BOOKMARKS english.ruvr.ru Voice of Russia
10
RUSSIA NOW WWW.RBTH.RU
Society
en.rian.ru Ria Novosti: latest news in English
SECTION SPONSORED BY ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA, RUSSIA
russiatoday.ru Russia Today TV
DISTRIBUTED WITH THE DAILY TELEGRAPH TUESDAY_SEPTEMBER 29_2009 wciom.com Russian Public Opinion Research Centre
Facts Media Traditional radio is facing major challenges in a globalised media atmosphere
1
The Voice of Russia
(Radio Moscow) was
the first to start inter-
national radio broadcasting in Voice of reason or radio ga-ga?
1929. Now, with an audience of
109m, it ranks third after BBC
and Voice of America among Huddled in grimy, candlelit
the biggest broadcasters. barracks, with Nazi guard dogs
barking outside, inmates of
2
Since 2003, Voice Eastern Europe’s most
of Russia has been notorious concentration camps
broadcasting digitally would gather round a strange
in Europe. It currently maintains device made of old light bulbs
mobile phone broadcasting in and tin cans. The contraption
16 US states. was an improvised radio,
broadcasting the only outside
3
25pc of all listeners voices most of them would hear
have started listen- for a long time. They were tuned
ing to Voice of Russia to Radio Moscow.
during the past five years. VoR
broadcasts 151 hours of con-
ARTEM ZAGORODNOV
tent globally each day. RUSSIA NOW
On October 29, 1929, Radio
Moscow – the Soviet Union’s
Quotes
fi rst try at foreign propaganda
– became the fi rst radio station
‘VoR does a good job
in the world to broadcast to an
of providing objective
international audience. It was
coverage of the most
followed three years later by the
BBC, and then by Voice of Amer-
complicated proc-
ica in 1942.
esses under way in By 1939, the station was broad-
Russia. It makes the
casting in English, French,
ANNA ARTEMEVA
country’s foreign pol-
German, Italian and Arabic Voice of Russia broadcasts to six continents from its headquarters in downtown Moscow
icy more clear to the
and warning the world about
the growth of fascism in Eu-
audiences abroad’
rope. Mussolini personally or- RN Dossier formation about life in Russia. open our own bureau in Wash-
Andranik Migranyan dered Radio Moscow to be The BBC has too many com- ington. The main problem is fi -
NYC branch of the Institute for blocked, as did Hitler follow- ing Company. During this time, mercials: I hope Voice of Russia nancing: our budget remains a
Democracy and Cooperation ing the onset of the Second he hosted several radio and TV doesn’t make the same mis- state secret, but I can tell you
World War. The station would talk shows. take.” that it should be at least three
continue to inspire those in- In 1996, Bistritsky headed the Globalisation has, however, times as large.”
‘Everyone should
volved in opposition move- Society section of the popular taken its toll on Voice of Russia’s Voice of Russia also faces a
have an opportunity ments throughout Nazi-occu- Itogi magazine before becoming popularity. The rise of the inter- major challenge from main-
to receive information
pied territories. a producer for the BBC in Mos- net, burgeoning international taining its sheer breadth of lan-
from many sources,
At the peak of the Cold War, cow in 1998. commerce and inexpensive guages and listeners. “While
not just CNN. If an
during the Cuban Missile Crisis In 2008, President Vladimir Pu- travel all mean that listeners we’re a single radio station,
in October 1962, Soviet leader tin appointed Bistristky to head are now less interested in re- each of our languages is a sepa-
American wants to
VOICE OF RUSSIA
Nikita Khrushchev chose Radio the Voice of Russia. ceiving targeted information in rate media outlet. We try to
learn more about Moscow to broadcast his open Andrei Bistritsky was born in Bistritsky holds a PhD from the their native language. The de- maintain a somewhat unified
Russia, he should
letter to President Kennedy in- 1960 in Moscow. He entered Academy of Pedagological Sci- velopment of English – which is editorial line that directs con-
also listen to Voice
forming him of the USSR’s in- the media in 1991, when he ences and is a professor at the now understood by more than tent, but it’s not always easy,”
of Russia to form his
tention to redirect a military joined the All-Russia State Ra- Higher School of Economics. He one billion people – into a “glo- says Bistritsky. Recently, the
convoy headed for Cuba, there- dio and Television Broadcast- is married and has one son. bal language” has also affected station launched several FM
own view’
by avoiding a global war. major media. transmitters in the north of
Mike Sefanov One of the primary achieve- “Traditional radio is experi- Iraq.“ Afghanistan is one of our
CNN’s Moscow Producer ments of Soviet propaganda encing slow and very painful most successful markets,” he
during this time was its sheer casts in 38 languages – more On whether his station, the suc- changes,” explains Bistritsky. adds.
