Written evidence submitted by the BBC
World Service and Global News in Russia
BBC WORLD SERVICE AND GLOBAL NEWS IN RUSSIA
SUMMARY
— The media market in Russia is
very competitive with TV attracting big audiences.
— The Kremlin has secured greater
control over the big national TV networks in recent years.
— The BBC's global news offer
is available in English and Russian via radio, TV and the internet.
— The BBC's partnerships with
Russian FM radio stations have suffered setbacks since November
2006.
— The Russian Service is back
on FM in Moscow following the successful launch of Bolshoye Radio,
a joint project between the Russian Service and Voice of Russia.
— BBC newsgathering has experienced
difficulties in obtaining official comment from the Kremlin.
— Access to the North Caucasus
for journalists is restricted.
— Radio audience figures have
fallen since the FM problems encountered; online audiences continue
to grow.
— BBC World is available in 1.8
million full-time homes and over 13,200 hotel rooms.
— Russian adults are increasingly
using 24-hour news channels, and are increasingly aware of BBC
World's independence and impartiality.
MEDIA MARKET
OVERVIEW
Russia's broadcasting market is very competitive;
state-owned or influenced TV networks attract the biggest audiences.
Hundreds of radio stations crowd the dial; traditional state-run
networks compete with music-based commercial FM stations.
The radio market continues to evolve and is
becoming more fragmented. Commercial music stations generally
have bigger audiences than state radio. Niche stations appealing
to particular audience segments continue to grow.
Russian TV channels include:
— Russia TV Channel—national
network, run by state-owned Russian State Television and Radio
Broadcasting Company (RTR).
— Channel One—national network,
51% owned by state, 49% by private shareholders.
— NTV—national network,
owned by state-run Gazprom.
— Centre TV—commercial,
Moscow area.
— Ren TV—Moscow-based commercial
station with strong regional network.
In recent years the Kremlin has secured greater
control over Russia's big national TV networks—Channel One,
RTR and NTV—and critics say independent reporting has suffered
as a result.
An English-language satellite channel, Russia
Today, was launched in late 2005. The news-based station is funded
by the Kremlin and aims to present "global news from a Russian
perspective".
More recently, the first Russian TV news channel
broadcasting in Arabic was launched in May. Operated by an autonomous
non-profit organisation "TV-Novosti", the channel aims
to cover current events in an objective and balanced way, but
also aims to clarify the Russian stance towards international
issues.
There are more than 400 daily newspaper titles,
catering for every taste and persuasion. All of the major nationals
are based in Moscow, but many Russians living in the regions prefer
to take local papers instead. Several influential dailies have
been bought by companies with close links to the Kremlin.
The conflict in Chechnya has been blamed for
government attacks on press freedom. Journalists have been killed
in Chechnya while others have disappeared or have been abducted.
In Moscow and elsewhere journalists have been
harassed, physically abused and there have been high profile murders,
such as that of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Reporters investigating
the affairs of the political and corporate elite are said to be
particularly at risk.
Media rights organisation Reporters Without
Borders has expressed concern at "mounting press freedom
violations" in Vladimir Putin's Russia, including "the
absence of pluralism in news and information, an intensifying
crackdown against journalists... and the drastic state of press
freedom in Chechnya".
BBC PRESENCE IN
RUSSIA
The BBC bureau in Moscow is a multimedia broadcast,
newsgathering and monitoring unit which employs in total around
80 people.
The Russian Service is the largest segment of
the Moscow bureau employing 45 producers and editors working for
radio, online and video. The service broadcasts from two studios
in the bureau for up to four hours a day and works closely with
the BBC news correspondents reporting in English for the rest
of the BBC. It has stringers in St Petersburg, Tbilisi, Kazakhstan
and Tajikistan. There are three other World Service producers
in the bureau, one working for the Persian Service and two for
the Central Asian services.
BBC Newsgathering in Moscow has one bureau chief,
three correspondents, three producers and two cameraman-editors.
The Moscow bureau is designated as a hub covering the whole of
the Former Soviet Union. The BBC has a staff reporter based in
Almaty, Kazakhstan, covering the five republics that used to make
up Soviet central Asia, as well as freelance stringers based in
Riga (Latvia), Kiev (Ukraine) and Tbilisi (Georgia). All of these
coordinate their work through the Moscow bureau.
The BBC Moscow office has recently moved to
new custom-built premises bringing together Newsgathering, World
Service and Monitoring under one roof. It is one of the largest
bureaux in the world.
