Russian Public Television
Vladislav Listyev, the prominent television anchorman,
has been elected General Director of Russian Public Television, the newly
reorganized Ostankino. The Board of Directors, which named Listyev, also
made Aleksandr Yakovlev the Chairman of the Board. This is a case, unlike
musical chairs, where the dancers, remain the same, but the institutions
change and alter, but the tried and true always find a seat. Listyev has
vowed to convert Ostankino—smarting from competition from RTV and NTV—into
its former position as “the most powerful, most widely watched and most
competitive Russian television channel. Listyev was the host of the popular
quiz show “Chas Pik,” among other successes.
The appointment of Listyev suggests that there is some
movement in the “privatization” of Ostankino announced late last year.
But as part of the new structure, a “Trustee Council” for Russian Public
Television was announced with President Yeltsin as the head and State Duma
Speaker Ivan Rybnkin as deputy chair of the Council. It is unclear what
obligations (either for the contribution of capital or the absorption of
expenses) that the 49% private stockholders would have in the new Ostankino.
One story concerning structure claimed that the governmental share would
be distributed as follows: Ostankino would enter into an arrangement with
Russian Public Television in which the assets of Ostankino would be exchanged
for 9% of the new company’s stock. The Television Technical Center and
ITAR-TASS would receive 3% each, presumably, also, in exchange for assets
with 36% going to the Committee for State Properties.
Igor Shabdurasulov, who represents the government on
the board of directors, and appears to be an active participant in policy-making,
claimed that the state’s burden would be reduced by half. Shabdurasulov
also said that there would be a transition period from February 1 to April
1 during which the company would “create the artistic and commercial structures
needed” for its transformation.
Apparently one of those transition measures is the temporary
abolition of advertising from the First Channel’s programming. Shabdrasulov
told Tass on February 21 that starting April 1, the day when RPT is scheduled
to replace the state-run Ostankino, commercials will be banned, at least
temporarily. The function of the ban is to “determine the proper correlation
between the advertising on the one hand and the interests of economic development
and moral criteria on the other.” This announcement, somewhat unexpected,
can be seen to place a greater financial burden on the investors and the
government. It will also benefit NTV and RTV which will be left temporarily
with the exclusive right to show commercials. Shabdrasulov said, however,
that advertising will probably reemerge on RPT after the reorganization.
Newsprint Woes
The New York Times, far from Moscow, has begun to sing,
for itself, the same song of rising costs of newsprint and shortages of
supply that has long been sung in Moscow. According to Derk Sauer, publisher
of The Moscow Times, a ton of newsprint now costs about $540 per ton, about
three times the rate just two or three years ago. The Moscow Times reported
that newsprint shortages meant that Komsomolskaya Pravda curtailed Vladivostok
distribution for three weeks in December. A bill that passed the Duma in
the summer of 1994 would exempt publishers from customs duties on newsprint
obtained abroad, but the bill still has not been signed into law by President
Yeltsin. Ironically, Russian publishers are buying newsprint and
even publishing abroad for cost reasons, at the same time that Russian
newsprint is being increasingly exported to European markets. According
to government statistics, 597,000 tons of newsprint were exported in 1994
compared with 482,000 in 1993 and 148,000 in 1992. Production is said to
have fallen from 3.6 million tons in 1992 to 2.2 tons in 1994.
Information Tribunal
On February 13, Anatolii Vengerov, the Chair of the
President’s Judicial Chamber on Information Disputes, announced that the
Chamber would hold hearings to determine whether the government press services
should be officially criticized for disseminating misinformation in relationship
to the Chechen conflict. Vengerov stated, at a press conference, that he
rejected the contention, earlier in the disturbance over Chechnya, that
Russian journalists had been bought with Chechen money. Vengerov stated
that the Chamber would hold a special inquiry on the credibility of the
official information sources.
Yeltsin’s State of the Union
President Yeltsin, in his address to a joint session
of the Federal Assembly on February 17, concluded his speech with a paean
to the role of the Russian mass media. “In the past few years, the press
has become an influential mechanism for the protection of democracy. This
is no honorary title, this is a heavy burden.” It goes without saying,
he said, that “Russian authorities are still learning to operate under
the conditions of free expression of opinions. Sometimes they lack patience.”
On the other hand, “One cannot agree with some publications’ attempts to
turn mass media freedom into freedom from responsibilities before society.”
Advertising Legislation
On January 25, the United States Foreign Commercial
Service issued a cable about the draft law banning tobacco and alcohol
advertising and limiting commercial breaks in certain television programs
(movies, educational and religious programs, children’s programs and live
broadcasts). According to the USFCS, “the tough bill has been condemned
by advertising agencies, which argue that if a product is legal to manufacture,
it should be legal to advertise. The advertising bill passed its first
reading in the Duma on December 14 by a vote of 233–37, eight votes (according
to the FCS) of the requisite minimum.