Russia/Prize for Courage in Journalism

Mediachannel.org: Russian Journalist Wins First Annual Paul Klebnikov Prize for Courage in Journalism

"The Paul Klebnikov Fund will award prominent Russian journalist Diana Kachalova the first annual Paul Klebnikov Prize for Courage in Journalism. The Prize honors the memory of the recently murdered editor of Forbes Russia."

"Diana Kachalova is the trail-blazing editor-in-chief of the weekly Moi Rayon newspaper in St. Petersburg, Russia. Moi Rayon is quite an unusual endeavor for Russia: a grass roots, independent and privately owned newspaper which publishes weekly editions in St. Petersburg’s 11 administrative districts."

Russia/Press Freedom

Editorsweblog: How a European editor experiences press freedom in Russia

"The Financial Times interviewed the Dutchmen Derk Sauer, one of the most important publishers in Russia, and asked him about the situation of press freedom in Russia. Derk Sauer is founder and chief executive of the Russian publisher Independent Media, that was bought for $ 172 million by the Finnish media group SanomaWSOY earlier this year."

"Asked for how much press freedom there is in Russia, Sauer, who has been in Moscow for 16 years now, answered: "The Russian authorities have solved the problem quite cleverly, from their perspective. They have said, 'Well, we will control TV, and the newspapers we will leave free.' Independent news on television doesn't exist. But we and some other papers can write anything, because the authorities are very practical ... The funny thing about Russia: there is complete press freedom for the informed, but none for the uninformed. The informed, the people who read Vedomosti or Kommersant and papers like that, know a lot anyway because they also see satellite TV and the internet. There is no point trying to suppress us. It would just create a fuss and international criticism. We are even an alibi for the Russian authorities. Recently Walter Mondale, the American politician, was in Moscow, and he read the Moscow Times and said: 'Gosh, what press freedom!'"

"But the press also seems to have no impact. Sauer said, "In Russia, the effect of what you publish is different from in the west: nothing happens. The role of the press only works if it is followed up. But we reveal something every week: that someone is corrupt, that the justice system has made a mistake, we reveal the craziest things. And nothing happens. Deathly silence. It is revealed that the ballot boxes were rigged in the elections. People just say, 'So you thought the elections weren't fixed?'"

Belarus/Russia/Deutsche Welle

MosNews.com: Russia Angered by Deutsche Welle Broadcasts in Belarus

"A new radio program by Deutsche Welle for listeners in authoritarian-ruled Belarus is creating tension between Berlin and Moscow, Der Spiegel magazine reported. The daily 15-minute broadcast in Russian, which can also be found on the Internet, offers information on the opposition in Belarus that is not reported by state-controlled media in the state of President Alexander Lukashenko. The EU is subsidizing the program on air with an initial amount of $110,000 annually."

Romania/New Magazines

Publicitas: Edipresse AS Romania is launching various magazines

"Edipresse AS Romania is launching, under the license of Edipresse Hymsa Spain, two more titles: Vacanta ta Perfectã (original title: Rutas del Mundo) and Lucru de Mânã (original title: Labores del Hogar) - the best-selling magazines in Spain and Portugal, on their segment.The magazine appeals to both men and women, aged 25 to 45 years, active, with urban residentes (large cities and Bucharest), high school and university graduates, higher-than-average income."

"Launched in 1926, in Spain, Labores del Hogar is the best-selling magazine in Spain and Portugal in its segment. (The circulation of the magazine in Spain: 71'757 copies).The magazines will be launched with an initial net print run of 20'000 each, with a minimum of 116 pages and an advertising rate card of 1'500 EUR/ full page."

"Computer Bild is the best-selling IT title in the German market since its launch. It is now published in Germany, Spain and Poland as well as in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Italy and Macedonia. Computer Bild is the magazine for the young, educated people interested in the latest technical products and easy to understand information about their quality and function."

"The magazine has a minimum of 114 pages and will be on the market starting 10th of October, with a net print run of 25'000 and a rate card of 1'800 EUR/page. The magazine has a CD attached in every issue at the price of 6 lei."

Russia/Weekly Newspapers

The Moscow Times: Gaidamak Takes Over Moskovskiye Novosti

"Moskovskiye Novosti, a flagship of the liberal press from the time of perestroika that is now suffering a deep editorial crisis, has an unexpected new owner. Arkady Gaidamak, a Moscow-born businessman with four passports and a controversial past, confirmed to Ekho Moskvy radio (10.10.) he had bought the weekly newspaper."

East Europe/Investigative Reporting/Internet

Journalism.co.uk: Commitment, not cash, is key to investigative journalism

"The report editor, Dutch investigative journalist Dick van Eijk, told journalism.co.uk that investigative journalism was developing a strong online presence in countries that have continued to see major assaults on press freedom since the collapse of the Soviet Union – in Russia and the Ukraine, for example."

"While only between three and five per cent of the population have access to the internet in the Ukraine, two sites became very influential in the run up to the Orange Revolution – Ukraina Kriminalna (now sold) and Ukrainska Pravda. The murder of the investigative reporter who founded Ukrainska Pravda in November 2000 sparked a political crisis."