BBC OUTPUT AVAILABLE
IN RUSSIA
BBC output is available in English and Russian
across a number of media platforms:
Radio
World Service in English, with news and current
affairs and general interest programmes, is available at peak
listening times across the whole of Russia on short wave. It is
available in Moscow, St Petersburg and Ekaterinburg on the BBC's
medium wave frequencies, in conjunction with Russian programming.
The BBC Russian Service currently broadcasts
78 hours a week of radio programming. This is made up of half
hourly news bulletins broadcast round the clock; two main blocks
of weekly current affairs programming (0700-1000 and 1700-2000
Moscow time); two hours a day of current affairs at weekends;
a daily half hour programme aimed at the FSU; a range of pre-recorded
and repeated material. BBC Russian Service programming is carried
on three medium wave frequencies (Moscow, St Petersburg, Ekaterinburg);
in Moscow on Bolshoye Radio FM station; on the NTV+ direct to
home satellite network; and on short wave.
Internet
BBC Russian and English programming is carried
24/7 by the online audio stream at bbcrussian.com live and on
demand.
Television
BBC World, the BBC's commercial international
news channel broadcasting in English, is available in 1.8 million
full-time homes and over 13,200 hotel rooms through satellite
and cable subscription in Russia.
DELIVERY METHODS
AND PROBLEMS
Radio
In recent years the BBC has been available in
English and Russian via FM, medium wave and short wave. However,
the BBC has had significant difficulties with distribution in
Russia since November 2006.
FM
The Russian Service's flagship morning programme,
Utro na BBC, as well as another key programme, BBSeva,
were carried by FM stations in St Petersburg (Radio Leningrad)
and Moscow (Radio Arsenal). These stations carried four hours,
Monday-Friday.
After the illness of Alexander Litvinenko became
public in November 2006, the BBC disappeared from the airwaves
of Radio Leningrad in a "freak storm" that damaged the
station's antenna. However, BBC programmes were restored on that
frequency two weeks later, but finally in January 2007, after
pressure on the station owner by local authorities, the station
ended the relationship with the BBC. That station has since been
sold.
Additionally, the BBC went off air on Radio
Arsenal in Moscow the day after the death of Alexander Litvinenko,
and has never been restored. That station has also suspended its
relationship with the BBC.
These two events follow an earlier loss of license,
in August 2005, by another BBC FM partner, the Silver Rain regional
radio network.
However, on 23 April 2007, the BBC Russian Service
started providing content for a new FM radio station, Bolshoye
Radio in Moscow (six hours a day, Monday-Friday). The station
is a joint project between the BBC Russian Service and Voice of
Russia (the international arm of the Russian state broadcasting
network), and it is the first time the BBC has been formally present
on its own FM licence in Russia.
This means that the flagship morning programme,
Utro na BBC, as well as the drive time strand, is once
again available in the Russian capital in clear quality. The signal
is audible in the city, and as far as 100 kilometres outside.
It's only fair to say that the Russian authorities'
interpretation of the BBC's loss of FM was that it was a technicality—neither
partner had amended their license to allow them to take external
programming.
BBC Russia also has some programming (two half
hour programmes a week) taken by Radio Russia (federal radio network).
This has reduced from last year. Additionally, the Russian Service
is no longer present on the Mayak federal network, although talks
are continuing to restore this relationship. These networks offered
a mix of FM and MW distribution.
Medium wave
Apart from the Radio Bolshoye FM agreement,
MW is currently the main form of distribution for the Russian
Service. There are three MW frequencies; in Moscow (1260 MW);
St Petersburg (1260 MW); Ekaterinburg (666 MW). These frequencies
carry BBC 24/7—when Russian is not on air, English is. The
BBC tendered for and won these frequencies formally in December
2005. Over Christmas 2006, the BBC's MW signal in Moscow experienced
a marked deterioration in quality and audibility.
This deterioration was picked up by the Russian
press which referred to the BBC's signal being jammed. After monitoring
this, the BBC decided to make a public statement expressing its
concern via its website. There was an immediate improvement in
quality, and an engineer who had been denied a visa on several
occasions previously was allowed in for testing. The signal has
since improved.
Short wave
The Russian Service is available at peak listening
times on one or more of the following shortwave frequencies: 5875,
7325, 9510, 9585, 9635, 9680. World Service in English is also
available at peak listening times on 9410, 12095, 15565.
Internet
The BBC's Russian language site, bbcrussian.com,
is one of the BBC's biggest language sites. Producers are based
in London and in Moscow. User figures compare favourably with
similar news sites in Russia.
The site offers a mix of text, video, and audio.
This multiplatform offer is unique in what is a competitive marketplace.
The Russian Service is one of six key BBC World Service languages
to have recently launched a broadband video offer—a unit
of three producers, one based in Moscow, produce several video
items a day, and occasional webcasts.
