Parts of this page: Press, Radio, TV.
There are more mass media links on the page Links on politics
PRESS
In Russian:
Novaya Gazeta ("New Newspaper") - Comes out twice per week. Most critical of Putin's regime. Published an investigation about FSB (former KGB) involvement in the bombings of dwelling houses in several Russian cities in 1999. Anna Politkovkaya's articles about Chechnya are especially noteworthy. My favourite.
Novyuye Izvestia ("New News") - This daily split from Izvestia (below) in 1997. In 2003 its managementhas was changed. The orientation is democratic: the paper criticises Putin, Moscow's mayor Luzhkov, the war in Chechnya, etc. I especially like its interesting reports from Scandinavia. The paper's target audience is the middle class.
Ogonyok ("A Little Light") - A weekly magazine, hugely popular in the late 1980s (with revelations about Soviet history, etc.). Today's Ogonyok is interesting too.
A few others:
Izvestia ("News") - A leading Russian daily (my father is its long-standing subscriber). This paper is in the centre of the Russian political spectrum. It tries give space to various opinions, but in reality it is pro-Putin and it is a mouthpiece of the Russian establishment/bureaucracy. Owned by Potanin (one of the so-called oligarchs), it is rather heavy on Russian politics and industry. The average reader over forty.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta ("Independent Newspaper") - Orientation: centre. Long articles with a lot of analysis, emphasis on Russia & CIS. The site contains the full version.
Argumenty i Fakty ("Arguments and Facts") - Russian weekly with the largest circulation. Its articles are short and concise (which makes it a good reading matter for students of Russian!). During the Soviet times it served as a resource for party propagandists and sometimes published articles and answers to questions on sensitive political and social issues. My father had to obtain a special permission from the local party committee to subscribe to it. During glasnost (openness) it became freely accessible and very popular (its circulation surpassed 20 million copies - a world record!). In the recent years it got worse: it panders to the masses with sex/celeb stories and forgets about real issues. The paper still gives a representative picture of attitudes in Russian society, but the fact is that the quality of this society has also deteriorated.
Inostranets ("Foreigner") - It is a paper for people who travel abroad or emigrate and its orientation is pro-Western. It used to be very interesting in the 90s when it published articles about America (universities, etc.), Western mentality, interviews with our emigrants, and gave advice how to travel the world with a few bucks in the pocket. But since then it has directed its attention to turism and expensive education abroad. The paper itself has also become more expensive, but online it is free.
In English:
The Moscow Times - A leading English-language daily in Russia. I get its e-mail summary in the morning and then visit the site for articles which interest me. It's a great source of information, though it covers primarily business, and the site downloads fast. Free paper copies of this newspaper are available in Moscow hotels, restaurants and business centres.
A few others:
Moscow News - This weekly used to be the only English-language newspaper in the USSR (then I studied English on my own and read it regularly) and during glasnost it was making waves. The paper remained pro-democratic until 2005, when it was purchased by a Russian magnate loyal to Putin.
The Russia Journal - Started in 1998 by an Indian businessman. Now it comes out daily and has several supplements (The Leader, Life Style, etc. - all quite trashy). It's emphasis is on business and industry reviews. This paper supports Putin and his war in Chechnya and it constantly accuses The Moscow Times of unfair competition. For me its articles are too boring, not to mention the political orientation.
In Swedish:
These I used to read in Sweden in the paper form (see some articles which I translated), now I visit the sites sometimes. I also get daily briefings in Swedish (TT nyheter) from Nyhet.nu.
Svenska Dagbladet - A quality Swedish newspaper. Strong on economy and politics. My favourite.
Dagens Nyheter - The most well-known Swedish newspaper. Of special interest to intellectuals.
Aftonbladet and Expressen - The two leading Swedish tabloids. They are quite similar.
8 Sidor - Weekly newspaper in easy Swedish. Now you can also listen to articles.
Hudiksvalls Tidning - a local Swedish daily newspaper (from the region of Sweden, where I lived 1.5 years).
More Links:
ABYZ - Newspapers and news media from all over the world
Live-Radio.net - The biggest directory of on-line radio stations
Radio Svoboda - Radio Liberty in Russian. Primarily Russian politics (democracy, human rights, war in Chechnya and much more). Funded by the US government.
Golos Ameriki - Voice of America in Russian. Very professional broadcasting and more interesting than its English-language service. I like its editorials "reflecting the policies of the US Government" (they were usually about violations of human rights is various countries, then they focused on terrorism).
Ruskaya Sluzhba BBC - BBC in Russian. Especially interesting are programmes about Anglo-Russian cultural relations (e.g. literary).
Radio Sweden - For all those who are intrested in Sweden.
“Свободный Голос” - Единственная в России правозащитная радиостанция.
Russian TV online: RTVi, Corbina.tv
Russian
In Russia I did not watch TV much. In the recent years the programming has been extremely bad: soap operas, trashy American and Russian films, stupid talk shows and games heavily garnished with commercials. Unfortunately, this is what the majority of the Russian audience wants!
The only exception is the non-commercial Kultura channel. It has a good design, and it shows better-quality films which are not interrupted by ads. When Kultura was off the air (1 - 10 a.m.) they showed Euronews (in Russian). I liked it too, because I'm interested in European affairs.
Since Putin became President, the goverment has gradually taken control of all national TV channels, as well as other national media, with the exception of a handful of small newspapers and the Internet. There is no longer freedom of mass media in Russia.
Canadian
In Canada I rarely watch the TV. I have five channels, which are free: three in French (Radio Canada, TeleQuebec, TVA), and two in English (CBC, Global). For the news I prefer Radio Canada. For other programmes I like TeleQuebec, which sometimes shows good films and documentaries.
I also like TV5 (the Canadian version has some local content), but it is available only by cable. I'm not going to get cable channels, because it's expensive and most of the channels will be American.
Instead of watching TV, I see quite a lot of films on DVD.