04.12.2007
How the News is Reported in Russia
November-December, 2007
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. Putin's Election "Address" On November 29, the major Russian national TV channels broadcast a recorded campaign message from President Putin. It was officially billed as an "address," but the airtime was paid for by United Russia and the message was in support of that political party. Before the broadcast, First Channel's news commentator introduced, apparently as a regular presidential address, by simply saying that "Russia is entering a time of complete renewal of the state authorities." In his statement, the president said that he had to "pull the country out of a deep hole" eight years ago, when he came to office. He continued by saying that "we must not allow those who already tried to rule the country and had no success to come to power." According to Putin, today these forces would like to "change the plans for Russia's development" and "return to the times of humiliation, dependency, and disintegration." Putin stated that the belief that the stability created during his campaign is permanent is "a dangerous illusion." At the end of his speech, President Putin reminded his viewers that he had become the leader of the United Russia party list, and called on Russians to vote for the United Russia. Further blurring the line between the statement's status as a presidential address or campaign speech is the fact that the event is listed in the news section at kremlin.ru. No commentary is offered there, but it does contain a link back to a page on United Russia's site, where the speech is printed in full. Opposition Rallies Depicted as Extremism First Channel reported on the March of Dissent, which took place in Moscow and St. Petersburg on November 25, with detectable sarcasm. These events were forcibly broken up by police and Gary Kasparov, the leader of the opposition movement "Other Russia" was arrested in Moscow during the march there. First Channel reported that opposition politician Boris Nemtsov (a founding member of the political party "The Union of Right Forces") hit a student in the face as the student approached him, offering a letter. Political analyst Sergey Markov denounced Nemtsov as a "hooligan fighting boys in the streets." Although neither First Channel nor Russia Channel mentioned it, Nemtsov's side of the story is that he was defending himself from an activist with the Kremlin-friendly "Nashi" group. Nemtsov says the young man tried to hang a sign on him which read "political insect." Russia Channel stressed that rallies not permitted by the authorities "disturb public order" and could block traffic. The channel also stated that while opposition parties were allocated special places for its rallies, they "preferred to protest in the city centers." Because they were protesting in undesignated areas, the report continued, some opposition leaders, such as Nikita Belykh, Boris Nemtsov, and Leonid Gozman from the Union of Right Forces were detained by the police in St. Petersburg, and the leader of the United Civil Front, Garry Kasparov, was arrested in Moscow and held for a period of five days. Russia Channel also broadcast an interview with political journalist Arkady Mamontov, who held that the opposition is controlled by the USA and that the USA "has only one need from our country – to obtain our natural resources." In a related story, Mamontov recently created a documentary, which was aired multiple times on Russia Channel, called "Velvet.ru." The name is a reference to the "Velvet Revlotion" that occurred in Georgia and implies that it could also occur in Russia ("dot" in Internet addresses is read in Russian as "tochka," a word that can also be used to refer to a location). The documentary alleged that opposition parties in Russia and across the CIS were funded by the CIA through major international NGOs. The Campaign Ends Friday, November 30 was the last day political parties could run TV and print media advertising in the run-up to the elections. According to Russian legislation, national TV channels must provide a minimum of one hour a day of total free airtime for all parties for the duration of the campaign period (which began on Sept 5th). Likewise, regional TV companies must allocate minimum 30 minutes of free airtime. Political party representatives draw lots to determine which days they will receive their free airtime. However, the election law also stipulated that if a political party does not receive 7% of the vote (the minimum to receive seats in the Duma), then that party must reimburse the stations for any airtime they used. For this reason, there were a distinct lack of ads from parties such as the Agrarian Party, Yabloko, and the Union of Right Forces, all of which had only a few percent of the vote according to polls and which did not have the deep pockets to cover the potential bill. The four major parties, which were reasonably confident of winning the 7%, broadcast their campaign messages on First Channel and Russia Channel. The most frequently aired messages can be summarized as follows: United Russia's main campaign promise was to continue "Putin's Plan" of developing the economy and growing social programs. The leader of United Russia, Boris Gryzlov was shown on television promising that "everything possible will be done in the new Duma to provide pensioners with decent living standards. Pensions are scheduled to be increased four times over the next three years; they will grow by 65%." United Russia received 64.1% of the vote. The leader of the Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov, promised that the communists would do more to raise salaries and pensions. He also promised to fight poverty and the growth in prices, both of which proved to be major issues this campaign season, during which the cost of basic food stuffs rose dramatically across Russia. The Communists received 11.6% of the vote. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia stated in his message that "LDPR has always advocated strengthening the role of the state in all spheres of life in Russia in order to produce a calm environment and stability in the country. Only in this way can we get rid of all the bad things we inherited from the democrat-reformers." Zhirinovsky is here alluding to the "wild-west" days of Russian capitalism, and the economic crash of the 1990s, which caused economic chaos for most of the Russian population and which many have come to blame on failed Western attempts to gain control of Russia's natural wealth. His party came in third place with 8.2% of the vote. Fair Russia mostly relied on vague advertisements which capitalized on the word "fair." For instance, in one ad, a father is shown directing his son to try to feed all the pigeons in the park equally because, as he explains at the ad's conclusion, he has always been "for fairness." In a more specific statement, the leader of Fair Russia, Sergei Mironov, advocated improving Russia's housing markets. He stated that "we propose that the state to build 'social housing,' and rent apartments in these buildings to those who are in the most need, at prices much lower than those charged by private landlords." Fair Russia came in with 7.8% of the vote, scoring it fourth place and representation in the Duma. The parties mentioned thus far all passed the 7% mark. Minor parties also appeared on national TV news programs, although ads for these parties were very rarely seen, if seen at all. The Agrarian Party was shown on First Channel campaigning for stricter controls on food quality. In particular, a party representative stated that it was necessary to protect consumers by requiring every food product be labeled with the amount of chemicals, preservatives, and colorings used in it. The centerpiece of the Agrarian Party's campaign platform however, was increasing domestic food production in Russia and thus lowering food prices. This was not shown in that news broadcast. The Agrarians won 2.5% of the vote, putting them in fifth place in the elections, but not securing them representation in the Duma. First Channel showed the leader of the Civil Force Party, Mikhail Barshevsky, pledging a campaign promise to slash government bureaucracy and state spending by reducing the number of jobs in the state sector from the current 40% to 10%. Civil Force's complex campaign message was shown in this broadcast. Their political platform stretched from issues from encouraging small business to improving traffic regulations and encouraging civil society in Russia. Civil Force received 1.1% of the vote. The leader of the Yabloko Party, Grigory Yavlinsky, spoke about the need "to establish a middle class in Russia" and campaigned promising to "provide citizens with the opportunity to obtain property and to protect this property, and all the opportunities entrepreneurship can give to people." Yabloko was also shown actively campaigning in St. Petersburg, promising to block the enormous new Gazprom headquarters, which is to be built there. Critics say it will not fit with city's historic character and will generally distract from other architecture there. Yabloko garnered 1.7% of the vote. The Democratic Party of Russia (DPR) campaigned on a nearly single-issue platform, promising to bring Russia into the European Union, saying this move would better living conditions and political process in Russia. The DPR received the least amount votes in the election at just 0.2%. Russian TV Praised Parliamentary Elections On December 2, the elections for the State Duma were the dominating news topic on Russian TV. They were given practically all-day coverage on First Channel and extensive coverage on other channels. In its reports, First Channel stressed the success of the elections and the campaigns. For example, the Chairman of the Central Election Committee, Vladimir Churov, said in a TV interview that "the election campaign was very good. For me, the main feature is high political activity of Russian citizens. More voters came to election polls than for the 2003 elections. On average, 60% of the voters participated." The channel seemed to back this up with several images of busy polling stations across Russia, and even in the Russian embassies in Berlin and Tel Aviv. There were a half-million eligible Russian voters in Germany alone, the channel reported. The leaders of the four parties which gained seats in the new parliament were given the opportunity to comment on the elections as the results became clear at about 9pm. Nearly all said that they we pleased with the results. Boris Gryzlov, the leader of United Russia Party which gained 63% of votes, said on TV that “the elections were open and democratic. Voters supported Vladimir Putin, giving him first place. In the eight years he has been in power, Russia has become one of the eight strongest economies of the world.” The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), Vladimir Zhirinovsky, called the elections "a celebration," although he said it in his typically dry manner, which indicated that it may have been said in irony. However, he also openly said that if Vladimir Putin had supported his party, that LDPR would have scored "80 percent" of the