Broadband is currently the most viable video
opportunity for the Service, as there is very little potential
for partnerships with or carriage on domestic Russian Television.
The site has also introduced a live audiostream,
offering a radio schedule (Russian and English) to online listeners,
as well as offering programmes on demand. It is hoped that a podcast
service will be introduced soon.
Interactivity has been a success for the site.
The number of people visiting forums on bbcrussian.com is high.
The numbers are generally in the top two compared to other BBC
language sites. Russian Service radio has recently launched a
web-based interactive programme to make the most of the interest
from the audience, and with the return to FM, the Service has
reintroduced interactive slots in other radio programmes.
The site is also developing its blog offer and
has recently conducted research into the Russian blogosphere.
Additionally, the Russian Service recently soft
launched Russia Select—a new java application for reading
BBC News on mobiles, for which the World Service is currently
trying to develop partnerships.
Radio via Satellite
All the BBC's Russian programming is carried
by the New Day channel on the NTV Plus direct to home satellite
distribution system. World Service in English is also available
on Hot Bird 8.
Television—BBC World
In homes the major platform is DTH channel,
NTV Plus, which has 449,671 subscribers. The remainder of BBC
World subscribers are with a large number of cable operators.
Consolidation of the cable market in any major form has yet to
take place.
Kosmos TV is the main cable operator providing
BBC World in hotels.
REPORTING RESTRICTIONS
The most frequent frustration for BBC journalists
in Russia is not pressure exerted to stop them covering a story,
but the absence of anyone willing to give official comment. The
Kremlin has an English-speaking spokesman who will talk on the
record quite often, but not always on camera. The Foreign Ministry
does not have a system of foreign-language capable spokespeople
and very rarely grants interviews of any kind. Most requests to
Russian Ministries for interviews have to be prepared weeks, if
not months, ahead of the desired interview date and usually involve
sending faxes to officials who may take days or weeks to reply.
The North Caucasus remains the trickiest area
for news coverage. Access to Chechnya is only officially possible
on government-organised trips and there is a system of additional
accreditation cards for journalists travelling to the so-called
"zone of the counter terrrorist operation" (in the BBC's
experience this also covers the neighbouring republics of North
Ossetia, Ingushetia and Dagestan). The BBC Russian Service was
unable to travel on a planned trip to Chechnya for the Schools
Day 24 project due to last minute new restrictions imposed on
journalists' travel to Chechnya by the Russian authorities.
The BBC approaches these areas with great care,
in terms of how correspondents are sent in, and the training they
receive.
In general there is still a fair amount of suspicion
of foreign journalists in Russia—this may come from police,
security forces, ordinary people or the private security of rich
Russians in Moscow. The BBC is often perceived in the first instance
as state media just doing the bidding of the British government
(the way state television works in Russia).
BBC World Service is certainly working in a
much more tense situation now than prior to the death of Alexander
Litvinenko. There have been many tensions in UK bilateral relations,
and the difficulties with FM seem to suggest that these may have
had an impact on the World Service.
There has been a great deal of Russian press
interest in both the distribution problems experienced and in
what seems to be a campaign by a group of London-based exiles
aimed at trying to prove the Russian Service's editorial policy
is "under the thumb" of the Kremlin. This campaign has
focused on the service as a whole, and a couple of editors in
particular. The complaints submitted have been investigated and
answered in detail, and found to have no substance. The FM issue
and dissident criticism was also covered in the British press.
BBC WORLD SERVICE
AND BBC WORLD
PROGRAMMING ON
RUSSIA
BBC World Service
World Service in English held three public debates
last year in Russian cities: in Moscow (on Russia and the West),
in St Petersburg (on Democracy) and in Tomsk (on Ordinary People's
lives).
The G8 summit in July was also widely covered.
Other topics covered included:
— The uncertainty around who will
succeed President Putin in next year's presidential elections,
and the recent demonstrations by opposition groups.
— Deteriorating UK-Russia relations
(Berezovsky row; boycott of Russian Economic Forum in London;
Litvinenko death and investigation; Ambassador harassed by Nashi;
Shell/Sakhalin etc).
— The murder of the Anna Politkovskaya,
Russia's best known investigative journalist and fierce critic
of the war in Chechnya
— The death of Boris Yelstin.
— Disputes with neighbouring countries
over gas, wine and mineral water.
— Russia's increasing economic
and political self-confidence because of its energy resources.
— Civil society (media, NGOs)
coming under increasing pressure as government tightens regulatory
and legislative framework.
— The targeted killing of several
other high profile individuals such as banker Andrei Kozlov.
