Though a bit removed from the main focus of Rebuilding Media, my completion of a project that required reviewing the media landscape in Russia the past three months coincided with last weekend’s G-8 summit there. Having spent more than five weeks on the ground, meeting with Russian publishers, attending conferences and seeing the media up close (with the aid of Marina, my tireless interpreter) has been most eye opening.
First, the big picture. Reports we hear in the Western media about the increasing amount of government control over the media are not exaggerated, though not always in context. Government ownership of Rossia, NTV TV, Center, and Channel One, the last the most watched network, is anathema to our First Amendment. Western Europe has a long tradition of government control of broadcasting networks—think BBC. But the role there has been out front and has been imbued with a public service expectation. In Russia, Channel One looks like any other commercial station. While its ownership by the government is not hidden, its obscured by its programming and “brand identification..”
A leading newspaper publishing group is owned by Gazprom, the mammoth energy company that is government owned.
Most disconcerting were the stories I heard from more than one source-- some of them with inside knowledge—that the Putin administration calls the top editors of the leading media to the Kremlin for regular meetings. There they are told what the governments top interests and agenda is for the next week or two. No threats, but there is an expectation that the editors will be sure to promote that agenda, and positively. If not? They know that the tax police, the customs officials, the license grantors and so on can make life difficult for those who do not cooperate.
The result? A study earlier this year by the Moscow-based Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations found that “The main nationwide television channels devote about 90 percent of their news coverage to President Vladimir Putin, the Cabinet and the main pro-Kremlin United Russia party, portraying them almost exclusively in a positive light.”
On the other hand, the situation is far removed from the tight control of Soviet times, though in those days everyone knew that the media were tools of government propaganda. Today it is less obvious. Still, book publishing is free and robust, with 90,000 book and brochure titles of all sorts published yearly. Magazines, though as elsewhere mostly non political, have seen little, in any, interference. And, unlike China, the Web is unfettered.
Indeed, the Internet, though still behind in penetration compared to the US and Western Europe, is developing quickly, particularly in the major urban areas. (Russia’s territory is the largest on earth, but 10% of the population lives in Moscow and St. Petersburg, with 11 other cities of over 1 million population). Internet is in 80% of PC households and broadband, primarily DSL, is widespread. There are an estimated 22 million Internet users in Russia (out of 142 million total population). The sophistication of Web sites is three or four years behind the US in terms of video, audio and design. but if you signed on to Rambler, the Yahoo! of Russia, you would certainly recognize it as a busy portal.
Newspapers are suffering there as much as here, mostly because TV has just come alive in the past 15 years. Media advertising was about $5 billion there last year (vs. about $250 here), so the industry is really challenged.
There is intense competition among daily newspapers, with about a dozen serving Moscow and additional competition in the regions. This includes business and sports dailies and others that focus on traditional yellow journalism. As a generalization, they are mediocre at best. 
They are thin, with bland graphics and hold to a level of journalistism standards that would be unacceptable by most Western standards. (Television news is worse). There are no thick weekend editions—too many people head off to their dachas (often just shacks on a small plot of land an hour or so out of town). Part of the problem is that advertising in the media is still minuscule, though growing fast. In 2005 advertising expenditures in Russia were about $5.5 billion, up from $800 million in 2000 and expected to double by 2010. By contrast, advertising expenditures in the US last year exceeded $250 billion.
They are thin, with bland graphics and hold to a level of journalistism standards that would be unacceptable by most Western standards. (Television news is worse). There are no thick weekend editions—too many people head off to their dachas (often just shacks on a small plot of land an hour or so out of town). Part of the problem is that advertising in the media is still minuscule, though growing fast. In 2005 advertising expenditures in Russia were about $5.5 billion, up from $800 million in 2000 and expected to double by 2010. By contrast, advertising expenditures in the US last year exceeded $250 billion.
One problem faced by the print media is the underdeveloped state of logistics in Russia. Long distances, snowy winters and lack of well developed wholesalers and distributors make it difficult to get a new magazine out to the newsstands. The number of newsstands—often controlled by the city governments-- is limited. There are no coin boxes on the corners. There are no reliable local delivery services such as UPS that online merchants can rely on for delivery of books or other merchandise. There is for the most part only the Postal Service, which is not viewed as fast or reliable.
The bottom line is mixed for media in Russia. On the one hand, they are facing the same types of questions faced by media players here and elsewhere—how to make an orderly transition to digital media environment, what to preserve in analog and for how long. At the same time they are struggling with finding a Russian model for the press.
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