Russia-1 (Russian: Россия-1, romanized: Rossiya-odin) is a state-owned Russian television channel, first aired on 14 February 1956 as Programme Two in the Soviet Union. It was relaunched as RTR on 13 May 1991, and is known as Russia-1. It is the flagship channel of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK).
In 2008 Russia-1 had the second largest audience in Russian television. In a typical week, it was viewed by 75% of urban Russians, compared to 83% for the leading channel, Channel One. The two channels are similar in their politics, and they compete directly in entertainment. Russia-1 has many regional variations and broadcasts in many languages.
Contents
History
Soviet period
Russia-1 started broadcasting as The Second Moscow Programme (Programme Two) in 1956. From the very start, it only hosted programs produced by the Ministry of Education of the Soviet Union, as well as children's programming, in monochrome. The move to a new channel frequency resulted in it being renamed Program 2 and becoming the second home of the national newscast Vremya since 1968.
Program 2 officially renamed itself All-Union Program 2 in 1972 and converted to color in 1975, and two years later became a nationwide station, being broadcast all over the Soviet Union. On January 1, 1982 AUP2 officially began to broadcast, not just educational and children's programming but also culture and arts programming and sports, as it was officially permitted to take greater account of the needs and tastes of spectators in a changing era. In addition, it broadcast also documentaries, music videos and programming, and movies.
Starting New Year's Day 1984, All Union Program 2 was renamed All-Union Channel 2 (AUC2), and it pioneered the first ever rhythmic gymnastics broadcast the following year. By 1987, it was also the first channel to adopt sign language interpretation in the USSR and later supplemented by subtitles for the hard of hearing, all for its Vremya simulcasts.
The official identification package for the channel was the star of the second antenna on a blue background with moving rings, symbolizing the radio waves, and the signature at the bottom of "II program", which then changed to "TV USSR." Around February 1988, a new ident replaced it: circles were fixed, disappeared inscription "TV USSR", and the background was light blue with a white gradient.
Since 1989, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) implemented the organization of the Russian national TV channel. By this time all the Union republics, with the exception of Russia, had their own TV channels. In 1990, the creator of the program "The Fifth Wheel", People's Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR Bella Kurkova requested the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Russia, Boris Yeltsin to create a separate Russian television station for the RSFSR, due to the fact that the central television channels reflect the views of the federal authorities. At that time, the country experienced a confrontation between the union and republican authorities.
On 13 July 1990 a decision of the Supreme Soviet of Russia ended the national monopoly on radio and television broadcasting in the RSFSR, clearing the way for it to launch its own TV and radio stations. Prior to September 15, 1990, according to the decree, the Cabinet of Ministers of the RSFSR, Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, and the CM Committee on the media, communications with public organizations, mass movements of citizens and public opinion research should address the issue of the ownership of the material-technical base of AUC2. On July 14, 1990 decree № 107-1 of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR officially established the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR Ivan Silaev helped acquire the building and the equipment for the future station.
Thus, Russia-1 is the successor to the Soviet Second Programme launched in 1956. As of 2000, it is headed by Oleg Dobrodeyev, who was a founder of the original NTV.
Russian Federation
After 27 years, the All-Union State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company turned over the operations of AUC2 on March 6, 1991 to the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, with Oleg Poptsov as its founding chairman. At the same time, the leadership of the company had been promised at least a 6-hour broadcast day as a national blocktimer for viewers within Russia, including a brand-new 20-minute newscast to be aired twice daily on the new channel. Due to the opposition views of the Republican team, the new management staff, led by the new GM for the soon to be re-branded Russian Television, Sergei Podgorbunsky, faced difficulties ranging from an inability to rent a studio in the Ostankino Television Centre to failure to provide new programs at the expected time.
At the same time, there were problems with the recruitment of new employees, program presenters and staff for the new station. Many presenters left the Union STRC free from TV censorship. As a result, the station management started to brainstorm and conceptualize its programming from scratch, including news and current affairs. Thus, "Vesti", the news program of RTV, was born, with airing time being at 18:00 and 20:00, twice nightly on weekdays (The 2nd edition was to be aired before its simulcast of Vremya). Most of the staff of "Vesti" on "Russian Television" were former presenters and staff of Soviet Central Television channel "Television News Service", their experience would help the new channel in its news services. Four studios - "News" for newscasts, "Republic" for current affairs, "Lad" for arts and culture and "Artel" for entertainment and lifestyle were created.