— IPOs (Initial Public Offerings)
by Russian companies on western stock exchanges.
The Russian Service has carried a range of special
programming over the last year. Probably the most significant
outside broadcast was the three days of broadcasting from an internet
café in the heart of St Petersburg during the G8 summit.
Key programmes were co-presented in front of an audience. This
was a big success, with the emphasis on interactivity and audiences,
including a guest editor. There was also special coverage of summit
themes online and on radio prior to the event itself.
Prior to that, the Russian Service produced
an hour long debate in St Petersburg in March 2006 looking at
bilateral relations between the UK and Russia.
The Russian Service recently launched a new
interactive radio programme, Vam Slovo (Over To You), for which
the audience sets the agenda through the website. The programme
went on the road to the Russian town of Samara for its launch,
and looked at issues such as interfaith society, migration, and
education.
Coverage of the death of Alexander Litvinenko
in November 2006 was one of the major stories of the year, and
the Russian Service covered it comprehensively from all angles.
The last interview with Mr Litvinenko was conducted by the BBC
online team on 11 November 2006 and was widely quoted in the British
and international media.
The news of Yeltsin's death broke during the
Russian Service's afternoon programme. The teams in London got
the news into the end of the programme, the news bulletin on the
hour and online. The speed of the BBC's reporting on both TV and
radio was noted in subsequent commentary on the media coverage
in Russia.
Key interviews with former Soviet leaders, like
the USSR Foreign Minister and later President of Georgia Eduard
Shevardnadze, were secured for the discussion programme Radius,
and the interactive programme Vam Slovo was extended. Strong listener
and reader reaction to Yeltsin's death continued for several days
through Russian Service online forums, and via contributions to
radio programmes, where the impact of the Service's renewed audibility
on FM was immediately felt.
For the World Service season on young people,
Generation Next, the Russian Service took part in Schools
Day 24. The team organised a live link-up between a school
in Moscow and a school in Tbilisi. The children talked about bilateral
relations and politics, but also about more cultural issues, education
and migration. It was a very interesting and lively programme,
given the tense relations between the two countries at the time.
The Service has undertaken several special "seasons"
of its own, such as one on children, another entitled NET (internet
and new media), and Londongrad (about the Russian community in
London) which ran for online and radio. The idea of "seasons"
is to have an intensive focus on an issue so as to get maximum
impact.
There have been a few high profile webcasts
with newsmakers such as President Putin (details below), Moldovan
President Voronin (live), Tartarstan President Shaimiyev, Russia's
ambassador to the UK Yuri Fokin, and recently an interview with
Toomas Ilves, President of Estonia.
Radio, online and video teams work in close
cooperation on all big stories and seasons. A video team was recently
sent to Daghestan to report on the tense situation there, and
the Russian Service is currently working on a tri-media story
on police brutality in Bashkortostan.
There are also plans for the Service to undertake
a video, online and radio project about Russian-speaking communities
in the FSU—Latvia, Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan.
BBC World
Recent BBC World programmes on Russia have included
the following:
As part of the Inside Russia season in
July 2006, Have Your Say presenter Bridget Kendall put
forward questions to President Putin, direct from the Kremlin.
He was the first G8 leader to take part in the programme. More
than 3,700 questions were received from BBC viewers and listeners—the
most ever on the programme for a head of state.
As part of the Generation Next season
in December 2006, BBC World took a unique glimpse into the future
of the biggest country on the planet, 15 years after the break-up
of the Soviet Union. It focussed on children born after 1991,
the first Russians in history to be born into a "democracy".
The programme looked at where Russia is going through the eyes
of its next generation and included a day of live broadcasting
from a school in Tver.
HARDtalk interviewed Alexander Lebedev
at the Russian Economic Forum (April 2007) in London. The interview
transmitted on 1 May 2007. Stephen Sackur, presenter of HARDtalk,
has also interviewed prominent Russians: Sergei Ivanov and
Sergei Lavrov, as well as leading figures from the world of business,
most recently Anders Dahlvig (President of IKEA).
BBC World has a variety of programming planned
for the next Russian parliamentary elections at the end of this
year, and the presidential elections in 2008.
MARKETING, AUDIENCES
AND BBC IMPACT
IN RUSSIA
Marketing—The World Service ran
a big marketing campaign in St Petersburg in the run up to the
G8 in July. At that time the organisation had a good FM rebroadcasting
partner in Radio Leningrad.
A new marketing campaign is being prepared for
the website, bbcrussian.com from May 2007.
The Russian Service has also run a series of
presentations in Russian schools and universities in Moscow, St
Petersburg and Novosibirsk to promote its Learn English resources.
