The third meeting of the Public Council was devoted to discussing changes in the National Media Group (NMG) holding, such as company’s organizational structure and the future development of its television assets.
A company NMG TV was set up not so long ago within the holding’s structure to manage the existing TV assets – Channel 5 and REN-TV.
The new company’s general director, Vladimir Khanumyan, addressed the Council with a report which highlighted the prospects of development of Channel 5 and REN-TV.
The discussion was mainly about the future of Channel 5. Due to the reorganization and restructuring of the TV assets there’s been a lot of rumors lately about Channel 5 repositioning itself and ceasing to be a channel for intellectuals, about serious staff changes and many TV journalists being laid off…Naturally, I’d like to clear this up once and for all. During the last Public Council meeting, which was entirely devoted to the St.Petersburg - Channel 5 TV asset, it was favored to keep Channel 5 as a sophisticated and intellectual channel.
So, from Vladimir Khanumyan’s speech it was clear that the wishes of the Public Council have been taken into account and Channel 5’s focus as a TV channel for the thinking audience is strategically important, and that ratings will not be the main factor in its development strategy. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the channel’s management won’t pay any attention to the ratings. Ratings are important but are not considered as defining criterion for assessing broadcasting quality.
There was an impassioned discussion of his speech, but despite all the different points of view I was very pleased by two things: first, the channel’s management and shareholders listen to what the Public Council says; and second, that all the board members are clear on the main aspect – Channel 5’s status as Russia’s leading “intelligent” TV channel because this is very important. Personally, I was inspired by the outcome of the meeting and it left me feeling optimistic about future plans.
The main aim of the Public Council is to strike a balance between the interests of business and society. And happily, we’re succeeding!
I recently visited two exhibitions devoted to new developments in television – both in terms of form and content.
The first exhibition was in Brighton. There I was impressed by the range and quality of informative TV programmes produced by the BBC. The products on show at the exhibition were attractive, on the one hand, for their content, and on the other, for their quality, because they were designed using the latest techniques. I think if Russia was to try to produce something with this type of quality and content television here would be quite different.
The exhibition in Cannes was on a bigger scale and involved not just the BBC, but contributions from many other leading companies on the TV
market, including some American ones. Also in Cannes I had a few working meetings, in particular with a Chinese producer who was presenting a joint Russian – Chinese TV series.
Overall, my impressions of the exhibition were positive. When you get into that atmosphere you begin to appreciate television from the inside. You learn about the new techniques and criteria used to create TV programmes of real quality and substance and you realize what a serious and responsible business it is. Of course, I already know quite a lot thanks to my show “Steps Towards Success”, and I also chair the Public Council of the National Media Group, but this was something different…different specialist, different techniques and a different outlook. I think it’s vital not to get hung up on your own vision of something – you have to pay attention to other people’s ideas and suggestions.
After seeing that exhibition you’ll no longer be surprised why, for example, the West dominates the information arena. It’s because they know the techniques better, they understand more about how people perceive things… And of course language plays a pretty important role here, too. The English language is present everywhere; in effect it’s become the international language of communication. And this is something we dropped the ball on: – there used to be so many students coming here to study Russian! From Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe – that was a serious resource for promoting Russian culture throughout the world. But still, not all is lost: the more interesting Russia becomes, the more people will study Russian.
I’m glad I had the opportunity to visit those exhibitions in Brighton and Cannes. It was a new page in my life. And it’s not only the process of television itself that interests me, but also the techniques that are used to produce superb TV programmes. I like being amongst this creative -intellectual environment, because where creativity and knowledge meet is where you find development and progress…just like in sport.
A very important event took place the other day – a meeting of the National Media Group’s Public Council. The preparations for this meeting were very thorough, because a public council within a private company is something completely new. Even the state-owned TV channels have nothing like this, and I hope it will function efficiently and have a serious impact on the quality of the media output from the group’s assets. At any rate, that’s one of the main reasons the Council was formed, and of course this places a great deal of responsibility on all the Council’s members.
Another of the Public Council’s main aims is to take part in forming a development framework for National Media Group, and to do this you have to know what’s going on in all the group’s assets. The meeting was almost entirely devoted to Channel Five, and at future meetings we’ll continue our discussion of the group’s other assets: REN TV, Izvestiya and NTK.
