Russiantvnetwork('05)

The article I choose to analyze cam from the Moscow Journal via the New York Times, entitled "Red Star Over Russian Airwaves: Military TV Network" by Steven Lee Myers. The article delves into the Kremlin's latest endeavor to broadcast a patriotic message to Russia's war weary public in order to win "hearts and minds". Russian defense minister Sergei Ivanov claims the new Zvezda network would "Provide effective informational and ideological influences" clearly aimed at "draft age young men who now go to great lengths to avoid military service. Under Soviet rule, the Russian people saw thousands of young men go off to die in the deserts of Afghanistan and now emerging body bags as a result of the Chechen conflict. Ivanov has already condemned Russian television, citing that the three state-owned networks broadcast deplorable sex and violence. "The moronization of the people must be stopped" was the direct quote of the Defense minister. Now it seems patriotic violence is appropriate uptake for the Russian people. The real reason for the launch of the Zvezda channel seems to be a financial one since Russia is "a country where government agencies operate all manner of businesses". Given the current state of corruption in Russia, it's not surprising that the Defense ministry want to get in on the commercial broadcasting market. Many have criticized

the move as "a resurgence of the state's paternalistic attitude toward its citizenry: and "a lurch toward a Soviet like past". Only time will show whether Zvezda is successful, but its implementation is just another ingenious example of how the Russian people can take Soviet-era surplus and bundle it up as a new product