Veteran Russian journalist calls for privatization of all federal TV channels

(Interfax – Moscow, 26 November) TV host Vladimir Pozner is calling for a real privatization of all federal TV channels, with one of them being turned into public TV.

“Who is to blame for the fact that Russia has this sort of TV – I mean the federal channels, Channel One, Rossiya 1 and NTV? Who do these channels belong to, directly or indirectly? To the state. So who is to blame? Logic suggests that it’s the state,” Pozner wrote on his website on Monday (26 November).

In his view, TV in Russia is such that “its contents rouse total, or almost total dissatisfaction and irritation, to put it mildly”.

“And what can we do to fix this? I think that the state needs to leave all media – both federal and local. And Dmitriy Medvedev called for this when he was still president. One of the three federal TV channel needs to be turned into true public TV which will not depend on advertisers or the authorities,” Pozner said.