ESI MANUAL THE RUSSIAN DEBATE ON THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: WHO IS WHO? Part 3: Russian Audiovisual Media Berlin – Istanbul, April 2010 2 Russian audiovisual media Table of Contents 1. TELEVISION ................................................................................................................................ 3 Channel One ............................................................................................................................... 4 Russia TV ................................................................................................................................... 7 NTV Television ........................................................................................................................ 10 REN TV ................................................................................................................................... 12 TV Center ................................................................................................................................. 14 RT............................................................................................................................................. 16 Channel 5 (5-tv) ....................................................................................................................... 17 2. RADIO ......................................................................................................................................... 20 Echo of Moscow (Ekho Moskvy) ............................................................................................ 20 Radio Russia ............................................................................................................................ 22 Voice of Russia ........................................................................................................................ 23 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty .......................................................................................... 24 3 Russian audiovisual media This section provides an overview of relevant Russian media, editors and journalists with an interest in Russian neighbourhood policy and the Southern Caucasus. Most of the journalists speak English. Some TV channels or radio stations have English-language websites. 1. TELEVISION Key TV channels and important political and news programs: Novosti – Новости (News) 6 pm (every day) Channel One Vremya – Время (Time) 9 pm (every day) Первый Канал Odnako – Однако (However) Sometimes after Time – Время Pozner – Познер Monday 11.40 pm – 00.40 am Russia TV Vesti – Вести (News) 11 am, 2, 5, 8 pm (every day) Россия NTV News Television Segodnya – Сегодня (Today) 7 pm (every day) НТВ 9.30 am, 4.30 pm, 7.30 pm REN TV Novosti „24“ – Новости «24» (Monday – Friday) 12.30 pm РЕН ТВ (News) every day TV Center Sobytiya – События (Events) 11.30 am, 2.20 pm, 5.50 pm ТВ Центр 8.30 pm (every day) Petersburg – Fifth Seychas – Сейчас (Now) 10.30 am, 1.30 pm, 4.30 pm, Channel 7.30 pm every day Петербург – Пятый Glavnoe – Главное (Essential) 6.30 pm on Saturdays Канал News Every 30 minutes Russia Today Average audience share of Russian TV channels, week of 8-14 March 2010 (between 05:00 and 20:00): Source: http://www.tns-global.ru/rus/data/ratings/tv/ (First seven channels with the highest audience share are: First Channel 18 percent; Russia TV 17.2 percent; NTV 14.9 percent; STS 8.9 percent; TNT 7.1 percent; Ren TV 4.3 percent; TV-Tsentr 3.1 percent.) 4 Russian audiovisual media Channel One Первый Канал (Perviy Kanal) www.1tv.ru Channel One, Russia’s main television channel, based at the “Ostankino” Broadcasting Centre in Moscow, is a state-controlled TV station with the highest audience share. The Russian government controls 51 percent of shares, the remaining 49 percent belonging to private shareholders such as the little-known ORT Bank Consortium, RastrKom 2002 and EberLink, all believed to be controlled by oligarch Roman Abramovich. Channel One also owns some digital-only television channels. The Channel One Digital TV family includes Cinema House (movies), Channel One Music, Time (20th century history), TV Nanny (children’s programming) and Television Café (food). The channel retains an audience share of almost 20 percent. The channel’s “Novosti” and “Vremya” news programs are the source for political information for most Russians. The website of Channel One is only in Russian. “Ostankino”, Akademika Koroleva Str. 12, 127427 Moscow Tel: +7 495 617 73 87 Senior management Konstantin Ernst has been General Director since October 1999. Alexander Fayfman is Deputy Director and General Producer. First Channel news department: Kirill Kleymenov is Deputy General Director and head of the news department. He has worked with Channel One since 1997, when he became head of the news department. Before graduating from the Romanic-German department at Moscow State University he worked for State Radio of the Soviet Union. He also wrote for the Russian news agency Interfax. In 2004 he worked as press officer for the Russian oil giant Lukoil. Main evening news “Vremya” (40 minutes starting at 9 pm every day) is Channel One’s flagship news program, presenting the world through the Kremlin’s eyes. Having first aired in January 1968 and having survived the tectonic shifts in the Russian media landscape since the 1990s, it is one of the most influential TV news programs in Russia. Vremya has the largest audience share of any Russian news program. 