Serbia and Montenegro/New Gossip Weekly

Publicitas.com: Sanoma Magazines launches Story

"Sanoma Magazines SMG operating in Serbia and Montenegro has launched the Serbian edition of the gossip weekly Story. The first issue of Story was presented during a launch party in the capital, Belgrade, on Tuesday 27 September. That same day Story was available on the market with a print run of 70,000 copies."

Russia/Media Consumption

RFE/RL: Television still main source of information for vast majority of Russians

"Nikolai Popov, the research director of the polling center ROMIR Monitoring, told RFE/RL's Moscow bureau on - - that three national networks -- Channel One, RTR, and NTV -- are the main source of information for 79 percent of Russians. According to a poll conducted by ROMIR on 22 September among 1,600 adults and published at rmh.ru, 21 percent said national radio stations are their main source of information, and 14 percent said regional television stations are their main source. Popov noted a sharp decline in interest in the print media, with only 14 percent saying they get their information from it. Similarly, national television has thehighest level of public trust, 44 percent, followed by national radio at 8 percent and the Internet at 5 percent. Only 3 percent of respondents trust the national newspapers. Popov noted that the sharp fall in confidence in the media is a real contrast to the beginning of the 1990s, when the print media had the highest level of public trust, and was perceived as the "lever of democracy." Now the top spot in public confidence belongs to the office of the president,followed by the church and the army, leaving the media in fourth place, Popov said, though he gave no specific figures."

Russia/New Magazines/Foreign Media Giants

Ria Novosti: Two leading Western magazines to launch Russian versions

"Two leading Western business magazines, BusinessWeek and The Economist, are set to launch Russian-language versions due to the West's increasing interest in the local market, Izvestia, a respected daily, said Thursday."

"Alexei Volin, the president of the Rodionov publishing house that would publish the Russian version of BusinessWeek, said the house's another publication, Profil, had long been cooperating with BusinessWeek."

"The Independent Media publishing house, which also publishes the Moscow Times English-language daily, would soon release the Russian-language version of The Economist, Izvestia said."

"A number of leading Western publications already have their Russian-language editions, from Newsweek to Cosmopolitan and Vogue."

Russia/Press/Moskovskiye Novosti

The Moscow Times: Gaidamak Takes Over Moskovskiye Novosti

"Moskovskiye Novosti, a flagship of the liberal press from the time of perestroika that is now suffering a deep editorial crisis, has an unexpected new owner.Arkady Gaidamak, a Moscow-born businessman with four passports and a controversial past, confirmed to Ekho Moskvy radio late Friday that he had bought the weekly newspaper."

"No details of the deal were given, and Gaidamak could not be reached Sunday. Moskovskiye Novosti had been owned by Ukrainian media magnate Vadim Rabinovich, who acquired it in July from Leonid Nevzlin, a core Menatep shareholder, who lives in Israel and is wanted in Russia on charges of fraud and tax evasion."

Belarus/Opposition Daily under Pressure

RFE/RL: Belarus´s only opposition daily under pressure from authorities

"On 28 September Belsayuzdruk, Belarus's state monopoly running a nationwide network of kiosks and newsstands, terminated a contract for the distribution of the country's only opposition daily, "Narodnaya volya," which is struggling to remain afloat after a court froze its bank account and seized newsprint demanding payment of libel damages (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 September 2005), Belapan and RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported."

"The same day, the Minsk-based printing plant Chyrvonaya zorka annulled its contract for printing the daily. The authorities' moves against "Narodnya volya" were announced immediately after the daily transferred 70 million rubles out of the 100 million rubles ($46,500) it was obliged to pay in libel damages to lawmaker Syarhey Haydukevich, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party."

"The newspaper managed to collect the money after appealing for help to its readers. "Narodnaya volya" Editor in Chief Iosif Syaredzich told journalists that he is not sure whether the newspaper will be able to survive next month, as it has no alternative distribution network. "Narodnaya volya" has until now appeared five times per week, selling some 30,000 copies of each issue."

Hungary/Foreign Media Giants/Marketing Agency

FT: Aegis to buy Hungarian media group for €10m

"Aegis, the UK media and market research group facing a possible 140p-a-share bid from French rival Publicis, said it had bought Kirowski Rt, a Hungarian marketing agency, for up to €10m in cash.The acquisition is the latest in a series of small startegic deals for Aegis. In August, it bought Glue London, an online creative agency, for £14.7m in a deal driven by the belief that advertisers want to buy new media campaigns."

Belarus/EU/Radio Programmes


RFE-RL: EU holds another tender for radio broadcasts to Belarus.

"In November, the European Commission is going to announce a winner of its tenderfor organizing radio broadcasts to Belarus as of 1 January 2006, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported on 9 September. The winner is to obtain 2 million euros ($2.5 million) for organizing and sending radio programs to Belarus during two years. European Parliament Deputy Speaker Janusz Onyszkiewicz told RFE/RL that a bidder for the EU tender is required to have no less than 1 million listeners in former Soviet countries and report no less than 3 million euros in its yearly turnover. "This means that the tender will be decided in a circle of such giants as Deutsche Welle, BBC, Radio France International, and Euronews," Onyszkiewicz said."