Radio audiences—The BBC's own annual
audience research conducted in November/December 2006, when the
World Service was already experiencing some FM problems, showed
that the audiences for Russian and English had dropped significantly.
According to BBC World Service's latest estimate,
taking into account the ending of the BBC's partnership with Mayak
Radio, the national audience for Russian is now 670,000 (down
330,000). The estimated weekly reach in Moscow and St Petersburg
is 1.5% and 2.25% respectively, down from 4% since the previous
year.
For English the fall was greater, down by 62,000
to 58,000.
However, it is hoped that the start of transmissions
on Bolshoye Radio in April 2007 will boost the figures in Moscow
and the surrounding area.
The World Service recently conducted a series
of focus groups in Moscow among news "influencers" (the
target audience). This highlighted some barriers. The biggest
were: the distribution problems experienced, suspicion of foreign
broadcasters, as well as a bigger interest in domestic rather
than international stories. However, it also highlighted market
gaps and high appreciation for BBC style, objective news offer
and internet services.
The BBC's online audience is growing steadily.
The BBC Russian online services (on bbcrussian.com and on partner
sites) had 1.1 million unique visitors in March 2007, (up 0.2
million from the same month in 2006), and 8.3 million page impressions
(up 1.1 million from the same time a year ago).
Impact—The impact of the online
service is clearly shown through the audience figures and also
through interactivity with the audience. The impact of radio is
more difficult to judge. Stories or quotes are often picked up
by the Russian media, such as the webcast by the Russian Ambassador
to London—comments were widely quoted by the Russian news
media and websites; the radio interview with the Estonian president
was also quoted widely.
The fact that the Russian Service had the last
interview with Alexander Litvinenko was quoted widely in the Russian
and British media. Russian Service staff were commissioned to
write pieces for The New Statesman, Russian Newsweek
and other publications on the story.
The visit of Vam Slovo to Samara was
covered by the local media, and there was a large amount of press
coverage around the BBC's outside broadcast from the St Petersburg
G8 summit.
There was also a lot of Russian media attention
in February 2007 when news of the planned Bolshoye Radio FM station
came out.
BBC World television is available in 1.8 million
full-time homes and over 13,200 hotel rooms.
Audience data for BBC World from Russia is not
readily available. However, BBC World has previously conducted
short tracker surveys in Russia. According to the GMI Survey,
[103]Russian
adults increasingly are: using 24-hour news channels; aware of
BBC World's independence and impartiality; and increasingly confident
of BBC World's trustworthiness. The same survey finds that over
one quarter (26%) of Russians surveyed, spontaneously named BBC
World when asked to name an international news channel.*
103 This result was higher than in most countries.
In the Global 2005 International Air Travellers
Survey (IATS), results show that more than 25% of international
flyers resident in Russia watch BBC World each week and trust
in BBC World is very high among travellers to Russia.
PLANS FOR
THE FUTURE
It is hoped that Bolshoye Radio will remain
on air, although this is hard to guarantee in the current political
climate in Russia. The World Service hope to formally launch the
station in September. The amount of audience interactivity following
the death of Boris Yeltsin, which was announced on the launch
day in April, was an encouraging sign.
The Russian Service plans to relaunch its radio
afternoon drivetime strand, as well as strengthen its news bulletin
offer.
There are quite a few issues around the BBC's
status in Russia as a broadcaster, which the World Service will
continue to try and move forward. At the moment, the World Service
has a license to broadcast based on its MW frequencies, and it
is currently in the process of registering its Moscow office as
a Russian company which will enable it to bid for broadcast licences
and ease various registration requirements.
There are lots of distribution challenges and
the World Service has recently appointed a new business development
manager for Russia, based in Moscow, whose priorities are to manage
the Bolshoye Radio partnership, find new FM radio partners, particularly
in St Petersburg, get the Russian Service back onto the federal
Mayak network, expand online partnerships, and secure a deal with
mobile phone operators.
Going forward the Russian service is constantly
assessing ways to develop and improve its impact in the very difficult
Russian market. Despite the recent distribution problems, the
focus groups carried out in Moscow showed that there is a high
appreciation for BBC style and objective news. The Service will
continue to seek new platform opportunities wherever they offer
the potential for growth and impact.
The online audience in Russia continues to grow,
and the World Service has responded to this by developing the
Russian Service's broadband video offer. There is very little
potential for Russian Service partnerships with, or carriage on,
domestic Russian television.
BBC World aim to continue to increase distribution
in a growing television news market place.
May 2007
103 GMI Global Omnibus Summer 2005. Back
| 