vote, implying that Putin's support of United Russia was the only reason that party did so well. The leader of Fair Russia, Sergie Mironov, stated he was pleased with the outcome and felt the votes were "accurately" counted. Only the leader of the Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov, whose party garnered the second most votes in the election at just over 11%, said that his party would appeal the election results. First Channel did not broadcast the whole statement (leaving out his most caustic remarks), while Russia Channel did. "Elections in Russia are degenerating," he said. "I am appealing to the authorities: stop raping the entire country." He is demanding that representatives from the Communist Party be allowed to conduct an independent count of the votes. Whether this will be allowed to occur was not stated. Both First Channel and Russian Channel followed Zyuganov's comment with commentary from Moscow mayor and United Russia member Yuri Luzhkov. The mayor denounced the Communists by saying that "they are always saying they are being deceived." In another comment, the governor of the Kemerovo Region, Aman Tuleev, was shown saying that the Communists would be better off if they changed their leader and started cooperating with United Russia. All the other people interviewed by First Channel were supportive of the election process and results. "I am voting for the sake of myself, my children and grandchildren," said Vladislav Tretyak, a famous former hockey player turned businessman. Several celebrities, including singer Alla Pugacheva and actor/director Fyodor Bondarchuk were also interviewed at election polls and gave similar comments. All three celebrates mentioned here are members of United Russia. Voter turnout was reported to be approximately 60%, higher than it was four years ago. Both channels showed a statement by mayor Yuri Luzhkov that attempted to explain this: "the high voter turnout is related to the well-known decision of Vladimir Putin to agree to lead United Russia." Perhaps most interesting was First Channel's specific mention that Chechnya came in first place for voter turnout with 99% and that nearly all of those votes were cast for United Russia. While nearly any experienced observer would immediately regard these numbers with suspicion (as election numbers that high have never been observed outside of a dictatorship), First Channel did not comment on them beyond simply mentioning the numbers. President Putin Supports Medvedev for President On December 10, Russian television cut into scheduled programing to broadcast the meeting of President Putin with the leaders of political parties United Russia, Just Russia, Citizens' Strength, and the Agrarian Party. The leader of United Russia, Boris Gryzlov, said at the beginning of the meeting that "the presidential election campaign has begun" and the parties "need to think about their candidate." According to him, the four parties had "friendly consultations" about choosing a presidential candidate and had agreed to support First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Gryzlov stated that Medvedev had proven himself in managing the national projects and the demographic program. After Gryzlov's statement, President Putin asked Dmitry Medvedev if he had been consulted on this. Medvedev replied that "there were preliminary consultations and they were positive." After that, President Putin made a statement saying that "this proposal has come from four political parties… and all four parties together represent a broad spectrum of Russian society and speak for the interests of a wide range of groups." Vladimir Putin concluded saying "I fully and wholeheartedly support this choice." Both First Channel and Russia channel, following showing this meeting, broadcast commentary by Russian politicians and political experts about Medvedev, all of them praising the new candidate's abilities, experience and saying that he is an ideal person for the president post. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said that Medvedev "will continue Putin's course of reforms." The leader of the political party "Fair Russia," Sergey Mironov called Dmitry Medvedev "a brilliant lawyer… who is professionally absolutely ready to become president." "For me personally, it was important that he (Medvedev) is one of the closest companions of Putin," Mironov also said. Alexander Babakov, one of the leaders for United Russia, said in an interview for television that Medvedev "has been working in very important posts for a long time, and has demonstrated his professionalism in the most difficulties areas of work." Babakov said that the relatively young age of Dmitry Medvedev – he is only 42 years old – is only an advantage. Even the comments leading opposition leaders were generally positive. The leader of the Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov, said that nominating Medvedev for the post is "natural and logical." "Medvedev has been as the right arm for Putin for many years, and he is the person that Putin trusts most of all. For these reasons, this decision was expected," said Zyuganov. He also stated that the Communists are going to nominate their own candidate for the Russian presidency. It was later learned that they nominated Zyuganov himself. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of Liberal Democratic party, who is also going to run for the presidency, stressed that "it would be convenient" for his party to work with Medvedev as his party has a long history of good work relations with the candidate.
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