5 Russian audiovisual media Ekaterina Andreeva is one of the two anchors of “Vremya”. She is said to be one of President Vladimir Putin's favourite TV news journalists.1 She studied law and history at Moscow State University. In 1991 Andreeva started working in television. She has been on air since 1995. (See also ESI picture story Mainstream views on Russian TV) Channel One’s main news program “Novosti” is re-broadcast at 5 am and 9 am, as well as at 12 pm, 3 pm and 6 pm. The last news broadcast “Nochnye Novosti” (Night news) comes on at 11.30 pm or 0.30 am. Channel One also runs news and interviews during its morning show “Telekanal Dobroye Utro” (the Good Morning Channel) from 5.05 to 7 am. When the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute started in January 2009, the program broadcast nothing more than official statements – by Putin, Medvedev and Alexei Miller – while avoiding commentary by journalists. Opinion programs After the news program “Vremya”, Michail Leontiev, Russia’s most famous TV-commentator, presents “Odnako” (“However”), which has been on air since March 1999. In April 2001 Leontiev joined the Eurasia movement whose leader, Alexander Dugin, is one of the most influential ideologists of Russian expansion and nationalism. Leontievonce described himself as a voice of the Kremlin. “I am one of the propagandists of the regime. I am a part of the team in the power,” he was quoted as saying by the Nouvel Observateur in September 2008. Leontiev has been a member of the pro-Putin United Russia party since December 2002. He is also the founder of the weekly magazine “Profile”. As the Russian-Georgian war broke out, Leontiev was on air every evening between 10 and 14 August 2008. He accused Georgia of aggression, characterized Saakashvili as a war criminal and never referred to the actions of the Russian army as something other than peacekeeping. More “Odnako” programs can be found on: http://www.1tv.ru/owa/win/ort6_main.main?p_news_razdel_id=100&p_pagenum=4 (in Russian only) Vladimir Pozner is one of Channel One’s most influential journalists and sharpest commentators. Since November 2008 he hosts his own political talk show, “Pozner”, which airs every Monday evening at 11.30 pm. Until the autumn of 2008 he was the anchorman of the weekly political show “Vremena” (Times). His new show, besides its focus on politics, covers social and cultural issues. Born in 1934 in Paris, Pozner lived with his family in France, in the USA and in the Eastern part of Berlin until he was 18. At the request of his father, the family returned to the Soviet Union in 1952, one year before Stalin’s death. Going back to France was impossible since none of the family members, other than Pozner’s mother, had a French passport. 1 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/inside-story-now-back-to-you-tetsuya-416448.html 6 Russian audiovisual media Maxim Shevchenko hosts the political talk show Sudite Sami (“Judge for yourself”). He is considered as one of the leading Russian journalists and experts on ethno-cultural and religious issues. Besides his work as anchorman for Channel One, he hosts “O Glavnom”, (The Essential) on state-owned Radio station Vesti FM, as well as the weekly program “Special Opinion with Maxim Shevchenko” for Echo of Moscow. Shevchenko graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1990. He was a special correspondent in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Chechnya, Dagestan, former Yugoslavia, Israel and Palestine, editor-in-chief of the “NG-Religion” section of “Nezavisimaya gazeta”, and author and editor-in-chief of “Sense” magazine. In 2000, he created the Center of Strategic Research of Religion and Policy of the Modern World. He is a Member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. See also ESI picture story “Judge for yourself: Maxim Shevchenko and the Caucasus”. “Judge for yourself” can be seen on Channel One: http://www.1tv.ru/pr/si=5691&im=2 Article on mass media on http://www.archipelag.ru/authors/shevchenko/?library=2278 Southern Caucasus Coverage: Anton Stepanenko, based in Moscow, covered the Russian-Georgian war as special correspondent.