JRL HOME - RSS - FB - Tw - Support

A considerable shake-up on the board of directors at Russia's largest independent talk-radio station is being called a new wave of media censorship in the run-up to the March presidential elections. While Gazprom-Media, the majority shareholder in Echo of Moscow, denied that politics are at the root of the issue, Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin had personally bashed the radio station for "pouring shit over me from morning till evening." The cancellation of a talk show about to feature Alexei Navalny on MTV was also cancelled this week, in what one expert called "the new understanding of media in Russia."

Echo's head, Aleksei Venediktov, announced via Twitter this week that the station's majority shareholder, Gazprom Media, was demanding the ouster of two board members: economist Yevgeny Yasin and lawyer Alexander Makovsky. As a result, Venediktov and his deputy Vladimir Varfolomeyev resigned from the board in protest. While Venediktov said on air that the leadership changes could make it easier for Gazprom Media to fire him, he maintained that the station's political stance would not be affected.

Both representatives of Gazprom-Media and Vladimir Putin's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov denied that the board shake-up has anything to do with politics. Peskov said this week that "everyone knows that Putin and Venediktov always share opinions in different formats about pressing problems with the utmost candidness. In any case, to somehow tie this company process at Echo of Moscow with criticism of Putin or to fantasize about it being taken under someone's control is incorrect." Gazprom-Media, a media holding company owned by state energy company Gazprom, noted that the decision to change the board was part of a process to streamline the company's holdings. However, in a statement it did admit that plans to reshuffle the company's board were accelerated by "attention given to the radio station by various parties," without additional explanation.

Ivan Zassoursky, a professor of new media at Moscow State University, said that the decision was tied to politics. "Of course this is a response to Echo of Moscow's political stance," said Zassoursky. "If this was a business decision, then the smartest move would have been to sell it to [Mikhail] Prokhorov, who would pay a lot for it." Prokhorov announced this week that he would be interested in buying out the company, but Venediktov rejected the idea, saying the company had been "trying buyouts for ten years."

Dissolving the board was only the first step in what is likely a campaign to control the media landscape before the elections, said Alexander Morozov, a media blogger and the director of the Institute for Media Research. "There's no question that this is a political decision that could lead to the replacement of staff at Echo of Moscow, or perhaps a change in the political stance of the station," said Morozov.

Venediktov has maintained a careful dialogue about the ongoing scandal, saying point blank that Vladimir Putin had not taken any personal decision to change Echo's board. "Venediktov still doesn't know whether anyone will come to his aid from above," Morozov explained. "So he's making careful statements for now and is waiting to see what will come later."

Echo of Moscow and Venediktov will likely weather the latest change, wrote Arina Borodina, a political commentator for Kommersant, despite the fact that "the atmosphere is becoming more tense before the election." She noted that she herself had predicted the death of the radio station in the late 1990s when Echo of Moscow was first purchased, but that she "had made a mistake." Echo has repeatedly been threatened with repercussions, but had shown resilience in maintaining its independence, she added: "When Gazprom-Media was bought by Gazprombank in 2005 and thereafter when Yuri Kovalchuk became one of the owners of the radio station, no meaningful changes took place on air."

Zassoursky remained somewhat dourer in his predictions: "I think that this is the beginning of the end of Echo of Moscow as people know it. Because from the beginning of its establishment, Echo of Moscow was an important institution that always gained large audiences that were politicized...and the goal of the [board dissolving] is to change that."

At the same time, television personality Ksenia Sobchak had her most recent show cancelled on MTV. While Sobchak is better known for hosting Russia's meaningless "Dom-2" reality show, she has taken steps into the political ring with "GosDep," a political talk-show whose name is a play on the Russian translation of "U.S. State Department." Sobchak claimed on her Twitter that the first show, focusing on the question "where is Putin leading us?" garnered high ratings for MTV, but that the second show was cancelled unexpectedly: "Today with no explanation my program 'Gosdep' was taken off the air despite its ratings, on Friday Alexei Navalny was to appear," she tweeted.

Opinions quickly circled around whether or not the show was pulled due to Navalny's involvement. Navalny himself wrote on Twitter: "I'm very sorry, but it seems that the show 'GosDep' was closed because of me... though just because [Sobchak] invited me..." MTV, meanwhile, maintained a vague stance today, saying that the "television station has decided to halt filming of the talk-show to clarify the program's format and the channel's targeting." An MTV spokesperson declined to comment.

The move against Sobchak and the reshuffle at Echo of Moscow might be recognized as a sign that the government remains closely interested in what is happening in all forms of media, said Zassoursky. "Those in power most likely want to show that the rules of behavior in the media market are going to be strengthened, that although this is a very interesting political time, it does not mean that Navalny can go on television," he said. "It looks like we're moving to a new understanding in media, where understatement will be the name of the game."

