The Mendicant Journalists

By Sam Vaknin
Author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited"

Aleksandr Plotnikov died in June 2002 in his dacha. He was murdered.
He has just lost a bid to restore his control of a local paper in
Tyumen Oblast in Russia. Media ownership is frequently a lethal
business in eastern Europe. The same week, Ukrainian National
Television deputy chief, Andryi Feshchenko, was found dead in a jeep
in a deserted street of Kyiv. Prosecutors suspect that he was forced
to take his life at gunpoint.

In an interesting variation on this familiar theme, a Moldovan
parliamentarian accused the editor of the government-run
newspaper, "Moldova Suverana", of collusion in his kidnapping.

Governments throughout the region make it a point to rein in free
journalism. Restrictive media statutes are being introduced from
Russia to Poland. Romania's Senate approved, on June 6, 2002, a law
granting persons offended by a print article the right to have their
response published in the same media outlet and to seek monetary
compensation all the same.

The Romanian president attacked the media and said that he
is "amazed" at their "talent to distort" his statements. He
attributed this to a "lack of information, lack of culture, or
malevolence." In Belarus, journalists are standing trial for
defaming the president. They face 5 years incarceration if convicted.

Early in 2006, Macedonia as poised to pass a long-overdue Freedom of
Information law even as it shut down the highly efficient and (from
repeated personal experience) indispensably helpful Agency of
Information. Thus, journalists, both foreign and domestic, cannot
now obtain accreditation ("press card"). The distinct red card
served hitherto as a form of much needed protection in these nether
regions and a prerequisite to securing a mandatory work permit and
custom clearances for bringing in TV equipment. Some say that the
ruling party wishes to minimize its exposure to the foreign media
during the forthcoming, closely-contested, heated and sensitive
parliamentary elections.

Four years ago (in 2002), Russia introduced a decree regulating the
licensing of audio and video production duplication rights.
According to abc.ru, a license from the Media Ministry is required
to make copies of any multimedia work. The Culture Ministry licenses
such oeuvres for mass audiences.

The frequency of A1+, Armenia's most vocal independent TV station,
was auctioned off to politically-sponsored business fronts, forcing
the hard-hitting station off the air on April 3, 2002 - just in time
for the following year's elections. The new owners - "Sharm" -
promised to concentrate on "optimistic news".

The station appealed the tender procedure to the Armenian Economic
Court and opposition groups took to the streets. AFP carried a
statement by the self-appointed watchdog, Raporteurs Sans
Frontieres, that called the tender "the muzzling of the country's
main news voice ... the most serious violation of pluralism in
Armenia in years".

Even the US Embassy in Yerevan stirred:

"A1+ performed a valuable public service in offering substantial
media access to a broad spectrum of opinion makers, political
leaders, and those holding differing views."

The Azerbaijani prime minister promised to allocate $3.5 million in
credits to media outlets - but, tellingly, made this announcement
exclusively on the state-owned channel. The bulk of the television
tax in Macedonia ends up in the coffers of the somnolent and bloated
state channel which caters to a mere one quarter of the viewers. The
independent media - both print and electronic - face unfair
competition in attracting scarce advertising revenues.

The managers of six Latvian private television and radio stations
published an open letter to President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Prime
Minister Andris Berzins, the Competition Council, the National Radio
and Television Council (NRTC), the State Support Monitoring
Commission, and political parties.

They deplored the commercialization of the public media. State
support - fumed the signatories - allows these outlets to undercut
the prices of advertising airtime. They urged a major revision and
modernization of the law. Latvia is considering the introduction of
a monthly mandatory "subscription fee" to finance its state-owned
media.

Media properties are awarded to loyal cronies and oligarchs - having
been expropriated from tycoons and managers who fell from official
grace. Such assets are often "parked" with safe corporate hands ad
interim. Russian energy behemoth Gazprom, for instance, acquired a
media empire overnight by looking after such orphan holdings. It is
now dismantling these non-core operations.

In Russia, the tendered broadcasting rights of TV6 were allocated to
Media-Sotsium, a consortium led by regime stalwarts such as Yevgeni
Primakov, a former prime minister and the current chief of the
Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Arkadi Volski, head of the
Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. The group included
leading managers and active political figures. The consortium's
general director is none else than Yevgeni Kiselev, the erstwhile
general manager of TV6.

