#4
International Herald Tribune
November 27, 2001
New Blow for Russian TV
Last Major Independent Station Ordered to Close
By Daniel Williams, Washington Post Service

MOSCOW A Moscow court has ordered the dissolution of TV-6, the last major independent television station in Russia, a decision that could wipe out the only broadcast voice consistently willing to air criticism of President Vladimir Putin's government.

The court ruled that the station, owned largely by Boris Berezovsky, an exiled media and automobile magnate, was financially unsound. It agreed with a suit filed by a minority shareholder, the Lukoil petroleum company, to liquidate the firm.

The station was a refuge for journalists from another independent station, NTV, whose owner, Vladimir Gusinsky, was forced out last spring by Gazprom, the natural gas giant that is a major NTV shareholder. Mr. Gusinsky fled to Spain to escape corruption charges lodged by Mr. Putin's government.

Although the TV-6 case was decided on narrow economic grounds, employees suspected there had been political maneuvering. Gazprom is partly owned by the government, and Lukoil deals closely with the Kremlin on important issues of export quotas and taxes. Lukoil officials declined to comment on the suit.

"It looks to me like Lukoil was told to do something," said Tatyana Blinova, a TV-6 spokesperson.

TV-6 has six months to appeal, and she said the company would do so.

Theoretically, the station can continue broadcasting in that period. However, the press ministry has the power to revoke the broadcaster's license immediately. "If it does that, we won't be able to go on broadcasting," she said.

Otto Latsis, a political analyst, said that Mr. Putin had been recently trying to portray himself as a promoter of civil society and democracy.

"The show is not convincing," he said. "The media is the most accessible channel for daily dialogue between state and society. We all know what the state wants. The state used a corporation it controls to destroy NTV. Another corporation is putting pressure on TV-6."

Despite an apparent atmosphere of lethargy in Russia surrounding the issue of media independence, Russian viewers apparently looked to TV-6 to get a view beyond Kremlin control. Newscasts on TV-6, which hardly anyone watched a year ago, shot to the top of Moscow's ratings race with the influx of NTV talent.

Itogi, a political talk show hosted by Yevgeni Kiselyov, is Moscow television's highest rated program.When Mr. Gusinsky operated NTV, Kremlin officials attacked the station's hard-hitting coverage of the Putin-initiated war in Chechnya. On occasion, the government barred its reporters from broadcasting from the separatist republic. In August, 2000, NTV was the first and only station to report that the submarine Kursk, with 118 hands on board, had sunk because a torpedo exploded inside. Other stations offered the government version of a collision with a U.S. submarine.

After Mr. Gusinsky's ouster, journalists from the station walked out and looked for work elsewhere.

Mr. Berezovsky took them in. He seemed an unlikely choice for upholding standards of press independence. He had controlled the ORT station during the presidential reign of Boris Yeltsin, and brandished newscasts and political talk shows to crush Kremlin opponents. He and Mr. Gusinsky were bitter rivals.

Under Mr. Putin, Mr. Berezovsky lost both his Kremlin entrée and control of ORT-l. Government investigators looked into suspect financial dealings with the airline Aeroflot and Mr. Berezovsky went into exile in France.

Mr. Berezovsky owns 75 per cent of TV-6, but he placed management responsibility in the hands of Mr. Gusinsky and Mr. Kiselyov.

A few months ago, when Lukoil brought the suit against TV-6, Mr. Berezovsky said he did not "see any decisions here except those of a political nature."