The problems between Ukrainian mass media and big-time politics are not as big as they may appear, at least for the print media. This was the conclusion of the roundtable, A Nonpolitical View on the Development of Newspaper Publishing in Ukraine, which was organized last week in Kyiv by the Ukrainian Association of Publishers of Periodicals. According to the President of the Association, Mykhailo Weisberg, alongside the real processes on the newspaper market, certain myths have been perpetuated.
There exist the so-called “newspapers-instruments” funded by certain political forces pursuing their political goals. Such publications, however, are more numerous in the capital than in the regions. By and large municipal publications are very rarely seen as business projects but rather as instruments of influence of local authorities (which is only natural in view of the peculiarities of their funding). Yet successful commercial newspapers are by no means a rare phenomenon. However, it is anyone’s guess how many such newspapers are out there. Likewise, it is hard to determine the total number of players on the newspaper market. The reason behind this is the shortage of statistical data. The available data gives a blurry picture. To illustrate, according to the State Committee on Information a total of 16,000 publications have been registered in Ukraine, including 6,700 nationwide and 9,300 regional publications. There is no telling how many of them in fact come off the presses. According to the Ukrainian Press Monitoring company, we have over 4,000 publications. Of these, 2,600 and 1,400 are newspapers and magazines, respectively. Yet the subscription catalogs of the Ukrainian Postal Service list 3,640 publications. It stands to reason that strategic planning can prove difficult without the exact number of competing publications in hand.
Nonetheless, the market statistics deficit is only one of the problems faced by the print media industry. There are more serious problems, one of them being the so-called “substitute products,” before all television and radio, which compete with newspapers both for audiences and advertising. Currently, the television’s share in the pie chart of advertising amounts to 75%. Notably, this share is increasing every year (though the print media also gives more advertisements than before). Some experts say this can be attributed to the fact that television channels are concerned about internal competition (meaning the ever growing number of multi-regional channels, the New Channel, STB, ICTV, to name but a few) and tend to keep the prices low. According to Mr. Weisberg, the advertising prices are unacceptably low. Thus, in all probability, the print media will have to put up with this situation for a while. Moreover, the advertising agencies, that concentrate their attention on television, have not yet become reliable partners of publishers of regional newspapers. Unable to compete with the Ukrainian Postal Service monopoly, the print media is facing some subscription problems. As a result, some newspapers have launched their own subscription services.
Speaking about the current trends in the newspaper industry, Mr. Weisberg pointed out the increasing periodicity of regional newspapers and the growing publications portfolio (when one editor is trying to offer his readers a number of various publications). An example of the latter can be the Sumy- based newspapers Dankor (sociopolitical, advertising, and news weekly) and DS-Express (news and entertainment publication). Evidence of a certain success of regional newspapers is their broadening geographical coverage. A graphic example of this is Sobytiye [Event], a Dniprodzerzhynsk-based newspaper currently circulated in Dnipropetrovsk, or Kafa, a Theodosia- based newspaper on sale in a number of towns across the Crimea.
However, some trends are not all that encouraging. Take, for instance, the shortage of qualified journalists in the regions, because most of them left to find work in the capital.
As for politics, regional newspapers’ relations with the authorities are quite normal. According to Mykhailo Weisberg, the newspapers are flexible and try to steer clear of conflicts. And even if conflicts do arise, those are usually of a personal nature (for instance, when a publisher has a disagreement with the mayor or governor). One of the reasons for the peaceful existence of regional print media is low profits, which makes it unattractive to big businessmen and politicians.
So, according to Mr. Weisberg, the print media faces many problems, but they are not political (at least, its political problems are few). Political debates center on four or five television channels and a number of radio stations, but leave newspapers out. Thus Mr. Weisberg believes that, when speaking about newspapers, we should discuss other problems, which may be not as prominent, but still real problems that need solutions, though without any help from politicians.
