Moscow to Follow the Examples Set by Britons and Americans: 24-hour English-language Russian News Satellite TV Will Start Worldwide Broadcasts in Late Summer
For the first time since TV has been introduced in the Soviet Union in 1932 Russia has announced it’s preparations to begin English-language TV news broadcasting targeting the foreign viewers across the globe. As reported by Russian Information Agency Novosti on Wednesday, the new 24-hour news channel Russia Today TV (RTTV) will be broadcast in Russia, Europe, the USA, the former Soviet republics and a number of Asian countries.
New York (PRWEB) June 3, 2005 -- For the first time since TV has been
introduced in the Soviet Union in 1932 Russia has announced it’s preparations to
begin English-language TV news broadcasting targeting the foreign viewers across
the globe.
As reported by Russian Information Agency Novosti on
Wednesday, the new 24-hour news channel Russia Today TV (RTTV) will be broadcast
in Russia, Europe, the USA, the former Soviet republics and a number of Asian
countries.
As per RIA Novosti dispatch the new satellite channel will
focus on most important global events, reflecting Russia's viewpoint, as well as
inform the foreign audience about the variety of aspects of life in Russia.
To prevent foreign criticism of biased reporting in broadcasts from
Moscow it was announced that the editorial policies of RTTV will be overseen by
an independent Public Council which will be made up of prominent Russian and
foreign personalities: public figures, journalists, artists, scientists as well
as representatives of the business community.
A well-positioned source
in Moscow close to the Russian RTR TV Channel 2 told PRGroup that the prep work
is being coordinated by RIA Novosti together with Mikhail Lesin, former minister
of mass communications, now serving as the media-relations advisor to Russian
president Vladimir Putin and Putin’s press-secretary Alexei Gromov. The 26-year
old former Kremlin pool RTR Channel-2 reporter Margarita Simonyan has been
appointed to the position of RTTV editor-in-chief. Her first two deputies are
well-known Russian TV personalities with reporter’s backgrounds.
Another
Russian official, speaking with the PRGroup on condition of anonymity, has
estimated the initial project financing at about $11 million. “They will not
have any financial problems whatsoever”, he claimed, adding that the broadcasts
will start sometime later this summer. By his account, most of the reporters and
anchors will be recruited in Great Britain where the casting process has already
begun. The auditions of several famous Russian TV journalists in front of focus
groups of English-speakers conducted in Moscow earlier proved the latter were
not fit for the jobs with Russia Today.
Russia is not the pioneer in
government-sponsored broadcasting targeting audiences abroad. BBC along with The
Voice of America TV, TV Marti and US programming aimed at the Arab countries are
just a few examples. In the US alone annual government financing of such
image-altering efforts is estimated to exceed $300 million.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb247536.htm