VLADIVSOTOK MAYOR ACQUIRES ANOTHER NEWSPAPER, BLOW TO PRESS

UNCLAS VLADIVOSTOK 000105 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM SCUL RS SUBJECT: VLADIVSOTOK MAYOR ACQUIRES ANOTHER NEWSPAPER, BLOW TO PRESS FREEDOM REF: VLADIVOSTOK 2 ¶1. Summary: (U) The editorial staff of Moskovskiy Komsomolets vo Vladivostoke (MKV),one of the most aggressive independent newspapers in Primorskiy Kray, has received a note that Moscow owners of Moskovskiy Komsomolets (MK) have sold the franchise for publishing the Vladivostok edition to a company affiliated with Vladivostok Mayor Igor Pushkaryev. This is the second large regional paper bought by Pushkaryev this year and a second serious loss for press freedom in the region. -------------- -------------- Vladivostok Mayor ruins successful independent paper in Primorskiy Kray -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) According to MKV staff writer Elena Kochugova, the news that the MK owners had sold the Vladivostok franchise to Mayor Pushkaryov was absolutely unexpected. Since its founding in 1997, the MKV franchise belonged to PARI (Primorye Agency of Advertising and Information),held by a private entrepreneur Artoush Khatchatryan. The PARI formula of success was quite unique for the local media environment: Khatchatryan hired a limited number of the most professional and vitriolic journalists and paid them very high salaries for extensive investigative articles on local political scandals, corruption and crime, living conditions, public health problems etc. Such local stories were mixed with the articles and entertainment sections from the Moscow edition, thereby turning MKV into one of the most successful papers in the region. For twelve years in a row, PARI has sold 30,000-35,000 copies targeting an independent-minded middle class. This formula will never work after the MKV purchase by Mayor Pushkaryev. -------------- -------------- MKV purchase may reveal Pushkaryev's political ambitions -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) MKV is the second independent newspaper Pushkaryev acquired after he took office in the summer of 2008. "Everybody wonders why he is doing that. He is either going to become a local media mogul or has high political ambitions. But he definitely put himself under a big risk in both cases," declared Andrey Ostrovskiy, Chief Editor of Novaya Gazeta vo Vladivostoke. Pushkaryev has already ruined Vladivostok, the only city daily he bought just a year ago. In January 2009, Pushkaryev fired the daily's chief editor, who dared to publish a story on Vladivostok's protest against second-hand car import restrictions, stating that the paper must totally support Edinaya Rossia (see reftel). In eight months, 90 percent of staff writers left the Vladivostok Daily, and the paper recently stopped its retail sales. However this experience has not discouraged Pushkaryev. "In addition to MKV he tried to buy TNT Vladivostok, a local TV company, but Primorskiy Governor Sergey Darkin used his influence to stop the deal," stated Ostrovskiy. In the past TNT belonged to Vladivostok Mayor Vladimir Nikolayev and actively supported him during his clash with Governor Darkin in 2007. Nikolayev eventually lost - he was imprisoned and then was forced to leave Vladivostok - but Darkin definitely remembers anti-Governor reports broadcast by TNT and would not want another Mayor to own the TV company. With the purchase of MK, Pushkarev also created a number of enemies among the most vitriolic investigative journalists. PARI published the last MKV edition on 22 October. In the last edition journalists announce they are leaving MKV to launch a new weekly "Tikhookeanskiy Komsomolets" that will undoubtedly be anti-Puskaryev biased. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶4. (U) The MKV purchase is another serious loss for press freedom in Primorskiy Krai on account of Vladivostok Mayor Igor Pushkaryev. Aleksey Rasputnyy, a former MKV editor, considering such deals to be the trend, commented that "in the 1990s, local politicians fought media in courts; now they are just buying them." Pushkaryev's media activity reveals his high political ambitions but may also put both his investments and status at risk. ARMBRUSTER