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Scandinavian publishers have a long history of expanding their businesses across borders. Once this extended into the Russian Federation. That ended as foreign publishers found themselves at risk. Digital technologies have reopened some of those doors.
Via a private foundation, Norwegian Amedia and Swedish Bonnier Media are leading a joint venture news service to "produce, organize and publish independent news in Russian, to meet the public both inside and outside Russia,” reported Norwegian media news portal Medier24 (June 22). Called Repost it is available online (wearerepost) and through Instagram. Its editorial office is located in Tallinn, Estonia, which will be staffed by “Russian citizens who have fled the country,” said the Amedia statement. Filipp Bakhtin, former editor-in-chief of Esquire Russia, was named editor-in-chief. Esquire publisher Hearst exited the Russian Federation in March. (See more about media in the Russian Federation here)
“We know that we will in various ways be exposed to attempts to close and block our online magazine for those who do not have a VPN connection,” said Dagens Industri chief editor Peter Fellman, in a statement. “But in different ways we will really try to reach the Russian readers.” Dagens Industri is a Bonnier Media publication.
Amedia owned four printing plants in Russia until April when it relinquished control to former Novaya Gazeta co-founder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov. "With what we are currently witnessing in Ukraine from the Russian authorities, it is impossible for Amedia to continue the printing business in the country," said Amedia chief executive Anders Moller Opdahl, quoted by AFP (April 5). Amedia was formed in 2012 with the A-pressen acquisition of Edda Media. It is the second largest media concern in Norway.
Family-owned Bonnier Group has media holdings in 15 countries, mostly in Scandinavia. Bonnier began reducing its Russian publishing operations several years ago. Its Bonnier News subsidiary is a significant contributor to Ukrainian media support efforts.
Notorious Russian Federation media regulator/censor Roskomnadzor has blocked the website of UK newspaper the Telegraph, reported RFE/RL (June 21). Apparently, the Telegraph published something critical of the Russian Federation several weeks ago that the Prosecutor General’s office deemed “fake.” The story was about mobile crematoria.
Access to the Telegraph on an average day is firmly protected by a paywall. This applies any where in the world. This means a potential reader inside the Russian Federation would need to whip out their non-Russian ruble credit card to make payment. Those, of late, do not exist for Russians. Complicated. Perhaps they can phone in the payment from their yacht. The Telegraph has long appealed to yacht people. Those with VPN access have no worries. (See more about media in the Russian Federation here)
Roskomnadzor and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently imposed entry bans on more than two dozen UK media executives and reporters. Many Russian and foreign online news portals have been banned, blocked or otherwise sanctioned. Meta, formerly known as Facebook, thought Russian courts would provide sanctuary after fines were imposed for “extremist activity.” The company argued against an order to block certain content and an order to lift restrictions on content from Russian state media, noted Kommersant (June 21). The Moscow appeals court, unsurprisingly, ruled in favor of Roskomnadzor.
The previously announced public auction of Dmitry Muratov’s Nobel Peace Prize medal was held last night (June 20) in New York City. The amount raised was eye catching and headline gathering. Auctioneers Heritage Auctions said an anonymous bidder gifted US$103.5 million, a record for Noble medals at auction. "This award is unlike any other auction offering to present,” said a Heritage Auctions statement prior to the sale, quoted by Reuters (June 21). They had no idea.
Founder of now-shuttered Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Mr. Muratov was jointly presented the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Philippine editor Maria Ressa last December in Oslo, Norway. Benefactor of the proceeds is the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), earmarked for children made refugees by the Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Muratov had already donated the US$500,000 Nobel Prize cash award to charities. (See more about conflict zones here)
The auction coincided with World Refugee Day. “I was hoping that there was going to be an enormous amount of solidarity, but I was not expecting this to be such a huge amount,” said Mr. Muratov as the bidding ended, quoted by AP (June 21). The auctioneer said only that the bid was made by proxy in Swiss francs (CHF100 million), suggesting an overseas buyer. Mr. Muratov has retained a chocolate replica of the Nobel Prize medal.
