The head of the Russian Agency for Press and Mass Communications has said that the major state companies would dispose of their media assets in the near future.
In his Thursday interview with the Echo Moskvy radio Mikhail Seslavinskiy said that “these organizations should not keep their media assets� and should part with them at a good price.”
“We realize that the sale should go ahead soon, but it does not mean they should be sold for peanuts, in June, and all together, as soon as possible”, he added.
Seslavinskiy stressed that the authorities were going to sell off media assets over 18 months to two years, and would try to receive sufficient funds into the state budget for this property, which the state is parting with.
Mikhail Seslavinskiy also pointed out that there was no point selling media assets over the past two to three years because their price was rising substantially.
The largest media owner in Russia is the state natural gas monopoly Gazprom which owns stakes in the national TV channels NTV and TNT, Echo Moskvy radio station, Izvestia daily and other media. Another large media owner is the State Raiload Corporation (RZhD).
Earlier this week president of the World Association of Newspapers Gavin O’Reilly at the 59th world newspaper congress, which was held in Moscow, voiced concern over the degree of state involvement in the press. He has pointed out that development of the media is hampered, when independent television and many newspapers are controlled by government institutions.
He also stressed that Russian newspaper industry has problems with widespread corruption and with newspapers being sold to politicians and oligarchs.
