17.03.2008
How the News is Reported in Russia
March 2008
by Andrei NesterovThe two largest state-run television stations in Russia are First Channel and Russia Channel. Most Russians get their news from one of these two stations. SRAS's Andrei Nesterov compiled the following synopsis of how major events in the FSU were covered by news reports on these two stations. This news review is part of SRAS's monthly "obzor" publications. For more reviews, see the newsletter for this corresponding month. To receive the free monthly newsletter and obzori by email, simply sign up. Presidential Elections Officially A Success In their coverage of the presidential elections, the Russian TV channels depicted the elections as occurring in a holiday atmosphere and the elections themselves as a success. Reports given after the election tended to focus on the concert, held under the motto "Forward, Russia!," which was held on Red Square the evening after the elections near the Kremlin Wall and which gathered thirty-five thousand spectators. Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev showed up at the concert scene, and Dmitry Medvedev publicly thanked all the voters who supported him at the elections. "We can preserve the course taken by President Putin," Medvedev announced. All major channels published updates of the running totals produced by vote counters throughout the evening. The official total ended with 70.28% of votes recorded being votes for Medvedev - an outright victory as the channels reported. His closest competitor, Communist Party Leader Gennady Zhuganov, scored nearly 18 percent. The were reports on Russians voting in many countries abroad. For example, in the USA 16 polling stations were organized in the 14 largest US cities (including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Houston, where there are exceptionally large populations of Russians). According to Russia Channel, 4,617 Russians in the USA participated in the presidential elections, and the majority of them - 76.2 percent - voted for Medvedev. Russian TV did not avoid broadcasting criticism offered by two of the other presidential candidates. The Communist Party candidate, Gennady Zyuganov, said that he has "a list of violations – about 200, each of them more cynical than the last." He continued that he intends to take his list and complaints to court. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the candidate from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, said he also intends to dispute the election outcome in court, although he also said that taking the issue to court would be "useless." Several western publications (notably the RFE/RL) also offered evidence of major violations, many citing evidence posted online as part of blogs and forums. Russian stations, however, followed the accusations by the two candidates with commentary from the Chairman of Russia's Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov. He stated: "Let them go to court, we'll see what happens" and added that the Election Committee "has won all legal hearings up to now." Churov also stated that Russia's electoral system is the "most transparent, open, and perfectly organized" in the world and that the mviolations that were registered weren't severe enough to influence the election outcome. Russian TV also reported that foreign observers did not notice any significant violations at the polling stations and quoted the head of a monitoring group from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Andreas Gross, who said that the elections outcome broadly reflected the will of people. Signs of Presidential Power Transfer Russian TV channels are depicting a new picture of power in Russia: one in which current president Vladimir Putin (who is expected to soon become Prime Ministrer) and president-elect Dmitry Medvedev will share power. Vladimir Putin recently issued a presidential order (which was widely reported) giving Medvedev the official status of "the newly elected President, not yet occupying his post." The main impetus of this declaration seems to have been that it orders the Presidential Administration to work for the newly elected president immediately, even though he will not officially take office until May 7. Medvedev and Putin were also shown jointly planning to head a session of the State Council, a presidential advisory body of governors and legislators. Television news has also been actively showing Medvedev conducting meetings with officials and cabinet meetings by himself. In particular, he headed a government meeting in the Kremlin and demanded the heads of the Customs Service, the State Committee on the Fishing Industry and the Border Patrol explain why they have not executed his instructions to provide social benefits to fishermen and simplify the bureaucratic procedures for boat registration in ports. Dmitry Medvedev warned the officials that all his instructions must be rigorously executed and that he will be monitoring the situation. The newly elected president also met with the governor of the oil-bearing Tyumen region and instructed him to raise the contribution of small business to the regional GDP to at least 50 percent. Meanwhile, although news reports about Vladimir Putin took a noticeable dip during the official presidential campaign (in favor of stories about Medvedev), Vladimir Putin is a now a regular fixture in the broadcasts again. President Putin has only seven more weeks in office and is currently conducting a flurry of business intended to have long-term effects, such as appointing a new governor to the Ryazan region and attending a meeting with Duma deputies at which he was quoted as saying that deputies' main emphasis should now be on passing "legislative support for a plan for the country's development for the term up to 2020." Medvedev was shown together with Putin at the Duma meeting - and has been shown working in tandum with Putin in other capacities as well. Dollar Decline Russian TV has reported extensively on the declining exchange rate of the US dollar to other currencies, emphasizing that the global economy is suffering because of it. "Metals and raw materials are becoming more expensive because of the weakening dollar," reported First Channel on February 27, specifying that "wheat, gold, sugar, cocoa, copper prices have risen." First Channel also added that "food, fuel, and medications costs are growing" in the US. Russia Channel said in a recent report that consumer confidence in the US economy was at its lowest in 16 years. Interestingly, both channels avoided making long-term prognoses for the US dollar and the US economy. They also did not state specifically how the current situation is affecting the Russian economy, although Russians are all acutely aware of the sharp price growth of food and other consumer goods in Russia that has occurred in recent months. "Lord of War" Arrested In the reports about the arrest in Thailand of Victor Bout, a former Soviet Army officer and currently and operator of an aircraft cargo fleet, Russian TV stated two versions – that of American special services and of Bout's relatives and lawyers who deny the accusations of his involvement in the illegal arms trade. The brother of the arrested businessman, Sergey Bout, said in TV reports that the charges are part of a plot to force out Victor Bout from the cargo market. He specified that his brother's fleet "could carry weapons, but this is all custom officers and border guards fault – Bout only was only a carrier, not the cargo owner." Bout's lawyer was also shown saying that the US's desire to extradite Bout to the US are "ridiculous" because the crimes Bout is accused of were "not committed on US soil." First Channel also stated that the US accuses Bout of having connections to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and that the 2005 Hollywood movie "Lord of War" was based on reports concerning the life of Victor Bout. First Channel continued that there are no reports about the reaction of Russian law-enforcement authorities who are still "studying the documents provided by the USA."
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