Estonia Today: Russian-language media

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Estonia Today
Russian-language media

Some facts:

* There about 450 000 Russian-speaking people living in Estonia
(mostly Russians, Ukrainians and Belorussians).
* 15 Russian-language newspapers and more than 10 Russian-language
magazines are published in Estonia.
* There is one public service radio station, broadcasting on four
channels, including one Russian with nation-wide coverage, and 31 private
radio stations, including 4 Russian with regional coverage.
* There are four TV stations in Estonia with almost nation-wide
coverage, including 1 public service. Three of them have regular broadcasts
in Russian.
* Russian-speaking population follows mostly TV and radio: TV is
viewed nearly 30 hours a week, radio is listened to for 20.5 hours a week.
Printed press is less popular. Estonians, on the other hand, do not have a
notable difference in their radio and TV consumption (about 26 h/week are
spent on both) and their consumption of printed press is more regular and
comprehensive.

Spread of different types of media among Estonian people in 1999
Table
Source: Baltic Media Book 2000 by BMF Gallup Media

Printed media

Estonia has a liberal policy regarding the printed media: no licence or
permit is required to set up a newspaper. The same applies for using the
services of a printing plant or the distribution of a publication. The
Russian - speaking population of Estonia can choose between 15 newspapers
published in Estonia.

The most popular are the daily papers Estonija (circulation 8 500) and
Molodjozh Estonii (4 700) and weekly papers Den za Dnjom (20 000, ranks 4th
among all Estonian weekly newspapers by average issue readership) and Vesti
Nedelja Pljus (23 000). Most of the Russian-language newspapers are also
members of the Estonian Newspaper Association. The most popular magazine
among the Russian-speaking population is the entertainment and TV magazine
"Sem".

Every year, based on submitted projects, subsidies are granted from the
Estonian state budget for publishing of Russian-language cultural and
literary magazines "Raduga", "Tallinn" and "Vőshgorod".

In addition to local Russian-language press, newspapers and other
periodicals published in Russia are also widely available in Estonia.

Radio

The Russian-speaking population in Estonia listens mainly to local
Russian-language radio stations. When compared to the television programmes
and printed press, radio stations have relatively regular and stable
audience.

There are 5 Russian-language radio channels in Estonia: 1 public service
(Radio 4) and 4 commercial (Radio 100 FM, Sky Radio, Russkoje Radio, Radio
Katjusha). Radio 4 broadcasts, in addition to Russian, several programmes
also in other minority languages, such as Armenian, Ukrainian and
Belarussian.

Seven most popular Estonian radio stations among non-Estonians and their
market shares,
31.05.2000 - 29.08.2000
Table
Source: BMF Gallup Media, <http://www.mediafacts.com/>

Television

Unlike radio channels, there are no local Russian-language TV channels in
Estonia. The public service TV station Estonian Television has 6 weekly and
1 monthly Russian-language programmes produced in Estonia and a daily
Russian news broadcast. A daily Russian news broadcast is also offered by
the private TV station TV1. Another private TV station Kanal 2 offers
Russian-language programmes every Saturday. Estonian Television has the
highest share in the market, closely followed by private channels.

Due to the absence of local Russian-language TV channels, the TV-consumption
of the Russian-speaking population in Estonia is oriented towards TV
channels of Russia - 75% of the Russian-speaking population watches Russian
TV channels daily. The most popular Russian TV channels are private channels
ORT and NTV and public service channel RTR. The Russian channels are
received either terrestrially (near to Russian border) or via cable networks
or with satellite home receivers.

In addition, connections with the satellite and cable systems of over half
of the Estonian households have also enlivened the consumption of other
foreign, mostly European TV channels.

Eight most popular TV-channels among non-Estonians and their market shares,
October 2000
Table
Source: BMF Gallup Media, <http://www.mediafacts.com/>

Ten most popular foreign TV channels in Estonia in 1999. The numbers
indicate the percentage of people, watching the TV-channel at least once a
week
Table
Source: Baltic Media Book 2000 by BMF Gallup Media

Internet

According to different estimates, Estonia is among the leading "online"
countries in Europe. In the autumn of 2000, 35% of Estonia's population were
using the Internet.

Russian language is widely represented in Estonian Internet, e.g. several
important state institutions (incl. the State Web Center at
<http://www.riik.ee/>), as well as media publications and news agencies have
Russian-language pages on their Internet sites. There is a list of
Russian-language Internet sites in Estonia at
<http://www.vm.ee/rus/InternetSites.html>.

The role of media in integration

Integration of non-Estonians in Estonian society is one of state's
priorities. It aims at creating a balanced multicultural society and media
has an important role to play in promoting integration.

Media has been actively participating in the area of integration. A
large-scale media campaign "Integrating Estonia" was launched in August 1999
with a total budget of 2,5 mln EEK (approximately 160 000 EUR). In the
framework of the media campaign, public advertisement campaigns "Lots of
great people" and "Interest" were launched, integration-related TV series
"Estonia on the air" are produced, an integration-oriented
Russian-language insert "Istoki" of the newspaper "Pőhjarannik" is
published, etc.

As the development of media campaign has indicated, media enterprises are
playing an increasing role in funding and promoting integration-related
activities. For example, 94% of the media space expenditures of the campaign
"Palju toredaid inimesi" ("Lots of great people") were covered by the media
itself.

More information:

Estonian Newspaper Association, uniting 48 newspapers published in Estonia
<http://www.eall.ee/>

BMF Gallup Media, the biggest media research company in the Baltic states
<http://www.bmf.ee/>

Estonian Press Council
<http://www.asn.org.ee/>

Pages about Estonian media at the Internet site of the Estonian Institute
<http://www.einst.ee/culture/media.htm>

Russian language Internet sites in Estonia
<http://www.vm.ee/rus/InternetSites.html>.

Estonia-Wide Web, comprehensive Internet catalogue and search engine, in
Estonian, English and Russian
<http://www.ee/>