Zvezda
Звезда
CountryRussia
Broadcast areaRussia
HeadquartersMoscow, Russia
Programming
Picture format576i (SDTV) 16:9
1080i (HDTV) 16:9
Ownership
OwnerRussian Ministry of Defence (through Zvezda Armed Forces Teleradio Company)
History
Launched16 May 2005 (began broadcasting on 20 February 2005)
Links
Websitetvzvezda.ru
Availability
Terrestrial
Russian-wide broadcastChannel 17 (DVB-T2)
Streaming media
Channel Zvezda internet broadcasttvzvezda.ru/schedule/

Zvezda[lower-alpha 1] (Russian: Звезда, IPA: [zvʲɪˈzda] ⓘ, lit. '[The] Star') is a Russian state-owned nationwide TV network run by the Russian Ministry of Defence. As of January 2008, Zvezda's CEO was Grigory Krichevsky, previously known for his work on Vladimir Gusinsky's NTV channel in the late 1990s.

History

In 1998 Central Television and Radio Studio of the Russian Ministry of Defense won the tender to broadcast the channel in the competition. On July 17, 2000, Zvezda channel was licensed for broadcasting. On February 20, 2005, Zvezda channel first began broadcasting on 57th UHF channel in Moscow. On May 16, 2005, the channel began to broadcast around the clock. In 2006 Zvezda was for the first time broadcast in all of Russia. In 2007 the audience of the channel grew further, as it was included in the package of NTV+. Since 2009 Zvezda is a federal status channel.

In March 2015, Zvezda offered a presenting job to Jeremy Clarkson less than 24 hours after he was dismissed by the BBC from motoring programme Top Gear.[2]

On 1 September 2015, Zvezda began broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen format.[3]

Controversies

Zvezda describes itself as "patriotic" and is considered one of the most sensational and anti-Western news channels in Russia. It has a reputation for publishing biased news stories which favor the Russian government and whitewash Soviet crimes of the past. It has published several controversial news articles, for example:[4][5]

  • Finnish military provocations started the Winter War against the Soviet Union
  • Czechoslovakia should be grateful for the Soviet invasion of 1968.[6] After this publication caused significant controversy in Czech Republic, Dmitry Medvedev disavowed himself from the article, saying it does not reflect the official Russian statement expressed in 1993 or 2006.[7]

In 2014–15, Zvezda employed Graham Phillips, a British journalist accused of promoting the Russian narrative in the war in Donbas and who was banned from Ukraine for his work.[8] StopFake reported that Phillips was awarded a medal by Russia's Border Guard, a branch of the FSB, a Russian intelligence agency.[9] They reported that Zvezda published an article in July 2015 on the MH17 airplane shot down above Ukraine in 2014 by pro-Russian fighters, which used Phillips' video and witness testimony to assert that the plane was in fact shot down by Ukrainian jets.[9]

In March 2023, the channel reportedly cut a clip, posted on Telegram, in which defence minister Sergei Shoigu did not respond to a question from a Zvezda journalist regarding the peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[10]

Sanctions

Zvezda was sanctioned by the Ukrainian government on 21 May 2021, with an official report referring to the channel as producing "news content in accordance with Kremlin policy to justify Russia's actions".[11]

In October 2022, the Canadian government sanctioned Zvezda amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[12] In June 2023, the European Union added Zvezda to its list of sanctions.[13][14]

Notes

  1. ↑ The official name, as registered with the state media regulator Roskomnadzor, is National Television Company "Zvezda" (NTK ZVEZDA) (Russian: Национальная телевизионная компания «Звезда», romanized: Natsional'naya televizionnaya kompaniya «Zvezda»).[1]

References

  1. ↑ "Национальная телевизионная компания "ЗВЕЗДА" (НТК ЗВЕЗДА)". Перечень наименований зарегистрированных СМИ (in Russian). Roskomnadzor. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  2. ↑ Butterfly, Amelia (26 March 2015). "Jeremy Clarkson has been offered a new job but it's in Russia". BBC Newsbeat. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "РТРС сообщает об изменении формата изображения телеканала «Звезда» на 16:9". Филиал РТРС «Московский РЦ» (in Russian). 28 August 2015. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  4. ↑ "Dependent media – Russia's military TV Zvezda". StopFake.org. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  5. ↑ Ilta-Sanomat: Russian TV channel falsifies history, Retrieved August 1st 2017.
  6. ↑ "Zemana naštval článek o roku 1968 na ruském webu, hodlá se ohradit". EuroZprávy.cz (in Czech). 21 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "Medveděv: Článek na armádním webu neodráží stanovisko Ruska". TÝDEN.cz (in Czech). 22 November 2017.
  8. ↑ Bright, Sam (24 July 2017). "The communist soldier using charity sites to fund his war". BBC News. Retrieved 2 March 2022. Westerners have been using online crowdfunding to finance their activities in eastern Ukraine since the conflict started. Among them is 38-year-old Graham Phillips from Nottingham in the UK. Since November 2013, Phillips has been covering the conflict, broadcasting amateur videos from Donbas, often in the midst of tearing bullets and toppling buildings. His daredevil style has drawn the attention of audiences, and he boasts 86,000 subscribers on YouTube. From 2014 to 2015, Phillips was employed by Zvezda - a media channel run by the Russian Ministry of Defence, and he also freelanced for the state-operated TV channel RT... Since May 2014, Phillips has been forbidden from entering Ukraine, on the grounds of "national security". The Ukrainian government even took the unusual step of issuing an open letter to UK authorities, condemning Phillips' actions.
  9. 1 2 "British Citizen Exposed as a Tool of Russia's FSB". StopFake. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2022. Phillips being rewarded for producing Pro-Kremlin propaganda by a branch of Russia's FSB, much of which has lately been for a media arm of Russia's military, Zvezda — is clearly significant, especially since Russia's MoD has publicly announced recently that Russian media are regarded as military assets, and its reporters are 'weaponized'... Phillips started working for Zvezda (Star) in Ukraine on September 23rd, 2014, filing numerous video reports... Zvezda is a Russian TV network owned by Russia's Ministry of Defense (MoD) which is registered as part of Russia's armed forces. Phillips wrote that he made about two-dozen video reports for Zvezda.
  10. ↑ "Телеканал "Звезда" обрезал видео с отказавшимся отвечать Шойгу". Радио Свобода (in Russian). 22 March 2023. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  11. ↑ "TV AND RADIO COMPANY OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ZVEZDA" OPEN JOINT-STOCK COMPANY". War and Sanctions. National Agency on Corruption Prevention. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  12. ↑ "Canada sanctions Russian entities over disinformation, including TV channel, actors". CTVNews. 17 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  13. ↑ "EU imposes 11th package of sanctions against Russia over war in Ukraine". The Free Russia Forum. 23 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  14. ↑ "ЕС включил в 11-й пакет санкций телеканал "Звезда"" [The EU included the Zvezda TV channel in the 11th package of sanctions]. Financial One (in Russian). TASS. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
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