Russian journalism's 'dirty little' not-so-secret — charging for stories
By freedomforum.org staff
06.12.01
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The Moscow Times has decided to share with its readers what the daily calls "Russian Journalism's Dirty Little Secret."
The secret — and it isn't much of a secret — is the answer to the question, "Ever wonder how newspaper editors decide which stories to print — or not to print?"
"The answer is money. Lots of money," the newspaper says.
The practice known as zakazukha in Russian means placing paid articles in newspapers and magazines. It's "a multimillion-dollar industry involving nearly every publication in the country," The Moscow Times reported in a 1,500-word article that appeared this past weekend.
The article, written by a bylined staff writer, doesn't say whether The Moscow Times participates in zakazukha.
The writer contends that selling paid editorial space is so widespread and routine that most publications have an "official price list" that they distribute to discreet public relations firms. These firms charge their clients varying rates, depending on how long the article is, on which page it appears, and how "disguised as nonadvertising" it is.
The Moscow Times reported that Lobbynet, a public relations firm, monitors nine of Moscow's leading newspapers and publishes a monthly estimate of how much each makes from zakazukha.
The April champion was listed as Komsomolskaya Pravda, second-largest newspaper in the country, which pulled in an estimated $540,000 for that month alone.
The list is published in Stringer, described as "a monthly muck-raking newspaper owned by former President Boris Yeltsin's one-time personal security chief, Alexander Korzhakov."
Izvestia was No. 2 on the list with $310,000 raked in during April, followed by Trud and Novaya Gazeta tied for third place with $280,000. Then there were Moskovsky Komsomolets and Versia, tied with $270,000 each; state-owned Rossiiskaya Gazeta at $230,000, Nezavisimaya Gazeta with $120,000 and Parlamentskaya Gazeta with $40,000.
Lobbynet claims that by its "moderate calculations" these newspapers alone earn more than $25 million a year through zakazukha.
"When asked about these figures, none of the newspapers named would respond on the record, though several acknowledged off the record that their publications sometimes accept payment for articles," according to the story in The Moscow Times.
Lobbynet founder Oleg Tekhmenyov, a former journalist, was quoted in the story as saying that he started his monitoring "out of professional curiosity — and as a personal crusade to expose the practice and make it above-board."
"Certainly, these price lists would not be given to a person on the street. But for PR people involved in the business it is nothing out of the ordinary," he said.
Yuliana Slaschova, co-chairwoman of the American Chamber of Commerce's marketing committee and a partner in a public relations firm, reportedly wasn't surprised by the figures. She told The Moscow Times that the zakazukha market used to be dominated by journalists, who would demand $200 to $300 to write a story.
"Now," she said, "the industry is dominated by editors." She claims that her firm generally avoids payments "because many of our clients are Western and they get very angry about it."
Slaschova said Komsomolskaya Pravda alerted a client to zakazukha and the client wanted to know more.
"We took one issue of Komsomolskaya Pravda and put green stickers on every paid article so our client could see how commonplace it is. By the time we were done the paper was as green as a tree — up to 70% of all the information in the paper was bought," she said.
Slaschova also said Komsomolskaya Pravda had only "two or three journalists left. All the rest are advertising agents trying to sell paid articles."
And, Tekhmenyov claimed, the system works both ways: Newspapers will accept money for not printing a story.
"You can shut up five leading newspapers for (a total of) $100,000 a month," he said.
Alexander Pankin, a Moscow Times columnist and the editor of Sreda, a magazine for news-media professionals, claimed Lobbynet's figures were much too low.
Ekspert, a Russian magazine, estimated recently that zakazukha accounted for as much as 50% of the Russian press budget.
Igor Yakovenko, deputy chief of the Union of Journalists, contends that newspapers have to use illegal sources of money because the advertising market is small, only a third the size of Poland's.
In February, a St. Petersburg-based PR company called Promaco, which has Western clients such as Western Union and Philips, stunned Russian media when it caught 13 newspapers red-handed in a zakazukha sting operation — and then called a news conference to reveal the guilty.
Promaco invented a fictitious company, which was supposedly planning to open a $1.5 million store to sell electronic gear from nonexistent manufacturers, and sent a press release to 21 publications. Thirteen took the bait, asking a wide variety of fees to run stories.
The Anti-Monopoly Ministry, the only body with authority to stop the practice of zakazukha, conceded that the 13 newspapers had violated the law, which states that "mass media organizations are prohibited from receiving payment for distributing advertising under the guise of information, editorial or individual creative work."
The law also says ads must be "easily recognizable — without any special knowledge or without using any particular indices — exactly as advertising immediately when displayed, independent of the form or medium of distribution."
However, The Moscow Times points out that "the ministry's department in charge of such violations consists of just five people" to police the entire country.
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