Seemingly vigorous and diverse journalism belies serious editorial controls on virtually all broadcast and print media. Constitutional guarantees of press freedom are negated by financial and political pressures on journalists to conform to the wishes of owners or political operatives who control the particular print or broadcast medium. The nation's critical financial situation and the political instability tied to Boris Yeltsin's declining health add to the pressures on journalists to reflect the patron's political position. Libel cases have become a common form of intimidation by public officials.
Penalties are usually financial.
Some 80 percent of Russia's 6,000 newspapers and 4,000 magazines are technically privatized. All but a few received some form of government subsidy. There are 525 private and state-owned and operated TV stations. Increasingly, powerful financial groups acquire control or fund most major media assets. A former director of Moscow's powerful Menatep bank was named deputy chief of ITAR-TASS, the government news agency.