East Europe/RFL-RL/Internet

The Prague Daily Monitor: Radio Free Europe looking for new methods to spread information

"The goals of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE) remain similar to those in the Cold War times and only methods and strategy are changing, adviser to the station Ross Johnson told the Czech News Agency (CTK) yesterday. RFE is marking its tenth anniversary of broacasting from the Czech capital."

"Following extending of its broadcasts to include the countries of the Middle East and Asia the station is now seeking to improve its Internet offer. Televised versions of some of its programmes have even appeared in Ukraine and Bosnia, said Johnson, adding that although there were many information channels in the world that did not necessarily mean better access to information. He said that the use of RFE's websites was rapidly growing also in such countries as Belarus, Uzbekistan or Iran, adding that spread of the information via the Internet was maybe one of the most important moments in its development, but only one of the many methods that compete with other sources of information."

Russia/The Gazprom-Media/Weekly

RFE/RL: Gazprom-media buys political weekly in St. Petersburg

"The Gazprom-Media holding company has purchased a controlling stake in
the weekly "Peterburgskii Chas pik" for an undisclosed sum,
"Vedomosti" reported on 5 September, quoting the weekly's new general
director, Aleksei Turchenko. An unnamed source at the newspaper told
"Vedomosti" that Gazprom-Media acquired 70 percent of "Chas pik"
shares, while a Gazprom-Media subsidiary called Aura now owns the
other 30 percent. A St. Petersburg-based consultant, Kirill Nikolaev,
told "Vedomosti" that the deal was likely politically motivated."

Slovenia/New Sport Daily

Editorsweblog: Second sports daily launched

"Delo, the biggest newspaper publisher in Slovenia, launched a new sports daily called As yesterday. The 24-page paper will appear Monday to Saturday, reports Der Standard. As will be a competitor to the existing sport daily Ekipa that has a circulation of about 22,000 copies and belongs to Salomon. Slovenia, which has a population of around 2 million, has now seven daily newspapers."

East Europe/News Corp./Outdoor Advertising

Reuters: News Corp. may buy out ad partner-NYT

"Media giant News Corp. is in talks to buy out the minority partner in its growing outdoor advertising business in Central and Eastern Europe for an undisclosed sum, The New York Times reported on Monday, citing a person involved in the venture."

"The unit, News Outdoors, has been built as a joint venture with the London-based private equity arm of the fund manager Capital International Inc., said the newspaper. Since 1999, the unit has been building a presence in advertising venues like billboards and bus shelters in eight countries that it refers to as "emerging Europe," said The New York Times."

East Europe/Outsourcing

Vnunet.com: Outsourcers move to central and eastern Europe

"Locations in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa are emerging as strong markets because of the advantages they offer in terms of cheap manpower, inexpensive real estate and sound infrastructure, a study published today has claimed."

"Analyst firm Frost & Sullivan said that the total market size of contact centres in the EMEA region was 34,674 in 2004. The market is likely to grow at a compound annual growth rate of five per cent to 44,574 by 2009."

"While the firm noted that western Europe is ' approaching saturation' in terms of agent positions, eastern Europe holds great potential to attract new business especially as the trend for outsourcing gains momentum."

"The contact centre market is expected to experience maximum growth in eastern Europe, followed by parts of the Middle East, Africa and southern Europe."

Bulgaria/PR

Sofia Echo: Advocating the need for PR

"BULGARIA’S PR industry needs to educate local blue-chip companies of the need of public relations to operate successfully, Ian Herbison, country manager of Mmd for Romania and Bulgaria, said in an interview with The Sofia Echo."

"In the past 12 months there has been a strong growth in the PR services’ market in Bulgaria, he says. ' I expect this trend to continue, as more and more businesses in this country realise the need of efficient PR for their operations.'

"He believes that there are mainly two key drivers to the success of the PR business in Bulgaria and the South-East European region and its faster development now and in the near future. The first driver for Bulgaria is related to the 2.5 billion euro foreign investment the country has registered. As more money is poured into the economy, companies are more open to options that will help them build their image and reputation."

Belarus/Radio Station

RFE/RL: POLISH PLANS TO LAUNCH RADIO BROADCASTS TO BELARUS REPORTEDLY MOVING AHEAD.

"Gazeta Wyborcza" reported on 2 September that a business plan
for creating an independent radio station to broadcast to Belarus
from Poland is to be ready by mid-September. According to the
Warsaw-based daily, Poland will ask Brussels to sponsor broadcasting
to Belarus from the sum of some 2 million euros ($2.5 million) that
the European Commission has recently allocated to support democracy
in Belarus. In August, Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka decided to
earmark 950,000 zlotys ($290,000) for the Polish nongovernmental
organizations planning to create an independent Belarusian-language
radio