I often get letters on the website from all sorts of people who are concerned by the state of affairs in television, by all the vulgar and pointless programmes on the air. They ask me, persuade me and even demand that I do something to stem the flow of this type of TV output. I can tell you that the members of the Public Council are also concerned about the same problem. We realize that any business, including a media business, needs to make a profit for its owners. But we’re also convinced that you can earn money not just through sensational, low-grade content. I’m sure if you take an intelligent approach the TV schedules could be filled with educational, value-based and informative programmes, without the channels losing money as a result. So during the debate on Channel Five the members of the Public Council put forward lots of recommendations to the channel’s management, and also approved their stated policy of creating an intelligent channel with interesting and meaningful programming.
The Public Council is an advisory body set up under the National Media Group to maintain a balance between commercial and public interests.
What are the aims of the Public Council?
The Public Council has set itself many aims, including:
• To revive cultural values within society;
• To improve the content of the group’s media resources;
• To make proposals on the production of informational and educational programmes on the group’s TV stations;
• To expand international exchange of information;
• To assess how well the media group is performing in terms of public goals and interests.
How will the Council achieve these aims?
Recommendations on the media group’s development strategy will be drawn up by all members of the Public Council with the help of experts and senior managers from organizations within the group, and also using data from surveys of a broad audience, including the youth audience.
Who sits on the Public Council?
The elected Chairman of the Public Council is Alina Kabaeva. Her deputies are Lyubov Sovershaeva and Daniil Dondurey. The other members of the Council are: Yuriy Kovalchuk, Aleksey Mordashov, Vladimir Bogdanov, Andrey Konchalovskiy, Yuriy Polyakov, Angelo Codignoni, Hans Mahr, Andrey Makarevich and Denis Matsuev.
How often will it meet?
The Public Council’s members will hold meetings as and when required. Information on each meeting and all its decisions taken can be found in this section.
Can I take part in the Council?
Anyone who’s interested can forward their wishes and recommendations on the Public Council’s work to its Chairman in the “Questions and Answers” section of the website.
In late March I had a meeting with Daniil Borisovich Dondurey, the well-known culture expert, editor-in-chief of the Art of Cinema magazine and simply an amazing man. He’s also a member of the National Media Group Public Council, so we had lots of things to discuss. But the main thing, and something that we just couldn’t stop talking about, was television!
The meeting was a productive one. Daniil Borisovich not only told me what he thinks of the state of affairs in television and cinema today, but also gave me some very specific practical advice on the work of the Public Council. And you know, in 2007, 53% of Russians never read a single book. This is a shocking statistic…
It turns out that for many people television is one of the main ways of spending their free time. Over 100 million people watch TV every day, and this means it’s especially important to make TV not only entertaining, but educational as well. My meeting with Daniil convinced me of this even more.
When I was invited to sit on the National Media Group Public Council I asked what it does, because even the state-owned TV channels have nothing like this. It transpired that the group aims to organize its business in a way that maintains the balance between public and commercial interests, to pursue its commercial objectives while at the same time promoting and preserving cultural values, educating young people and fostering an exchange of information between society, business and government. And the Public Council is essential to ensure that these fine plans become more than just words.
I realized I had been given an offer that I simply couldn’t refuse. So I accepted it. On February 2008 I was elected Chairman of the Council – a great honour and responsibility for me.
I want to invite everyone to take part in this excellent project, so that it really is a truly “public” council.
National Media Group is a holding company that was formed in February 2008 through the merger of the media assets of OJSC AB ROSSIYA (54.96%), OJSC Severstal (19.49%), OJSC Surgutneftegaz (19.49%) and Sogas Insurance Group (6.06%). The group owns the REN TV and Petersburg–Channel 5 channels.
The group’s founders have merged their media assets to make them more competitive and manage the TV stations more efficiently. In the future, the group plans to expand its presence in the media sector.
On creating the group the founders were aware of the need to address a number of important social issues, such as promoting and preserving cultural values, educating young people, and ensuring efficiency channels of communication between society, business and government.
To achieve these aims the group has set up a supervisory body – the Public Council, which includes eminent Russian cultural figures, performers, politicians and businessmen. The Council’s elected Chairman is Alina Kabaeva, the Olympic champion and Deputy Chairman of the Youth Committee of the RF State Duma. The Council’s Deputy Chairmen are Daniil Dondurey and Lyubov Sovershaeva.
Lyubov Sovershaeva has been elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of National Media Group, and Sergey Fursenko has been appointed General Director.
On 15 February 2008 the National Media Group Public Council held its first meeting. The Council’s members are respected individuals such as Andron Konchalovskiy, Yuriy Polyakov, Daniil Dondurey, Lyubov Sovershaeva, Alina Kabaeva, Yuriy Kovalchuk, Vladimir Bogdanov, Aleksey Mordashov and others. The first meeting discussed the Public Council’s goals and objectives and elected its Chairman and Deputy Chairmen.
