Fund to support independent Russian media announces shortlist

The shortlist of applicants for Sreda, a new foundation devoted to financially supporting independent media in Russia, has been announced, with 12 media outlets including Colta, Novaya Gazeta and MediaZona selected from 170 applicants. Submissions for the fund opened in August, when Dmitry Zimin, Sreda’s sponsor, businessman and founder of Russian telecommunications company Beeline, announced that three successful applicants will share Sreda’s budget of 50 million roubles ($1.4m).

Only non-state media organisations committed to transparency are eligible for money, Sreda’s website states, while also stressing the need for applicants to be open-minded and committed to publishing verifiable, accurate information.

Applicants were urged by a statement on Sreda’s website not to “use its reputation, credibility, professional rights and opportunities to disseminate advertising or in any way contribute to the restriction of civil rights”.

In August, journalist and activist Irina Yasina, a member of the fund’s jury, told Colta that her colleagues in the project “share a concern that there is very little political media — print, radio broadcast, television etc — which is not engaged in public entertainment or propaganda, and that actually seeks to make people think”.

In a media landscape struggling from a government crackdown on independent media, the launch of Sreda provides a beacon of hope to many journalists who have suffered from changes to the online information sphere since the start of the Ukraine crisis. While domestic independent media outlets have suffered pulled funding, unexpected firings and editorial reshuffles, foreign-owned independent media in Russia has also been targeted. In September, a bill to limit foreign shareholding in Russian media to 20% passed with a landslide vote of 430 to two, a law that is set to affect some of Russia’s leading independent news outlets currently owned partially or entirely by foreign shareholders, including Vedomosti and The Moscow Times.

The shortlisted media organisations are:

Colta, Moscow

Diletant, Moscow

Dozhd, Moscow

Life with Cerebal Palsy, Moscow

ZAKS.ru, St Petersburg

Foreign Literature, Moscow

MediaZona, Moscow

Novaya Gazeta (website), Moscow

Pskov County, Pskov

Free Rate, Barnaul

TV-2, Tomsk

Moscow Street, Penza