TV6 was taken off the air by the Kremlin in 2001 - as was Russia's
most popular independent station, NTV. Quoted by Radio Free Europe
Radio Liberty, the Editor in Chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station
commented that this "completes the redistribution of television
property in Russia from one oligarch who was not loyal to the
authorities to others that are".

Gorbachev, whose group bid for the station, concurred
wholeheartedly. In a rare show of consonance, so did the communist
Zyuganov. Muscovites polled in April 2002 said they hoped TV6 would
become a sports-only channel.

In a speech to the National Press Club in Washington on April 9,
2002 Russian Media Minister, Mikhail Lesin, admitted
that "developments surrounding the NTV and TV-6 companies certainly
had a political background, and there is no denying it". He promised
to substantially cut funding to "politically oriented mass media".

Russian media, insisted the Minister, is having "growing pains".
Referring to the older and more mature media in America, he
asked: "Let us remember how this 100-year-old gentleman looked when
he was 10 years old. He did not have any problems at that time?"

State interference rarely stops at the ownership level. Subtle self-
censorship by obsequious or terrorized journalists is often coupled
with governmental micromanagement. The license of NTV, the eponymous
successor of the shuttered independent Russian TV station, was
renewed only recently for another five years - after many delays and
public statements casting doubts on the outcome. This form of subtle
pressure to self-discipline is common.

The Russian business daily Kommersant commented:

"(The delays were intended to) stimulate Gazprom to more quickly
sell its shares in the company and to frighten (NTV's General
Director) Jordan into being a bit more attentive to what NTV puts on
the air."

Belarusian president, Alaksandr Lukashenka, instructed the chief of
the Belarusian Television and Radio Company to "work around the
clock" to improve programming. "The Belarusian Television and Radio
Company works in the same information field with powerful foreign
broadcasters: ORT, RTR, NTV, Radio Rossiya, Radio Mayak, Radio
Liberty, Radio Racja, and others. It is in a state of ideological
competition with them and, speaking straightforwardly, sometimes in
confrontation."

"Belarusian Television, as before, remains an information supplement
to foreign television companies." - he was quoted as saying by
REF/RL. How would such a turnaround be achieved with a shoestring
budget was left unarticulated. Belarus couldn't pay Kirch Media the
$500,000 it demanded for the World Cup rights.

The Belarusian Language Society appealed to UNESCO and the EU to
help launch a Belarusian heritage and culture satellite broadcast on
the Discovery Channel. Russian-language broadcasts, they noted
ruefully, account for a crippling 97 percent of airtime.

Lukashenka finished his diatribe with a practical advice: "Beginning
from tomorrow, every manager in the Belarusian Radio and Television
Company has to sleep with a television set." In a country where
disagreeing with the president can be the last thing one does, his
wish is a command.

The situation is especially egregious in the fiefdoms of Central
Asia.

In Georgia, the politically-pliant tax police, often an instrument
of intimidation of opponents, raided Rustavi-2, an independent thorn
in the irate government's side. In Kazakhstan, in November 2001, all
the media properties of Alma-Media - including its prized Kazakh
Commercial TV - were suspended. Malicious rumors were spread by the
police against the editor of the outspoken newspaper, "Karavan". The
rumors were promptly denied by the Kazakh Minister of Internal
Affairs.

If all else fails, crime does the trick. the independent Kazakh
paper, "Delovoe-Obozrenie-Respublika", was first firebombed and
then - five days later - closed by the court because it failed to
provide a publication schedule. OSCE slammed Kazakhstan for its new
Administrative Offenses Code which is replete with 40 media-related
transgressions.

RFE/RL quoted a statement by Rozlana Taukina, head of the
Independent Media Association of Almaty, in a press conference in
Moscow. She complained that 22 independent media outlets have been
closed in Kazakhstan over the past month.

Another instrument of suppression are libel suits which invariably
result in exorbitant and destructive penalties.

Aleksandr Chernov, a Krasnodar judge, won in February 2002 $1
million in compensation from "Novaya Gazeta", a paper owned by the
disgraced and self-exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Senior Russian
public figures issued a passionate plea to reduce the fine and
prevent the paper's bankruptcy.

