Post-Soviet Media Law & Policy Newsletter

Issue 22     Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law     October 19, 1995

Signs of the Times

1.  For those interested in the work of the President’s Judicial Chamber on Information Disputes in Moscow and post-Soviet licensing boards, the following remarks on an institution in France should be considered, especially in light of the recent terrorist incidents in Paris.
    This is an excerpt of an interview with Herve Bourges, president of the French broadcasting watchdog, the Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA). The CSA has become increasingly critical of controversial TV news coverage of the terrorist attacks in France and of what it considers as growing indecency in TV entertainment programs. The interviewer is Annette Ardisson of the program “Questions par A + B.” 
    Q.    Some questionable cases have been referred to you and you have yourself decided to consider a certain number of cases ranging from the controversial reporting on television of Khaled Kelkal’s death (Algerian terrorist shot dead by police on 29 September) to some questionable acts in entertainment programs. What is the power of the CSA Conseil Superieur de l’ Audiovisuel: Higher Broadcasting Council ? How far can you really go, how far would you like to go? 
    A.     It is in the CSA’s remit to appoint the presidents of state radio stations and state television channels. Before the end of this year, it will appoint Mr Rene Maheu’s successor at Radio France, and the president of Radio France Internationale. At the end of 1994 it appointed the president of France Television. It has renewed the mandate of the current president, appointed another president as heard , and so on. 
    It has a consultative power for advice and surveys. The government and parliamentary assemblies may request its opinion. It has a regulatory function, especially the power to license private terrestrial radio stations and television channels. It orders the way cable and satellite channels operate. It has a regulating power-this may be its most significant power.” 
    Q.     It also has the power, does it not, to apply sanctions in cases concerning ethics? 
    A.     It has the power to take sanctions ranging from warnings, injunctions and formal sanctions to fines of up to three per cent of a major television channel’s turnover, which is not insignificant—this may not be well known. Programs may be suspended for up to one month. The term of the broadcasting license of a radio station or a TV channel may be curtailed, or the license might even be withdrawn, but this is an extremely severe sanction.
    There is something else. Quite simply, it may ask for a communique to be read out on air. For instance, at the end of a newsreel, the CSA is entitled to ask for a communique if a mistake has been identified. It may refer the case to the State Council which then imposes a daily fine in case of non-payment of debt or a straightforward fine. It may also refer the case to the director of public prosecution for the judiciary to take over the case. 

2.  Bosnian Serbs Malign Radio Pirates. 

    Tanjug (Serbian) news agency, the information service of the Bosnian Serb Republic Army main HQ, issued the following report on October 7 from Banja Luka: “Several pirate radio stations broadcasting from territory controlled by the Muslims and Croats, and passing themselves off as Radio Prijedor and Radio Banja Luka both in Serb-controlled territory in northern Bosnia have appeared on the air in the area of the western part of the Bosnian Serb Republic over the past few days. 
    “These radio stations, according to the same source, are transmitting on frequencies used by Serb radio stations in an attempt to spread disinformation and rumors amongst the inhabitants of the Serb Republic and army personnel. The broadcasts go as far as to call on people to desert from the Serb Republic Army and emigrate. They also try to sow fear and tarnish the Serb Republic’s state and military leadership. 
    “The information service of the Serb Republic Army main HQ cites examples of this behavior. One is that the information service of the first Krajina Corps has allegedly told the people in Serb-held Sanski Most that they should begin to evacuate the town and that reception centers have been organized for them. A second example says Muslim helicopters have been flying between Split and Bihac and that 10 US Apache helicopters have brought in guns, grenades and about 15,000 mujahedin from Islamic countries and that, allegedly, the international community is turning a blind eye to this. According to these pirate radio stations, the international community has even threatened to bomb Banja Luka airport. 

3.  NTV yearns for more time. 

    NTV chairman Igor Malashenko used an Interfax interview in Moscow on September 26 to complain about the arrangement in which the channel he occupies is divided between NTV and an educational user. 
    According to Malashenko, the upper part of the fourth channel, occupied by the All-Russian State TV and Radio’s VGTRK Russian University Russian Universities Television could be put to a much better use: “I have repeatedly told VGTRK Chairman Oleg Poptsov about this.” 
    Malashenko regretted that because it cannot start its programs before 6 p.m., NTV cannot implement its ideas or show already-purchased programs which could do well in the daytime. In particular, NTV cannot revive numerous TV serials in the daytime, Malashenko said. 
    The most troubling aspect of this situation is that the NTV audience cannot have full access to the news information, Malashenko said: “This becomes especially obvious when something like the Budyonnovsk hostage drama breaks out the capture of a hospital in Budyonnovsk by Chechen fighters on 14th June 1995. NTV had to start the coverage of the events late in the day while the situation changed hourly. This had a depressing effect on our information service,” Malashenko said. 