Keywords: Russia, Media, Internet - Russia News - Russia

 

A considerable shake-up on the board of directors at Russia's largest independent talk-radio station is being called a new wave of media censorship in the run-up to the March presidential elections. While Gazprom-Media, the majority shareholder in Echo of Moscow, denied that politics are at the root of the issue, Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin had personally bashed the radio station for "pouring shit over me from morning till evening." The cancellation of a talk show about to feature Alexei Navalny on MTV was also cancelled this week, in what one expert called "the new understanding of media in Russia."

Echo's head, Aleksei Venediktov, announced via Twitter this week that the station's majority shareholder, Gazprom Media, was demanding the ouster of two board members: economist Yevgeny Yasin and lawyer Alexander Makovsky. As a result, Venediktov and his deputy Vladimir Varfolomeyev resigned from the board in protest. While Venediktov said on air that the leadership changes could make it easier for Gazprom Media to fire him, he maintained that the station's political stance would not be affected.

Both representatives of Gazprom-Media and Vladimir Putin's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov denied that the board shake-up has anything to do with politics. Peskov said this week that "everyone knows that Putin and Venediktov always share opinions in different formats about pressing problems with the utmost candidness. In any case, to somehow tie this company process at Echo of Moscow with criticism of Putin or to fantasize about it being taken under someone's control is incorrect." Gazprom-Media, a media holding company owned by state energy company Gazprom, noted that the decision to change the board was part of a process to streamline the company's holdings. However, in a statement it did admit that plans to reshuffle the company's board were accelerated by "attention given to the radio station by various parties," without additional explanation.

Ivan Zassoursky, a professor of new media at Moscow State University, said that the decision was tied to politics. "Of course this is a response to Echo of Moscow's political stance," said Zassoursky. "If this was a business decision, then the smartest move would have been to sell it to [Mikhail] Prokhorov, who would pay a lot for it." Prokhorov announced this week that he would be interested in buying out the company, but Venediktov rejected the idea, saying the company had been "trying buyouts for ten years."

Dissolving the board was only the first step in what is likely a campaign to control the media landscape before the elections, said Alexander Morozov, a media blogger and the director of the Institute for Media Research. "There's no question that this is a political decision that could lead to the replacement of staff at Echo of Moscow, or perhaps a change in the political stance of the station," said Morozov.

Venediktov has maintained a careful dialogue about the ongoing scandal, saying point blank that Vladimir Putin had not taken any personal decision to change Echo's board. "Venediktov still doesn't know whether anyone will come to his aid from above," Morozov explained. "So he's making careful statements for now and is waiting to see what will come later."

Echo of Moscow and Venediktov will likely weather the latest change, wrote Arina Borodina, a political commentator for Kommersant, despite the fact that "the atmosphere is becoming more tense before the election." She noted that she herself had predicted the death of the radio station in the late 1990s when Echo of Moscow was first purchased, but that she "had made a mistake." Echo has repeatedly been threatened with repercussions, but had shown resilience in maintaining its independence, she added: "When Gazprom-Media was bought by Gazprombank in 2005 and thereafter when Yuri Kovalchuk became one of the owners of the radio station, no meaningful changes took place on air."

Zassoursky remained somewhat dourer in his predictions: "I think that this is the beginning of the end of Echo of Moscow as people know it. Because from the beginning of its establishment, Echo of Moscow was an important institution that always gained large audiences that were politicized...and the goal of the [board dissolving] is to change that."

At the same time, television personality Ksenia Sobchak had her most recent show cancelled on MTV. While Sobchak is better known for hosting Russia's meaningless "Dom-2" reality show, she has taken steps into the political ring with "GosDep," a political talk-show whose name is a play on the Russian translation of "U.S. State Department." Sobchak claimed on her Twitter that the first show, focusing on the question "where is Putin leading us?" garnered high ratings for MTV, but that the second show was cancelled unexpectedly: "Today with no explanation my program 'Gosdep' was taken off the air despite its ratings, on Friday Alexei Navalny was to appear," she tweeted.

Opinions quickly circled around whether or not the show was pulled due to Navalny's involvement. Navalny himself wrote on Twitter: "I'm very sorry, but it seems that the show 'GosDep' was closed because of me... though just because [Sobchak] invited me..." MTV, meanwhile, maintained a vague stance today, saying that the "television station has decided to halt filming of the talk-show to clarify the program's format and the channel's targeting." An MTV spokesperson declined to comment.

The move against Sobchak and the reshuffle at Echo of Moscow might be recognized as a sign that the government remains closely interested in what is happening in all forms of media, said Zassoursky. "Those in power most likely want to show that the rules of behavior in the media market are going to be strengthened, that although this is a very interesting political time, it does not mean that Navalny can go on television," he said. "It looks like we're moving to a new understanding in media, where understatement will be the name of the game."