Observers say Russian media favor Yeltsin

June 13, 1996
Web posted at: 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT)

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Boris Yeltsin dominates Russia's media coverage because Russian journalists fear Communist Gennady Zyuganov, media watchers tell CNN.

Journalists are "far more inclined to support Yeltsin. They simply do not want Zyuganov to come to power," said one media watcher from the Netherlands who is in Moscow to monitor the election.

For example, while some media accounts have praised Yeltsin for increasing pensions, the same proposal by Zyuganov has been criticized as "populist propaganda."

Even Yeltsin's own media adviser acknowledges the discrepancy.

"Unfortunately, many journalists, in a sincere desire to keep Mr. Zyuganov out of office are biased," Igor Malasshenko said. But, he quickly added, "In Russia we cannot discipline the press."

Will Yeltsin benefit?

How much Yeltsin's domination of the media will help him is anyone's guess, Malasshenko said, because in rural areas only a few people have televisions. In those areas, he said, party bosses are still important and, in many cases, they are still the bosses who ran the area under communism.

"They are going to tell people to vote for Communists," he said.

Malasshenko said despite Yeltsin's boast that he will win on the first round, "We are planning for a second round campaign." If none of the 10 candidates wins more than 50 percent of the vote on Sunday, a runoff between the two top candidates is to be held within 30 days.

Yeltsin receives more than 50 percent of the editorial coverage on the three major Russian TV networks, most of it positive, according to the Dutch media-watcher who asked to remain anonymous. Zyuganov receives about 16 percent of the coverage, most of it negative, he said.

Russian television journalists "don't want to lose the freedoms they have now," he explained. "They stand to lose a lot" and they feel "they are part of the process." But Russian newspapers are a slightly different story. There is more variety in the political coverage.

"You have Communist papers, but you don't have Communist TV stations," one analyst said.

Pivotal Elections: Russia

Related story:

• Western-style ad blitz kicks off Russian campaign season - May 16, 1996

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