In an unrelated lawsuit, Mezhprombank, alleged by "The Moscow Times"
to be a money laundering venue, won c. $500,000 in damages from the
aforementioned besieged "Novaya Gazeta". Court bailiffs seem
determined to force the closure of the paper despite a pending
appeal.

The largest circulation Slovak paper, "Novy cas", was ordered to pay
a whopping $100,000 in compensation to Real Slovak National Party
(PSNS) Chairman Jan Slota. The paper reported that he had been seen
drunk.

Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, encapsulated the philosophy of
state interventionism neatly in an interview he granted to ITAR-TASS
and other Russian news agencies:

"If freedom of the press is understood as the freedom of a handful
of so-called oligarchs to buy journalists, to dictate their will in
the interests of their groups, and to protect the way of Russia's
oligarchic development that was thrust on the country over the past
decade, then yes, it is in danger ... (The authorities should not)
allow individuals to shape the country's strategy the way they like,
(while) filling their pockets with illegally earned money ...
(Freedom of the press) implies the ability of journalists and their
groups to freely, openly, and fearlessly define their position on
key problems of the development of the country and society, to
criticize actions of the authorities (and to make sure that the
authorities react properly)."

Putin harked back to the nanny state, calling Russian media immature
and still in the development stage. They need assistance in
developing ways to secure their future economic independence. The
state will create the necessary conditions for the "economic freedom
of the press".

The president's aide, Aleksei Volin, was quoted by REF/RL as having
told radio Ekho Moskvy that state-ownership of the media is rendered
meaningless in an age of multiple channels. The state, said the
aide, should concentrate on programming and thus "ensure its role in
television media".

Russia's then Media Minister, Lesin, hastened to make clear that the
state has no intention of privatizing its television media holdings,
ORT, the second channel (RTR), and Kultura, an educational cum
entertainment network. The government - a minority shareholder in
ORT - denies meddling in the editorial affairs and policies of
either of these federally-funded channels. ORT and RTR just paid c.
$40 million for the Russia World Cup rights.

A bill, introduced in the Duma by independents, failed to pass last
week. It would have reduced state ownership of mass media outlets to
25 percent within 6 months. Anti-government deputies claimed that
the state controls 90 percent of all the media in the vast country.
Their colleagues from the coalition cited a figure of 10 percent.

In Moldova, a committee of lawyers, journalists, and deputies of
parliament issued a report on May 3, 2002 advocating against
privatization of the media. Both radio and television, they intoned,
must remain in the safe hands of the state, though in the form of
an "autonomous" public broadcasting authority. This flew in the face
of recommendation issued earlier by the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE).

In response, incensed journalists, intellectuals, and lawyers
established Public Television Company. Modeled after the BBC, it
will be sponsored by private sector donations and advertising
revenues - they told Infotag, the news agency. The head of an EU
visiting delegation went as far as warning the Moldovan government
that ignoring PACE's advice "will have catastrophic consequences
both for the current government and the citizens".

The new Hungarian government is considering to shut down one or more
of the state-owned TV channels and to reform the media law. But, EU-
orientated statements to the contrary - Hungary's state media is
still under the collective thumb of its politicians. According to
the May 15, 2002 issue of "Nepszabadsag", the Socialist party media
spokesman publicly "suggested" that the President of Hungarian
Television should resign due to his bias during the elections.

Journalists on all levels readily collaborate with political
masters. The staff of Hungarian Pannon Radio took over the previous
location of the station and are broadcasting virulent nationalistic
propaganda with the financial and political backing of the extremist
MIEP - the Hungarian Justice and Life Party.

The ownership of electronic media is the electoral trump card in
most countries in transition. Papers are little read. According to
Emil Danielyan in RFE/RL:

"There are several newspapers that are highly critical of the
authorities but their impact on public opinion is limited, as their
combined daily print run does not exceed 10,000 copies (Armenia's
population is just over 3 million)."

In Macedonia, the circulation of "Dnevnik", the country's leading
paper, is thought to be c. 20,000 copies on a weekday (its official
figures of triple that notwithstanding) - compared to more than
500,000 regular viewers of A1, the dominant independent TV station,
owned by business interests. No weekly sells more than 3000 copies
in this country of 2 million people.

