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Russian Television News: Owners and the PublicOwners jockey for political advantage. The public spots bias.International JournalismBy Ellen MickiewiczIt’s election time in Russia again.This is when the Russian televisionindustry experiences the greatestpressure and when the fragile but enormouslyimportant institution of informationpluralism is most at risk.That there is a genuine—thoughimperfect—pluralism on the nationaltelevision networks is a profoundlyimportant accomplishment of a badlyflawed transition. There are no realguarantees of press pluralism in today’sRussia, no watchdogs with teeth. Thereis only a wobbly market (much weakenedby the August 1998 crash) thatsupports commercial stations competingwith and challenging governmentallymanaged news. When the stateand the private owners collude—asthey did in support of Boris Yeltsin’s1996 presidential campaign—the competitiveinformation market is powerfullyundercut.Television and PluralismFirst, a roadmap of the Russian televisionlandscape. Four Moscow-basednational networks, in order of popularity,dominate the market:• ORT (Russian Public Television,Channel 1), heir to the largest Soviet-erastation, is currently a public/private hybrid (51 percent of itsshares belong to the government)whose most prominent private investor(and real decision-maker) isBoris Berezovsky. Berezovsky, oneof Russia’s richest new tycoons, parlayeda car dealership into hugewealth. A close friend of the Yeltsinfamily, he has served as secretary ofthe President’s defense council andas coordinator of the organizationlinking former Soviet states.• NTV, the biggest commercial station,reaches about 70 percent ofthe country and is owned by VladimirGusinsky, who rose from amateurtheater impresario in Soviet times tofounder of MOST bank, the chiefsource of capital for his media investments.Specializing in news, thestation routinely sweeps news andpublic affairs awards. Its subsidiary,THT (TNT in Russia) is acquiringprivate stations in the provinces fora locally based network.• RTR (Russian State Television, Channel2), a state-owned and operatedstation, has almost total penetrationbut falling ratings and continualshifts of leadership.• TV-6, the country’s first commercialstation, now has roughly 60 percentpenetration and is building a newscapacity. Berezovsky’s recent purchaseof a controlling interest giveshim a commercial property that thegovernment and Duma cannot soeasily claim.Across Russia, some 1,200 stationshave acquired licenses to operate, andabout half of these are on the air at themoment. Even so, the national networksabsorb 83 to 85 percent of theprime-time audience. Especially duringthe frequent crises (e.g. the war inChechnya, the August ’98 crash) thereis near-total dependence on the nationalnetworks.Virtually every Russian householdhas at least one television set. However,despite attracting huge audiences,the television industry has not escapedthe devastating effects of the nation’s1998 economic crash. Since then, advertisingrevenues have fallen by 70percent, and even the most competitivestations have been pushed intonegative growth. Foreign programsbecame prohibitively expensive; staffswere downsized or not paid; advertisingtime was deeply discounted, andprofits went up in smoke.Though Direct Broadcast Satelliteand cable are in the Russian market,over-the-air Moscow-based nationalnetworks are still what attract the lion’sshare of the viewing public. It is for thisreason that control of television hasbecome a hotly contested prize. ThePresident and parliament battle overwho calls the shots at Channels Oneand Two. So far, the content “monitoringcouncils” installed by Channels Oneand Two to propitiate the Communistnationalistparliamentary majority havebeen desultory, ineffectual time-wasters,prompting new calls from the Dumafor higher-level councils.In the run-up to elections, the Russiangovernment has restored the pressministry, which controls licensing. Thepress ministry also moved to assertcontrol by trying to bring the 100-plusregional state-owned stations backunder a tight regime, a step many regardas thoroughly unrealistic sincemany of these stations are now controlledby regional politicians who dependmore on their local constituenciesthan on Moscow. Besides, thesestations, like others, must compete forviewers with local commercial stationsand the national networks. Thus, evenif local state-owned stations were inclinedto follow orders from Moscowabout what their news programs shouldsay, they can no longer count on acaptive public.On the commercial side, concentrationof ownership poses the biggestthreat. Cross-ownership of media propertiesis practically unregulated; broadcastlicenses—for the powerful—haveNieman Reports / Fall 1999 27