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Internews’ Ambitious Plan for Independent Television Internews, the California-based news training and production entity (See Issue #5 for background), has designed an ambitious “Plan for Independent Television” in the former Soviet Union. The $15 million, five-year blueprint is built on the assumption that “a diversity of alternative sources of news and information...can help avert the threats of war and civil conflict in the wake of the dissolution of the former Soviet empire.” Charitable and government investment, in its view, is needed to yield an “infrastructure of non-government television.” Under the Plan, there would be at least nine regional media centers to train journalists and build a culture of independent television entrepreneurs. A more elaborate Moscow production center would be established as the hub for the nine centers and a trans-NIS satellite interconnected group of stations. The training of journalists is integral to the plan. From this groundwork, an effective, independent and reliable source of television news can emerge. Given Internews’ track record, the Plan has a sufficient chance of being funded is that it deserves close attention. What questions should be asked? One issue is the profile of future broadcasting diversity in the former Soviet Union. There’s the model of Igor Malashenko and NTV, a Russian-financed, commercial station, unabashedly ambitious and large in scale. There’s the Turner Broadcasting strategy, exemplified in the TV 6 joint venture, low investment, low production, more akin to an American “indie” in an urban market. Then there’s the process of transforming Ostankino and Russian TV, moving from “state” television to a model of public broadcasting, more independent of the government. The Internews strategy is different. It has more of a guerrilla or Johnny Appleseed quality—developing strong television entities from an abundance of small scale entrepreneurs and emerging journalists with the aspiration that a network will develop bottom up. Other questions: 1. The most important, perhaps, has to do with the issue of news itself. How, over time, do alternate sources and perspectives on news arise? Is diversity an inevitable consequence of opening the skies, increasing channels and having foreign as well as domestic sources? Can one tell from the initial production of Internews related stations—and the very preliminary output of their magazine—whether news that comes from this source is different: more local, more critical, more independent. Is there any way of assuring—if that is the function—that members of the Internews family of stations will remain committed to news? Many of the entrepreneurs are, like American counterparts, interested in making a profit, in attracting audience, in gaining access to flashy Western programming. Internews seems to have an approach that links program acquisition, station management and news production. But news could be a vulnerable link. 2. At this point, there are some 65 stations in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus currently participating in an Internews-related association. How does one categorize these entities: are they epiphenomena, glistening for the moment, or are they around for the long run? What does it mean to say that they are “independent?” Often, so-called independents have tight relationships with local or regional officials or with industrial or financial enterprises. That may confirm their independence, but some finer analytical approach might be necessary if there is a state purpose to be achieved. 3. The Plan, despite its admirable decentralization, has a strong Moscow orientation. Moscow is considered where the talented producers can be found; as well as the principal source of news. But should there be a kind of NIS equivalent of building an Atlanta base, something that is slightly off-center? The historical fears of the imperial voice also argues against too Moscow-oriented an identity. 4. Over the last 18 months, Internews has trained over 300 independent television journalists and station managers throughout Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus. This is a pretty large number. The Russian-American Press and Information Fund has also been involved in training, as has been the International Media Fund and other entities. Is there a critical sense of the efficiency of this training; are there different modes with different results? Was election-related training productive (and how does one tell)? Often, there are residencies for American station managers and news directors in target stations, or tours of the United States. The Plan can be obtained by writing Internews at P.O. Box 4448, Arcata, CA.95521. Figure: Five-Year Budget for Internews Plan
5 Year Total = $15,485,000 |
Last Updated: 11/20/99 |
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© 1999 Post-Soviet Media Law &
Policy Newsletter |
