* New agency to project Russia’s image abroad
* Putin names conservative news anchor as chief
* Second shift in Russian media industry in two weeks
By Timothy Heritage
MOSCOW, Dec 9 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin tightened
his control over Russia’s media on Monday by dissolving the main
state news agency and replacing it with an organisation that is
to promote Moscow’s image abroad.
The move to abolish RIA Novosti and create a news agency to
be known as Rossiya Segodnya is the second in two weeks
strengthening Putin’s hold on the media as he tries to reassert
his authority after protests against his rule.
Most Russian media outlets are already loyal to Putin, and
opponents get little air time, but the shake-up underlined their
importance to Putin keeping power and the Kremlin’s concern
about the president’s ratings and image.
The head of the new agency, to be built from the ashes of
RIA Novosti, is a conservative news anchor, Dmitry Kiselyov, who
once caused outrage by saying the organs of homosexuals organs
should not be used in transplants.
“The main focus of … Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today) is to
highlight abroad the state policy and public life of the Russian
Federation,” said a decree signed by Putin.
Sergei Ivanov, the head of the presidential administration,
told reporters that the changes were intended to save money and
improve the state media.
But the new organisation has strong similarities to APN, a
Soviet-era news agency whose role included writing articles
about “the social-economic and cultural life of the Soviet
people and items reflecting Soviet society’s point of view on
important internal and international events”.
RIA said in an English-language article about Putin’s step:
“The move is the latest in a series of shifts in Russia’s news
landscape which appear to point towards a tightening of state
control in the already heavily regulated media sector.”
Rossiya Segodnya’s focus on building up Russia abroad could
solidify Putin’s grip on information by further limiting sources
of news for Russians whose TV screens are dominated by
state-controlled channels.
Putin’s decree appeared to have little effect on the two
other major Russian news agencies, state-run Itar-Tass and
private Interfax, but it could benefit both by making RIA’s
replacement less of a competitor domestically.
Itar-Tass is the successor of the Soviet official Tass
agency, while Interfax has more leeway as a private agency but
is restricted by the Kremlin’s dominance.
NEWS BOSS COURTS CONTROVERSY
A prominent member of parliament, Alexei Mitrofanov,
described Kiselyov as a “powerful propagandist” but said this
was a good thing and that he was suitable for the job.
In his third term, after weathering protests led by urban
liberals, the 61-year-old Putin has often appealed to
conservatives and championed the Russian Orthodox Church as a
moral guide for society.
Kiselyov has proved a loyal Putin supporter as a television
presenter, at times making provocative remarks. In 2010 he said
homosexuals should be banned from donating blood or sperm and
last year said they should also be banned from donating organs.
Putin has been Russia’s dominant leader since he was first
elected president in 2000. He began his third term in the
Kremlin in May 2012 after stepping aside to serve for four years
as prime minister because of constitutional limits.
The opposition staged big street protests against him for
several months from December 2011, following a parliamentary
election they said was rigged. The demonstrations have faded but
Putin’s popularity ratings have declined from their peak during
his first two terms – from 2000 until 2008.
The Kremlin extended its grip over radio and television
broadcasting on Nov. 26 when the media arm of state-controlled
Gazprom bought mining tycoon Vladimir Potanin’s
Profmedia.
Through the deal, the ex-Soviet gas ministry – now Russia’s
largest firm by revenue – will add TV and radio stations,
cinemas and film production and distribution assets to a
sprawling portfolio built up around commercial channel NTV.
The Kremlin already funds an English-language TV channel
called RT which was initially known as Russia Today. It is not
clear whether the two will operate separately and RT’s head,
Margarita Simonyan, said she had been unaware of the move.
The new organisation will be created in RIA Novosti’s
headquarters in central Moscow. The fate of its journalists and
other employees was not immediately clear.
RIA Novosti was created as the Soviet Information Bureau in
1941, after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, and issues
reports in Russian and foreign languages.
(Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Alexei Kalmykov;
Editing by Mark Heinrich)
