Posted on 08/09/2005 11:24:46 AM PDT by jb6
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Vasily Kononenko.) A recent public opinion poll shows that foreign radio voices broadcasting to Russia have lost most of their audiences.
Radio Liberty is the only one keeping afloat, reports Comcon-2 on the results of a June radio monitoring survey. It is 28th on the list of popular radio stations in Moscow (1.2% of the audience).
The other radio stations are quickly approaching zero: The BBC Russian Service is only 33rd (0.5%) and the Voice of America, 36th (0.4%).
When the Iron Curtain was lifted, the foreign radio voices failed to find a new niche in conditions of harsh competition with the Russian media.
The simplest explanation is technical: Foreign radio stations mostly broadcast not in the popular FM and VHF bands, which have been divided between Russian radio stations, but in the MF band.
But there are also other reasons. In particular, Russia is fighting terrorism now, and the audiences here are offended by the choice of words by Western radio stations and their allegedly neutral attitude to crimes of terrorism. In particular, they described the terrorists who took hostage children and adults in a Beslan school in September 2004 as "rebels."
The radio voices have ceased to be objective sources of information, and the catastrophic loss of their audiences is the inevitable result.
Anyone fortunant enough to visit Russia can attest to the fact that there ae still too many US garbage programs dubbed and played to Russian audiences and networks like MTV are giving the same bad stuff to Russian youth as they are dishing out to American youth.
Well...if it's NPR or the wrong way, lib orgy, "Air America" that can be understood.
Fox News should give it a go in Russia
?....Foreign broadcasting to Russia on the decline
is in direct proportion to rising gas prices at the foreign REFINERY-BP,... owned British-Darwin-Mosque.... Oil-Tax-colonial ,.... U.S.A. pumps?
MTV Russia is crap but there's also alternatives to it (like Muz TV)
Still most of the state media is like BBC but pro Russian.
Most informed Russians I know listen to net radio stations and read internet news sites.
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