Internews report: “In Russia there are no large television companies independent of the state”

The non-profit organization "Interyus" prepared a report commissioned by the European Audiovisual Observatory, which analyzes the changes in the Russian television industry from 2002 to 2005. The article by Sergei Varshavchik "Chewing gum for the eyes", published in Nezavisimaya Gazeta on June 9, 2006, is devoted to this document. .

The authors of the report believe that the main change is the restoration of state control over the assets of federal television. It was also noted that the administrative reform has strengthened the presence of the state in the TV market. The state creates greenhouse conditions for its own media, for which both open and hidden forms of subsidies are used.

The authors of the report emphasize that after the closure in 2004-2005. several programs related to information and political journalism, the existing programs of "topical issues" are recorded, and their topics and guests are filtered out by editors and superiors. "There is an unspoken list of "allowed" topics and guests. Cases of "removing" stories from news broadcasts have become more frequent. Often state channels simply do not report unwanted information. Journalists themselves in informal conversations report that the mechanism of self-censorship is very strong, when even before approval, the journalist is sure that the topic should not be raised, and the guest should not be invited ," Internews experts say.

Instead of the results of investigative journalism, the air is "filled with materials obtained as a result of information leaks or planted by various private or state intelligence services. As a rule, the viewer tries to guess who the customer is, who submitted the documents and how much it cost. "

The authors of the report recognize the serious shortcomings of the media legislation in force in Russia, but note that "all the main changes in the legislation are primarily related to the need to take the media, mainly television, under tighter control . "

Sources

• Varshavchik S. Gum for eyes // Independent newspaper. 2006. June 9.