Ministers in the media

June 20 -- July 20, 2007

“Politicians Through the Eyes of the Media,” a joint project of Vremya Novostei and the Medialogia company, are ratings of the political figures most actively discussed in the Russian media.

“Politicians through the Eyes of the Media” are published weekly on Mondays: over the course of a month, you can sequentially familiarize yourself with the ratings of governors of the Russian Federation, deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, ministers of the Russian Federation and heads of foreign states. The ratings are also published on the publication's website - www.vremya.ru.

The ratings reflect both the total number of publications per month and the level of information favored by the media in relation to each political figure. The Information Favorability Index (IFI) is calculated based on the nature of references to a person (positive, negative, neutral), the significance of the message and the influence of the media.

Ratings of “Medialogy” “Politics through the eyes of the media” are calculated by an automatic online system based on materials from 3,000 of the largest Russian media, including TV, radio, press, news agencies and online publications.

Mentions Change in ranking position Number of messages

1	0	FRADKOV Mikhail Efimovich	3040
2	+2	MEDVEDEV Dmitry Anatolyevich	2920
3	-1	IVANOV Sergey Borisovich	2826
4	-1	GREF German Oskarovich	2807
5	+1	LAVROV Sergey Viktorovich	2355
6	+1	GORDEEV Alexey Vasilievich	1482
7	+1	ZHUKOV Alexander Dmitrievich	1397
8	-3	KUDRIN Alexey Leonidovich	1266
9	+1	LEVITIN Igor Evgenievich	948
10	-1	ZURABOV Mikhail Yurievich	895
11	+3	FURSENKO Andrey Alexandrovich	869
12	+4	NARYSHKIN Sergey Evgenievich	812
13	-1	TRUTNEV Yuri Petrovich	702
14	-3	KHRISTENKO Viktor Borisovich	616
15	-2	NURGALIEV Rashid Gumarovich	527
16	+2	SHOIGU Sergei Kuzhugetovich	521
17	-2	SERDIUKOV Anatoly Eduardovich	511
18	-1	REIMAN Leonid Dododzhonovich	390
19	0	YAKOVLEV Vladimir Anatolevich	312
20	0	SOKOLOV Alexander Sergeevich	264
21	0	USTINOV Vladimir Vasilievich	132

Information favored Change of position in the ranking Information favored index

1	+3	MEDVEDEV Dmitry Anatolyevich	2727.46
2	+1	LAVROV Sergey Viktorovich	2507.71
3	-2	IVANOV Sergey Borisovich	2418.45
4	-2	FRADKOV Mikhail Efimovich	1879.16
5	+1	GREF German Oskarovich	1791.55
6	+2	ZHUKOV Alexander Dmitrievich	1060.26
7	0	GORDEEV Alexey Vasilievich	940.99
8	-3	KUDRIN Alexey Leonidovich	836.65
9	+3	NARYSHKIN Sergey Evgenievich	779.03
10	0	TRUTNEV Yuri Petrovich	566.91
11	+6	LEVITIN Igor Evgenievich	539.42
12	+4	FURSENKO Andrey Alexandrovich	482.15
13	-4	KHRISTENKO Viktor Borisovich	475.66
14	-3	NURGALIEV Rashid Gumarovich	340.91
15	-2	SERDIUKOV Anatoly Eduardovich	289.17
16	-1	SHOIGU Sergei Kuzhugetovich	274.47
17	-3	REIMAN Leonid Dododzhonovich	224.04
18	+4	ZURABOV Mikhail Yurievich	201.02
19	-1	SOKOLOV Alexander Sergeevich	99.92
20	-1	YAKOVLEV Vladimir Anatolevich	82.43
21	-2	USTINOV Vladimir Vasilievich	-9.41

This time, Dmitry Medvedev managed to rise by three positions and take first place in the ranking according to the Favored Information Index (IFI). Such an excellent result among his colleagues was primarily due to the fulfillment of the direct duties of the First Deputy Prime Minister assigned to him by the head of state. Namely: Dmitry Medvedev continues to actively supervise the most important national projects (health care, affordable housing), without forgetting about secondary ones, such as gasification of the country. The publication of the results of special studies on issues of succession of power in Russia after 2008 brought considerable additional media points to the first deputy chairman. Comments from the obtained data by political scientists boil down to one thing: in July, D. Medvedev became the undisputed leader of Russian television and print media in this matter. It is hoped that the created positive media image will help the latter maintain its leading position over the coming months.

Sergei Lavrov’s significant success can be called second place in the IB ranking, which he occupied for the second month in a row. S. Lavrov managed to maintain his place in the top three ministers most favorably covered in the media thanks to the position of the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with the issue of the extradition of A. Lugovoi, accused of the murder of A. Litvinenko, to Great Britain and the subsequent crisis in relations between the two countries. The Russian Foreign Minister made it clear to his foreign colleagues that Russia, despite differences, does not refuse cooperation with London, including in the fight against terrorism. And Lavrov’s participation in the next meeting of the quartet on the Middle East settlement, negotiations with US Secretary of State Condo Rice on Russia’s readiness to discuss controversial issues on the CFE Treaty only cemented the minister’s image as a cautious and correct politician.

The curator of the innovative economy , Sergei Ivanov, is slightly behind his colleagues in the top three and takes third place in the IIB. The growth of information indicators of the first deputy chairman in the current period is due to discussion in the media of the notorious topic of a successor. Thus, the published results of a population survey conducted by Renaissance Capital indicate that S. Ivanov is slightly more popular among the population of the Russian Federation (30% versus 28 for Medvedev).

Strange as it may be to note, but with all the problems with DLO and pension reform unresolved, the head of the Ministry of Health and Social Development, Mikhail Zurabov, ended the current period (for the first time in seven months!) in the black. The secret of this balance of power lies in his intensified activity on the way to correcting the situation. Thus, the main positive result of the month for M. Zurabov was a meeting with President V. Putin, during which the minister outlined the improved demographic situation in the country and promised that “there will be no failures with medicines in the second half of the year.”

At the end of July, the head of the Ministry of Justice, Vladimir Ustinov, had a negative IBI indicator. The minister's media image, albeit indirectly, was negatively affected by the re-establishment of district transport prosecutor's offices by Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika (Mr. Ustinov's long-standing reform to eliminate them was considered harmful). Also, another fall in the minister’s information security was caused by a statement from the public organization “Nord-Ost” sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office demanding that criminal cases be opened against officials responsible for the deaths of hostages during the special operation on Dubrovka. Among them is the current head of the Ministry of Justice V. Ustinov.