharply. At the same time, the public's ability to afford newspapers has declined because of economic hardship. In addition, the increased variety of television and radio entertainment eroded the appeal of newspapers. Some publications were reluctant to seek financial aid or sell shares to businesses. A prime example was Nezavisimaya gazeta, whose editor Vitalii Tretyakov long refused to take any state subsidies or money from sponsors in order to protect his paper's independence. The newspaper shortened from an eight-page to a four-page format, but still lost money. Only after it was forced to suspend publication in May 1995 did Tretyakov relent. "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reappeared four months later, thanks to a substantial investment from Boris Berezovskii's LogoVAZ group.(16) Subsequent events confirmed Tretyakov's fears about the consequences of having a "sponsor."

Some Russian newspapers are formally still owned and managed by editorial collectives, but few have managed to avoid accepting any help from financial or industrial groups. For instance, "Kommersant-Daily" has received credits from Stolichnyi Bank (later renamed SBS-Agro), although the bank owns no shares in that newspaper.(17) Even the weekly "Obshchaya gazeta," which gained a reputation for relative independence during the 1996 presidential campaign, eventually succumbed to financial constraints. This summer, the paper revamped its format after taking investments from Vladimir Gusinskii's Media-Most company, among others.(18)

Self-managing journalists' collectives are not even an option for most electronic media outlets: operating costs are simply too high, potential advertising revenues too limited. NTV could not have been created without the financial backing of Gusinskii's Most group. The network's satellite television project, launched in 1996, required capital investment from the gas monopoly Gazprom.(19) The radio station Ekho Moskvy was managed by its journalists from 1990 until 1994, but it too was forced to find a sponsor and chose Most.(20)

Even nominally state-controlled media in Russia have sought help from business interests, as state funding falls below budgeted levels or is insufficient to cover operating costs. Boris Berezovskii became the most influential figure at Russian Public Television (51 percent state-owned), although he formally owns a relatively small stake in the network.(21) He retained vast influence even after resigning from the network's board of directors in late 1996, when he was appointed deputy secretary of the Security Council. Berezovskii's word carries enormous weight in part because he has been paying the salaries of many of the network's top executives.(22)

Earlier this year, Mikhail Lesin, one of the founders of the Video International advertising agency, was appointed first deputy chairman of the fully state-owned Russian Television network. (Video International produced Yeltsin's television commercials for the 1996 campaign.) Lesin soon gained considerable influence over the network's programming policy. He was reportedly behind the decision to cancel the politically sensitive program "Moment Istiny" (Moment of Truth) in September 1997, just three months after he joined the network's management.(23)

The Russian media--at least media outlets engaged in hard news reporting--do not have good prospects for becoming financially self-sufficient anytime soon. On the contrary, if the government's proposed tax code goes into effect next year, media outlets will lose tax breaks they were granted in late 1995, making their survival without sponsors even less likely.(24) Furthermore, there is no sign of an economic boom that could foster a spurt of new businesses, which could in turn provide media outlets with steady advertising revenues.

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special reports 1997

A paper by Laura Belin, a specialist on Russian affairs at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. It was presented at the national conference of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Slavic Studies, Seattle, Washington, November 1997. The author can be contacted via email at laurabelin@mailexcite.com:

	Introduction
	Owners Attracted by Power of Media
	Media Squeezed by Market Realities
	How Financial Dependence Slants News Coverage
	The Impact of Media Coverage
	Prospects for Development
	Regional Media Even Less Free
	Conclusion
	Endnotes
	Appendix 1: Russian Media Empires
	Appendix 2: Changes in Editorial Policy and Ownership at 'Izvestiya'