Late last week, Mr. Muratov announced a new media project called “NO,” which translates from Russian as “But.” There will also be a YouTube channel, he said to RFE/RL Russian (June 17). About a month ago, several former staff members launched Novaya Gazeta Europe in Riga, Latvia.
Every house is watching those budgets. Tightening is a normal reflex in times of uncertainty. This includes publishing houses.
Little else was spoken of in the corners of the European Publishers Congress in Vienna, Austria this past weekend. Positive thinking is appreciated but far from the center. Operational and financial stresses from two years of coronavirus effects have only jumped to something else, then something else.
Publishers have long battled value added taxes (VAT) as burdensome. Political leaders in many countries affected VAT relief two years ago when publishers carefully explained the complicated intersection of revenue streams and public insecurity. Alas, these were only temporary. (See more about news media here)
All issues coincide. "Anyone who manages to reduce taxes on climate-damaging fuels within a few weeks and watches idly as oil companies skim off part of the tax reduction as profit will probably also manage to tax journalistic products as 'fuel of democracy' less,” said Funke Media Group publisher Julia Becker opening the Congress, quoted by Weiner Zeitung (June 20). The grumbling was widely shared.
Self-criticism was also on display. “Publishers’ austerity measures in the past have hit the editors disproportionately hard and have meant that, for example, the network of local editors has been thinned out more and more,” she emphasized. “That was a mistake.”
Still, publishers continue to expand with available resources. Funke Media Group is preparing an online portal - Slava Ukrayini - for Ukrainian and Russian language readers, noted German media portal Meedia (June 20). The plan is to produce an aggregation site using artificial intelligence augmented by Ukrainian staff recently relocated to Germany. "In times of crisis, serious and independent journalistic reporting plays an even more important role than it already does," said managing director Andrea Glock.
National leaders are sensitized to issues involving media disinformation. Dodgy media reports easily fly across borders. Mitigating this walks right up to free speech and press freedom priorities, always important in democracies. Conflict zones and proximity to them changes the equations.
Signing into law information security measures Moldova president Maia Sandu effectively changed the propaganda surface. “Broadcasting of news and political analysis programs from Russia” will be prohibited, reported public broadcaster Teleradio Moldova (TRM) (June 20). The measure extends restrictions in place under a state of emergency declared as Russian Federation troops invaded Ukraine. (See more about propaganda here)
Moldova is a small, pleasant country right on the edge of Europe’s greatest security threat in decades. It borders Ukraine on the east and Romania, a NATO and EU Member State, on the west. Moldova was once part of the Soviet Union but that was a very long time ago. Complicating the geo-politics, a thin slice of Moldova - Transnistria - has been occupied by Russian Federation troops for three decades. (See more about conflict zones here)
The legislation will come into effect officially this week, said Moldova media regulator Audiovisual Council chairperson Liliana Viţu, quoted by news agency IPN (June 18). “A series of penalties are introduced for those that do not produce local content. The Audiovisual Council is authorized to suspend the right to broadcast advertisements. In case of disinformation, the broadcast license can be suspended for a period of up to seven days. This can also happen in the electoral period that is very important and when we see abundant disinformation.”
Media in Moldova has turned with political winds. When pro-Russian president Igor Dodon was in charge, media outlets of the same persuasion proliferated. The government and parliament changed direction as President Sandu took office last year. Mr. Dodon was recently (May 24) arrested for treason. Russian state channels mix with Romania-based broadcasters, the one TV channel and two radio channels of TRM and a few local channels. In late April two radio towers in Transnistria along with a “powerful” transmitter facility were removed from service by a still unexplained explosion. They had been carrying Russian state radio channel Vesti FM. Some observers suggested the attacks were “false flag” operations of Russian separatists, reported Australian public broadcaster ABC (April 27).
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