Military media holding
The Russian Ministry of Defense plans to incorporate all departmental mass media in one open stock company.
The new company will be called “Zvezda” (“Star”), the same as the ministry’s TV-channel and close to the name of its main newspaper “Krasnaya Zvezda” (“Red Star”), web site Newsland.ru reports.
Since the 1990’ies Russian military mass media have struggled to find its place in the media market and has had to compete with civilian publications on military issues.
The Ministry of Defense hopes that the establishment of a media holding company will create one common information field for objective reporting about army life, contribute to give the service higher prestige and protect the servicemen’s social rights. Another important aim is to make money.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has quite large resources to use in the fight on the media market. Besides “Krasnaya Zvezda” the military runs ten papers in the military districts and fleets, about the same number of different magazines, a central TV- and radio studio, the news agency “Voyeninform” and the ministry’s editorial and publishing center.
