Genre crisis

The International Congress of Journalists calculates the losses from the crisis

Mass layoffs, which also affected the media, forced Russian journalists to talk not only about the financial crisis as a whole, but also about serious problems in their own professional community. In particular, the fact that financial turmoil revealed not only the fragility of mass media institutions, but also “a global crisis of confidence in all public institutions without exception, including the press,” is stated in the appeal to the world community of the International Congress of Journalists, held with the support of Coral Travel company in Turkey. According to the chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia, Vsevolod Bogdanov, 140 journalistic communities around the world will be invited to support the final resolution of the congress, already approved by the International Federation of Journalists and representatives of UNESCO. The week-long forum ends today.

In the Russian professional community of media representatives, according to Mr. Bogdanov, in particular, they are concerned that the modern media market makes journalists “defenseless before the owners of the media and the authorities, who use the difficulties that have arisen to part with unwanted journalists and journalistic teams.” In the conditions of the existence of the “uncensored” Internet, according to him, on the one hand, relations between society and representatives of the media are simplified, and not only electronic publications, but also “informal journalism” become a serious competitor to traditional media. On the other hand, political strategists and not very conscientious journalists contribute to the distortion of compatriots’ ideas about the profession as a whole and undermine reader confidence.

The president of the International Federation of Journalists, Jim Bumella, said that the crisis in journalism began long before the financial problems of the publishing business in both the United States and Europe. According to Mr. Bumella, the massive layoffs of journalists in the West are the result not only of a drop in media income from advertising, but also a consequence of the concentration of news publications in the hands of a small group of owners and their focus solely on commercial results. According to him, at least 16 thousand journalists lost their jobs in 2008, including those working in such large publications as the Independent, Financial Times, and the British broadcasting corporation BBC. This year, according to forecasts by the International Federation of Journalists, the downsizing trend in the press will continue.

Representatives of the journalistic community call on their colleagues to show solidarity and “professional perseverance.” Interest in each other's work, an uncompromising assessment of the work of those who compromise the journalistic community, in their opinion, will be able to lead the profession out of crisis.

According to Olga Noskova, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Media of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, in the conditions of the financial crisis, “the more flexible and adaptable, but by no means the most free and professional” journalistic teams will survive. The deputy also means the media financed from the state budget. Moreover, right now, according to her, the issue of the effectiveness of budget expenditures on the media will become acute. “It’s time to return to the issue of creating public television and radio broadcasting,” said Ms. Noskova and promised to resume the development of the relevant bill. However, Deputy Noskova is also waiting for reciprocal steps from the Union of Journalists, aimed, among other things, at developing and supporting laws regulating the Internet space. Now, according to her, it is journalists who are providing “active resistance” to any attempts by legislators to control the electronic information space.

Yulia KHOMCHENKO