4.  “Swan Lake.”

    A recent commentary in Pravda concluded that “those who once said that the creation of ORT was a large-scale election ruse, laying an additional financial burden on the state’s shoulders, were right. The financial crisis into which ORT has fallen can be relieved somewhat only if money earmarked for other state television and radio companies is taken away and transferred to ORT. 
    “Also, there are no financial contributions from commercial, that is to say, so-called “non-state” structures, and none are envisaged. And although they own 49 per cent of the shares in the ORT joint-stock company, they do not intend to fork out any money for the upkeep of that company.”
    The Pravda report also ridiculed Sergey Blagovolin, head of ORT for complaining that because of the frequent appearance of Gen Lebed on ORT the channel could be called “Swan Lake” (“Lebed” is Russian for “swan.”). Pravda’s view is that other politicians are obviously favored by Blagovolin and ORT.

5.  Bumerang. Radio Bumerang (a private station in Moscow recently purchased by the leader of the Economic Freedom Party, Konstantin Borovoy) was taken off the air on October 10 after two weeks of broadcasting, Ekho Moskvy radio reported the following day, citing information from human rights activist Valeriya Novodvorskaya. 
    The report said the Ministry of Communications had announced that the action had been taken because the station did not have a license to broadcast political programs. According to Novodvorskaya, the station was taken off the air for ideological reasons. 
    The report added that Konstantin Borovoy had offered to pay off the station’s debts to communication workers, However, they had refused to take any money and had cut off power supplies to the station. 

6.  Digital Satellite.

    The Russian Federation Presidential Staff Presidential Programs Center has held a conference to discuss the possibilities of creating a digital satellite television broadcasting system in Russia. 
    It considered a project for such a system demonstrated by specialists at the Energiya joint-stock company. The participants in the conference were impressed by the first experiments carried out by Russian scientists connected with last year’s launch of the first Gals digital TV satellite. 
    The first Gals satellite was launched on 20th January 1994, ITAR-TASS reported. Because digital systems can compress information, each of the three satellite antennas make it possible for every home to receive 15 to 18 television channels with just an ordinary small television aerial. 
    The first digital satellite is capable of covering practically the whole of European Russia. The launch of a second satellite is planned in order to reach the extensive territories on the other side of the Urals. 

7.  The Chechen  Channel. NTV reported, September 29, on the functioning of pro-Dudayev television in Chechnya. According to NTV, the federal forces have repeatedly destroyed the presidential channel’ s transmitters, but the presidential channel keeps resurfacing. Dudayev has ordered the whereabouts of the transmitters to be kept strictly secret. Furthermore, the presidential channel is only one aspect of Chechen television. The television station in Shali near the Chechen capital Groznyy is also a pro-Dudayev channel. 
    The NTV presenter stated that the work of Shali Television, which broadcast to virtually the whole of Chechnya, was of great importance to the entire population of the republic. He reported that Shali Television closed in June this year, when the federal forces launched their active offensive against Chechnya’s mountainous regions.
    “Then it seemed that the Chechens had been squeezed out. But in mid-June there was the hostage-taking incident in Budennovsk, then the peace talks, and now the presidential channel is operating once again, as is television in the town of Shali. The Dudayev side, having no illusions about the influence television has on the beliefs of the average citizen, is sparing no funds to develop its own television.” 
    According to NTV, Shali Television has a transmission range of 54 km. Two journalists work there, and they have one VHS camera at their disposal. They film interviews with Chechen leaders and their appearances at rallies. For six hours every evening, Shali Television tells the population about Chechnya’s independence. 

8.  The criminal case of “insult” initiated last July by Russian authorities against NTV’s satifical puppet show “Kukly” has been terminated. The announcement, on October 12, came from Russia’s new Acting Procurator-General, Oleg Gaidanov, who replaced Aleksei Ilyushenko in that position four days before.
    The charges stemmed from the independent television channel’s broadcasting last July of a program that portrayed President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin as homeless beggars attempting to survive on Russia’s minimum wage index.The charges were brought under Article 131 of the Russian  Criminal Code (entitled “oskorblenie” or “insult”), which provides penalties for the “intentional lowering of personal honor and dignity, expressed in indecent form.” Contrary to some published reports, Article 131 applies to any “insulting” publication or program—not just those directed at high political leaders.