On 13 May 1991, recently appointed to the post of deputy general manager of the State Television and Radio Valentin Lazutkin officially launched the brand new ARSTV Channel 2 with air times from 11.35 to 13.35, from 17.00 to 19.00 and from 21.45 to 23.45 (six hours a day total), weekdays and weekends, with AUC2 filling the rest of the schedule. It was given a new corporate logo and a new brand name: "Russian Television". In its first hour on air, the channel criticized Gorbachov.
At 17.00 the Western-style newscast "Vesti" made its premiere telecast, with Svetlana Sorokina hosting. Items included destruction in an Armenian village and an interview with the Lithuanian president about possible repression from the Kremlin. From this time on Russian Television aired programming not only from the All-Union State Television and Radio but also from the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Compared with "Vremya", "Vesti" became the acute, short, specific and operational newscast Russians watched, without any censorship or bias. In the first week of broadcasting, "Good Night, Little Ones!" (beginning in 2002) and Odesa "Gentleman show" made their premiere telecasts. Two weeks later, "RTR" ("Russian Television and Radio") became the new name of the channel, and a new logo debuted.
Viewership
According to Mediascope, by 2020, Russia-1 was the most popular TV channel in Russia with an average daily audience of 1,338,000, exceeding the audience of its closest rival Channel One Russia by almost 9%.
Criticism
Censorship, bias and false messages in information programs
Some journalists criticized the Vesti program releases from early September 2004 about the Beslan tragedy for manipulating socially significant information. In particular, in one of her direct inclusions, the then correspondent of the program Margarita Simonyan mentioned the figure of "354 hostages", although the true number was initially known and amounted to 1128 people, as well as the fact that "the terrorists do not make demands" (despite the fact that in fact the main requirement was also announced in advance It was the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya).
In April 2007, it was reported that the TV channel had censored a French documentary about the preparation of the latest sensational color revolutions called «Revolution.com. USA: the Conquest of the East», released in September 2005. According to the Kommersant newspaper and the French side, as a result of the editing, the content of the film was greatly changed: all undesirable moments and comments, mentions of opposition organizations, episodes filmed in the Russian capital, as well as the name of one of the authors, Manon Loiseau, were removed from it. According to Kommersant's calculations, in the remounted version shown on Rossiya on April 15, 2007, the film ran for 48 minutes from 20:46 to 21:34 (which caused the timing of the Vesti Nedelya program running before the film to be shortened from 1 hour to 45 minutes), while As in the original, the film ran for 53 minutes and 40 seconds. Representatives of the Russian TV channel said that the film was cut by prior agreement with the French side, and the credits were the same as they were provided by the French. The representative of the French agency SARAH, in turn, noted that the Rossiya TV channel violated the terms of a strict contract, according to which no changes should have been made to this film.
In March 2011, Archpriest Vyacheslav (Pushkarev), head of the missionary department of the Irkutsk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, assessed the TV channel's position in covering the conflict in Libya.:
«…Two months ago, Gaddafi was a reliable partner of Russia, now he has become a "dictator" and a "murderer of his own people." What a metamorphosis! With all this, a one-sided approach to highlighting the problem is obvious. Our TV channels have chosen a line of imitation of Western media ... It turns out that our journalists and editors are supporters of rebellions and coups d'etat and they don't care about the constitutional order?.. Our central media went along with politics and, violating the basic norms of journalistic ethics, showed the whole world and us the highest level of their own unprofessionalism and engagement. After all, they shamelessly began to use the methodology of double standards in their "work"... Will our media find, and especially the channel "Russia" and "Channel One (Russia)|Channel One]]", do you have the strength and determination to admit dishonesty and apologize to the Libyan people and their leader? I doubt».
Awards
The channel's projects and its staff have repeatedly received TEFI awards..
Certificate of Honor from the IPA CIS Council (November 26, 2015, CIS Interparliamentary Assembly) — for active participation in the international TV forum "Together", contribution to strengthening friendship between the peoples of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States.