Russia's Massive Media Complex
Posted: March 6th, 2022, 8:35 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_media_in_Russia
The organisation Reporters Without Borders compiles and publishes an annual ranking of countries based upon the organisation's assessment of their press freedom records. In 2016 Russia was ranked 148th out of 179 countries, six places below the previous year, mainly due to the return of Vladimir Putin.[7] Freedom House compiles a similar ranking and placed Russia at number 176 out of 197 countries for press freedom for 2013, placing it at the level with Sudan and Ethiopia.[8] The Committee to Protect Journalists states that Russia was the country with the 10th largest number of journalists killed since 1992, 26 of them since the beginning of 2000, including four from Novaya Gazeta.[9] It also placed Russia at number 9 in the world for numbers of journalists killed with complete impunity.[10]
In December 2014, a Russian investigative site published e-mails, leaked by the hackers' group Shaltai Boltai, which indicated close links between Timur Prokopenko [ru], a member of Vladimir Putin's administration, and Russian journalists, some of whom published Kremlin-originated articles under their own names.[11]
The Russian Constitution protects freedom of speech and of the press. Yet, restrictive legislation and a politicised judiciary system have made it particularly difficult for independent journalists to work in Russia.[12][13]
The broad definition of extremism in Russia legislation and its use to silence government critics have fostered self-censorship among journalists to prevent harassment.[12] Amendments to the Mass Media Law in the late 2000s have been aimed at limiting the spread of "extremism, terrorism, violence and pornography" as well as the coverage of anti-terrorism operations.[14] However, the 2006 Federal Law on Combating the Terrorism[15] and the 2006 Law on Counteracting the Extremist Activity,[16] along with the Federal List of Extremist Materials, became a matter of concern of both domestic and international observers.[17][18] The Human Rights Committee of the United Nations criticized the lack of precision in the definitions of terrorism and terrorist activity, the counter-terrorist regime being not subject to any requirement of justification, as well as the lack of legal provision for the authorities' obligation to protect human rights in the context of a counter-terrorist operation.[17] The broad definition of extremism in Russian legislation and its use to silence government critics have fostered self-censorship among journalists to prevent harassment.[12]
In 2014 two new laws extended the state control over the internet. According to the Federal Law 398 (February 2014), the prosecutor general may bypass the courts and make use of the federal regulator agency Roskomnadzor to directly block websites in order to prevent mass riots, "extremist" activities and illegal assemblies. In the first year of the law, Roskomnadzor blocked over 85 websites, including Aleksey Navalny's blog on Ekho Moskvy's website (which removed it) as well as the news site Grani.ru, the online magazine Yezhednevny Zhurnal, and Kasparov.ru, the website of the opposition activist Garry Kasparov. In July 2014, the online extremism law was used to prevent a march for Siberian autonomy.[12]
The "bloggers' law" no. 97 (May 2014) required any website with over 3,000 daily visits to register with Roskomnadzor as a media outlet, subjecting personal blogs and other websites to the same restrictions foreseen for major publications – including a ban on anonymous authorship and obscenities, as well as legal responsibility for users' comments. Under a follow-up law passed in July 2014, social networks are required to store their data in Russia in order for them to be accessible by the authorities.
In 2005 a state-run English language Russia Today TV started broadcasting, and its Arabic version Rusiya Al-Yaum was launched in 2007.
TASS, founded in 1904, is a federal, state-owned news agency, working throughout Soviet times as TASS. It has over 500 correspondents and broadcasts in six languages, with 350-650 items daily. In 2010 it was among the four biggest world news agencies (with Reuters, AP and AFP). It has the biggest photo archive in Russia.[23]
RIA Novosti is another state-owned news agency, founded in 1941 as the Soviet Information Bureau and in 1991 turned into the Russian Information Agency (RIA) Novosti with correspondents in 40 countries, and broadcasting in 14 languages.[23]
According to statistics published by UNESCO in 2005, Russia had the largest number of newspaper journalists in the world (102,300), followed by China (82,849) and the United States (54,134),.[24] As of 2008 Russia had over 400 daily newspapers, covering many fields, and offering a range of perspectives.[25] The total number of newspapers in Russia is 8,978, and they have a total annual circulation of 8.2 billion copies. There are also 6,698 magazines and periodicals with a total annual circulation of 1.6 billion copies.[26]
after television, newspapers are the second most popular media in Russia. Local newspapers are more popular than national ones, with 27% of Russians consulting local newspapers routinely and 40% reading them occasionally. For national newspapers, the corresponding figures are 18% and 38%, respectively.[27]
As of 2008, companies close to the Russian government, such as Gazprom, had acquired several of the most influential newspapers;
Three channels have a nationwide outreach (over 90% coverage of the Russian territory): Channel One (a.k.a. First Channel), Russia-1 (a.k.a. Rossiya), and NTV.[38] As stated by the BBC, both Channel One and Russia-1 are controlled by the government, while state-controlled energy giant Gazprom owns NTV.[39]
The English-language satellite channel Russia Today (RT) was launched in 2005. It produces in multiple languages and broadcasts in over 100 countries.[42] A new international multimedia news service called Sputnik was launched in 2014, merging and replacing previous services.[12]
Dozhd (Rain), the only independent TV channel, came under increasing pressure in 2014. After a controversy over a historical poll in January, satellite providers started to drop the channel from their packages – reportedly under Kremlin pressure. In March the CEO announced the insolvency of the station, which still continued operating, with critical reporting on corruption and human rights abuses related to the Sochi Olympics.