size and scope: official sympa- than any other network – to 160 cessor to a powerful Soviet “The oncoming digital age has “Yet exactly this challenge
thy and support for the “op- countries. propaganda machine, was will- increased competition interna- provides Voice of Russia its
Numbers
pressed” peoples of Western co- A recent Kremlin-driven cam- ing to be as objective as the tionally. While the average lis- mission in the 21st century,” he
lonial powers necessitated the paign to improve Russia’s image BBC, Bistritsky is quick to re- tener in, say, Brazil, was pre- explains. “We will be a ‘hub’ of
goal of reaching every person in resulted in the appointment of spond, “I worked as a producer sented with maybe 15 radio sta- sorts, an international airport.
38 languages encompass his or her own language. Hence, 49-year-old reformer Andrei at the BBC myself and regard it tions a few decades ago, now he We will collect, organise and
Voice of Russia’s broadcasting Radio Moscow – called Voice of Bistritsky to head the Voice of with much sympathy and re- faces 600. Content – more than integrate information, distrib-
capability. The station airs in Russia since 1991 – developed Russia. “We need to become a spect, but I don’t overestimate ever – has to be adjusted to fi t uting it to our vast audience.
more languages than any other its vast international broad- multimedia resource, not just a its objectivity. Remember when local demand.” We target each listener – in his
network. casting network in languages radio station – something like [BBC journalist, John] Simpson One visit to Voice of Russia’s language – with exactly the
such as Urdu, Bengali and Pa- the BBC,” Bistritsky, a former was expelled from Belgrade? website (english.ruvr.ru) dem- content that is interesting to
160 countries on six conti- shto. Today, the station broad- deputy director of the All-Rus- “The Voice of Russia’s charter onstrates how far technologi- him. This is something the BBC
nents receive Voice of Russia's sia State Radio and Television states that its owner – in this cally the station lags behind doesn’t do.”
broadcasts in some format. Broadcasting Company, ex- case, the Russian government – similar projects.“W e don’t need An successful integration of
The station has been praised plains. has no right to interfere in its a total rebranding of the sta- past diversity and scope with
for maintaining its scope in an Behind a somewhat serious content. This rule is obeyed. We tion,” Bistritsky argues,“but w e modern technology would
increasingly globalised media façade, Bistritsky’s almost boy- provide our listeners with the do have to modernise. The aver- make the station a valuable re-
atmosphere. ish exuberance and genuine Russian point of view, but if we age age of our 1,100-strong staff source in a globalised 21st cen-
sense of humour shine through don’t give them different opin- is much higher than that of our tury. Bistritsky agrees a new,
3rd place – after the BBC and from time to time.“I don’t kno w ions that they can compare and listeners, who are mostly young, “overhauled” website would
Voice of America – was taken the size of the shoes I have to fi ll. analyse, we would be wasting professionally active individu- provide the best infrastructure
by Voice of Russia among the At least one of my predecessors our time.” als. for his new hub, and promises
world’s biggest broadcasters must have been shot,” he grins, “I’ve been listening to the sta- “We plan to develop broadcast- to launch it within months.
in an opinion poll conducted by referring to Joseph Stalin’s in- tion for 40 years,” writes Mike ing over the internet – already a “There’s no internet anymore;
the International Organisation VOICE OF RUSSIA famous purges of the diplomat- Giblin from the UK. “The con- reality – and over mobile-phone there’s just a collection of differ-
for the Support of Mass Media Device used to pick up Radio ic and media community in the tent has become better. Now, networks. We’ll also have to get ent types of media. We’re going
(Switzerland). Moscow in a WWII Nazi camp Thirties and Forties. there’s less politics and more in- an FM station in the US and to be at the forefront.”
-
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16