VZCZCXRO8380
RR RUEHCHI RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHLN RUEHNAG RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHYG
DE RUEHVK #0002 0160401
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 160401Z JAN 09
FM AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1064
INFO RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHZU/ASIAN PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 1162

UNCLAS VLADIVOSTOK 000002 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM RS
SUBJECT: REGIONAL MEDIA TAKES A HIT IN PRIMORIYE 
 
REF: 2008 VLADIVOSTOK 139 
 
¶1.  Summary:  (U) On January 1, Vladivostok's citizens learned 
that OTV Prim, the region's largest television company with two 
million viewers, stopped broadcasting.  OTV Prim is known 
locally as "the Governor's TV."  Several days later, Sergey 
Bulakh, an Editor-in-Chief of the only daily newspaper 
"Vladivostok", was fired by newpaper owners. Both cases 
seriously reduce audience access to regional information and 
opinions. 
 
Governor Darkin's TV ceased broadcasting in Vladivostok 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) OTV Prim stated that the company went off the air 
because the Russian Broadcasting Corporation (RBC) refused to 
renew the contract. However, media expert Andrey Kalachinksiy 
questioned this explanation, noting that RBC also belongs to 
businesses connected with Governor Darkin. Valeriy Bakshin, 
General Director of Primorskiy Television and Radio 
Company(PRT), the local affiliate of Federal Rossia channel, 
stated that OTV Prim is funded from the Primorskiy Krai budget 
and the Kremlin will not tolerate such spending during the 
financial crisis.  Other observers see OTV Prim's demise as a 
new attack on Governor Darkin, stating that in addition to its 
propaganda function, OTV Prim served as a mechanism for money 
laundering. They point out that in the mid-2008 OTV Prim General 
Director Anna Apalkova fled to Thailand after federal agencies 
began auditing the company. 
 
Sudden dismissal of Editor-in-Chief in Vladivostok principal 
paper 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The media shakeup extended to print outlets too. 
Sergey Bulakh, Editor-in-Chief in Vladivostok Daily, the number 
1 city daily, was dismissed on January 12, 2009, by the 
newspaper's new owner, Vostok-Cement Company.  This company is 
owned by relatives of the newly-elected Vladivostok Mayor Igor 
Pushkarev. PTR reported Bulakh's dismissal occurred because he 
is a Head of Primorskiy Krai Journalist Association that 
criticized OMON for beating journalists during the December 21 
protest (Reftel). However, several of Bulakh's colleagues point 
out he was beholden to Mayor Puskarev.  Vladivostok Daily was 
the only newspaper in the city that did not publish any reports 
about the recent protests.  We were advised that Mayor Pushkarev 
met with the newspaper staff on January 13 and accused Bulakh of 
poor management and corruption, declaring that the Mayor's only 
goal is to make the newspaper a prosperous enterprise. However, 
some staff members worry that after this scandalous dismissal, 
the newspaper will eventually be labeled as a "Mayor's paper" by 
its readers resulting in bankruptcy of the publication.  This 
occurred with several other the "Mayor's papers" that previously 
existed in the city. They feel the real goal of Pushkarev is the 
five-story newspaper office building. 
 
¶4.  Comment.  (U) Both events seriously decrease the level of 
press freedom in Primorskiy Krai.  OTV Prime and Vladivostok 
Daily are not independent media, however, they are high-profile 
regional enterprises that hire professional staff that 
occasionally challenged federal authorities.  Vladivostok 
residents clearly recall that OTV and Vladivostok Daily coverage 
of the North Korean nuclear tests and  border issues with China 
often differed from the reports by Moscow media. The scandals 
reduce the quality of both media and the citizens' access to 
local news and points of view. 
 
ARMBRUSTER