Foreign ownership of media is still a rarity. Xenophobia and
crookedness combine to drive away potential investors. Central
European Media Enterprise (CME), an American holding company for
central European media properties, endured the most grueling
experiences in the late 1990's in the Czech Republic and Slovenia.

Tele5, a new Polish television channel, is owned by Fincast, a
Polish subsidiary of Italian Eurocast Italia and more than 70
percent of Poland's regional media are in the hands on two Western
companies. The second largest paper, Rzeczpospolia, is owned by a
Norwegian firm. But these are the Polish exceptions that only
highlight the regional rule.

Poland is atypical on other fronts as well. Poles are avid devourers
of broadsheets. More than 20 percent of them feast on the Gazeta
Wyborcza every day. Amendments to the existing law prevent the
formation of media monopolies by restricting media ownership to one
nationwide broadcasting license or one nationwide daily. The
Wyborcza would thus be prevented from taking possession of the
private Polish TV station, Polsat, one of many.

Adam Michnik, an erstwhile dissident turned influential editor,
remarked acidulously to "The Economist":

"Of course (prime minister) Miler (a former senior communist) should
know how evil a monopoly can be ... (The government wants to render
Wyborcza) cowardly, toothless, and servile. Authoritarian states
like such papers, but Polish democracy does not need one."

Admittedly, Poland is not above harassment and intimidation. The
managers of Rzeczpospolita - 49 percent owned by the government -
were hounded by tax inspectors and their passports were
confiscated. "An action usually reserved for big-time criminals" -
notes "The Economist" dryly.

The board of the state-owned television is packed with sycophants
and cronies. Now, the widely-held theory goes, Miller has his sights
on the print media. He wants to force the Norwegians to sell to
Trybuna, the little-read mouthpiece of the ex-Communists.

But the media in the post-Communist territories may be simply
reaping what they sowed.

In an article published by "Central Europe Review", I summed up the
state of the media in Central and Eastern Europe thus:

"What sets the media in the countries in transition apart from its
brethren in the West is its lack of (even feigned) professionalism,
its venality and its tainted and ulterior motives. In these nether
regions, journalism amounts to influence peddling. Journalists are
easily bought and sold and their price is ever decreasing. They work
in mouthpieces of business interests masquerading as media. They
receive their instructions - to lie, to falsify, to ignore, to
emphasize, to suppress, to extort, to inform, to collaborate with
the authorities - from their Editor in Chief. They trade news for
advertising.

The commercial media - the likes of 'Nova' TV in the Czech Republic -
are poor people's imitations of the more derided aspects of
American mass culture. Overflowing with lowbrow talk shows, freaks
on display, malicious gossip which passes for 'news' and glitzy
promos and quizzes - these TV stations and print magazines derive
the bulk of their income from advertising. Then there is the
mercenary media. These are groups of hired pens and keyboards - so
called journalists - who offer their services to the highest bidder.
Their price is often pathetic: a lunch a month, one hundred euros, a
trip abroad and a dingy hotel room. They collaborate with their
editors and share the spoils with them.

The mercenaries often work in 'business-sponsored media outlets'.
These are TV stations, daily papers and periodicals owned by the
oligarchs of malignant capitalism and used by them to rubbish their
opponents and flagrantly and unabashedly further their business
interests. This phenomenon used to be most pronounced in Russia,
where virtually all the media was once identified with mafia-like
interests - before it was taken over by the newly authoritarian
state."

According to a poll conducted in May 2002 by a few Russian Web sites
in collaboration with radio Ekho Moskvy, more than 57 percent of all
respondents in all age groups supported state censorship. The main
concerns were overt and excessive violence and pornography.

Aware of this popular mandate, Putin's alma mater, the FSB (formerly
known as the KGB) moved to further its hijacking of the media. ITAR-
TASS reported that FSB Lieutenant General Aleksandr Zdanovich,
former chief spokesman and head of the public relations center of
the spy organization, was appointed deputy director of the VGTRK,
the state broadcasting company.


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AUTHOR BIO (must be included with the article)



Sam Vaknin ( http://samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant
Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West
Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Global Politician,
Central Europe Review, PopMatters, Bellaonline, and eBookWeb, a
United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent, and
the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in
The Open Directory and Suite101.

Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government
of Macedonia.

Visit Sam's Web site at http://samvak.tripod.com