Journalists from small independent radio stations across Russia have been told they must go online and embrace social networking to help them survive. The Yekaterinburg Independent Radio Festival has heard that many radio stations are struggling with few staff and reduced incomes.
They've been urged to expand on to digital platforms and reach new audiences.
Broadcasting on multiple devices
Speaking at the opening of the annual festival, organised by FNR, the Foundation for Independent Radio, Natalia Vlasova, the FNR director, challenged radio managers and journalists to seek out new revenue streams and to ensure that they delivered their content to multiple devices, and not just over the radio airwaves.
Every year FNR invites representatives from small independent radio stations across the Russian Federation to learn from one another, and to share experiences about how they have survived and continued to deliver independent journalism despite pressures, both financial and political.
Bowing to pressure
Charles Maynes, FNR programme officer, says such pressures have forced some to drop their news services because it is easier to attract advertisers to a music-only format.
He said that once a local radio station decides to move beyond music to include news coverage they are more likely to start upsetting those in positions and power.
In a small, regional town he said that could mean that revenue streams dry up overnight. The FNR programme is there to support those who are committed to continue to provide a reliable and responsible news service that is independent of outside pressure.
"We are working with a handful of independent commercial stations that are trying to reflect the interests of their community," Maynes said.
"Sometimes there are only three or four staff running the station and they are determined to keep a news service going.
"Now they are being urged to deliver that service online and on all digital platforms. It’s a big ask, but there is an enthusiasm and determination there to deliver," he said.
Maynes works closely with another group trying to boost independent media in Russia.
Supporting an independent press
The New Eurasia Foundation has a programme focused on supporting independent newspapers in the country’s regions.
The director of the programme, Maria Eismont, who works with Maynes and FNR on joint projects, says newspapers are also facing both financial and political challenges as they try to follow an independent line in their news coverage.
"The truth is that as soon as you start to produce independent, investigative journalism you are taking a risk. The risks are not as serious as in Soviet times, but they can be very real," she said.
"Some journalists have been killed, others hurt, and the message is clear - once you start to dig you start to disturb."
Eismont says one of the biggest challenges is self censorship. Another is that the investigations carried out by the journalists often get ignored and that leads to despondency.
"A lot of truth comes out but there is no reaction and people get disappointed. Our role is to support those independent newspapers who want to continue to produce reliable news through these times," she said.
Prior to the Yekaterinburg Independent Radio Festival Eismont and Maynes ran a three-day converged newsroom workshop
for 16 print and broadcast journalists in the Urals industrial town of Pervouralsk.
The aim was to encourage each group to learn new skills and set up converged news operations in their own towns.
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