In September 2011 Russia overtook Germany on the European market with the highest number of unique visitors online.[50] In March 2013 a survey found that Russian had become the second most commonly used language on the web.[51]
According to Human Rights Watch, the Russian government exerts control over civil society through selective implementation of the law, restriction and censure.[56]
The organisation Reporters Without Borders compiles and publishes an annual ranking of countries based upon the organisation's assessment of their press freedom records. In 2016 Russia was ranked 148th out of 179 countries, six places below the previous year, mainly due to the return of Vladimir Putin.[7] Freedom House compiles a similar ranking and placed Russia at number 176 out of 197 countries for press freedom for 2013, placing it at the level with Sudan and Ethiopia.[8] The Committee to Protect Journalists states that Russia was the country with the 10th largest number of journalists killed since 1992, 26 of them since the beginning of 2000, including four from Novaya Gazeta.[9] It also placed Russia at number 9 in the world for numbers of journalists killed with complete impunity.[10]
In December 2014, a Russian investigative site published e-mails, leaked by the hackers' group Shaltai Boltai, which indicated close links between Timur Prokopenko [ru], a member of Vladimir Putin's administration, and Russian journalists, some of whom published Kremlin-originated articles under their own names.[11]
The Russian Constitution protects freedom of speech and of the press. Yet, restrictive legislation and a politicised judiciary system have made it particularly difficult for independent journalists to work in Russia.[12][13]
The broad definition of extremism in Russia legislation and its use to silence government critics have fostered self-censorship among journalists to prevent harassment.[12] Amendments to the Mass Media Law in the late 2000s have been aimed at limiting the spread of "extremism, terrorism, violence and pornography" as well as the coverage of anti-terrorism operations.[14] However, the 2006 Federal Law on Combating the Terrorism[15] and the 2006 Law on Counteracting the Extremist Activity,[16] along with the Federal List of Extremist Materials, became a matter of concern of both domestic and international observers.[17][18] The Human Rights Committee of the United Nations criticized the lack of precision in the definitions of terrorism and terrorist activity, the counter-terrorist regime being not subject to any requirement of justification, as well as the lack of legal provision for the authorities' obligation to protect human rights in the context of a counter-terrorist operation.[17] The broad definition of extremism in Russian legislation and its use to silence government critics have fostered self-censorship among journalists to prevent harassment.[12]
In 2014 two new laws extended the state control over the internet. According to the Federal Law 398 (February 2014), the prosecutor general may bypass the courts and make use of the federal regulator agency Roskomnadzor to directly block websites in order to prevent mass riots, "extremist" activities and illegal assemblies. In the first year of the law, Roskomnadzor blocked over 85 websites, including Aleksey Navalny's blog on Ekho Moskvy's website (which removed it) as well as the news site Grani.ru, the online magazine Yezhednevny Zhurnal, and Kasparov.ru, the website of the opposition activist Garry Kasparov. In July 2014, the online extremism law was used to prevent a march for Siberian autonomy.[12]
The "bloggers' law" no. 97 (May 2014) required any website with over 3,000 daily visits to register with Roskomnadzor as a media outlet, subjecting personal blogs and other websites to the same restrictions foreseen for major publications – including a ban on anonymous authorship and obscenities, as well as legal responsibility for users' comments. Under a follow-up law passed in July 2014, social networks are required to store their data in Russia in order for them to be accessible by the authorities.
In 2005 a state-run English language Russia Today TV started broadcasting, and its Arabic version Rusiya Al-Yaum was launched in 2007.
TASS, founded in 1904, is a federal, state-owned news agency, working throughout Soviet times as TASS. It has over 500 correspondents and broadcasts in six languages, with 350-650 items daily. In 2010 it was among the four biggest world news agencies (with Reuters, AP and AFP). It has the biggest photo archive in Russia.[23]
RIA Novosti is another state-owned news agency, founded in 1941 as the Soviet Information Bureau and in 1991 turned into the Russian Information Agency (RIA) Novosti with correspondents in 40 countries, and broadcasting in 14 languages.[23]
According to statistics published by UNESCO in 2005, Russia had the largest number of newspaper journalists in the world (102,300), followed by China (82,849) and the United States (54,134),.[24] As of 2008 Russia had over 400 daily newspapers, covering many fields, and offering a range of perspectives.[25] The total number of newspapers in Russia is 8,978, and they have a total annual circulation of 8.2 billion copies. There are also 6,698 magazines and periodicals with a total annual circulation of 1.6 billion copies.[26]
after television, newspapers are the second most popular media in Russia. Local newspapers are more popular than national ones, with 27% of Russians consulting local newspapers routinely and 40% reading them occasionally. For national newspapers, the corresponding figures are 18% and 38%, respectively.[27]
As of 2008, companies close to the Russian government, such as Gazprom, had acquired several of the most influential newspapers;
Three channels have a nationwide outreach (over 90% coverage of the Russian territory): Channel One (a.k.a. First Channel), Russia-1 (a.k.a. Rossiya), and NTV.[38] As stated by the BBC, both Channel One and Russia-1 are controlled by the government, while state-controlled energy giant Gazprom owns NTV.[39]
The English-language satellite channel Russia Today (RT) was launched in 2005. It produces in multiple languages and broadcasts in over 100 countries.[42] A new international multimedia news service called Sputnik was launched in 2014, merging and replacing previous services.[12]
Dozhd (Rain), the only independent TV channel, came under increasing pressure in 2014. After a controversy over a historical poll in January, satellite providers started to drop the channel from their packages – reportedly under Kremlin pressure. In March the CEO announced the insolvency of the station, which still continued operating, with critical reporting on corruption and human rights abuses related to the Sochi Olympics.
In September 2011 Russia overtook Germany on the European market with the highest number of unique visitors online.[50] In March 2013 a survey found that Russian had become the second most commonly used language on the web.[51]
According to Human Rights Watch, the Russian government exerts control over civil society through selective implementation of the law, restriction and censure.[56]
