International Television and Radio Company Mir (Межгосударственная телерадиокомпания Мир) is a multinational state-run broadcaster that offers Russian content to all the countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The idea of setting up Mir belonged to the former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev. The decision to create the broadcaster was made in 1992 by eight heads of CIS nations. Of all CIS members, only Ukraine didn’t sign the agreement to establish Mir and later banned the channel in its territory (since 2015) as it found that its programming was calling for changes in the country’s political system.
The company now airs the television flagship channel Mir, a cinema channel, the all-news television broadcaster Mir 24, and Radio Mir.
Media assets
Television: Mir, World Premium TV Channel, Mir24
Radio: Radio Mir
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
Mir is a multi-state-owned broadcast company, in which the Russian government holds the largest stake, according to Russian media experts interviewed for this report.
Source of funding and budget
Mir is financed through an interstate agreement according to which each participating government contributes funding. Russian media experts and our own intel gathered throughout the past few years indicated that the Russian government contributes the largest amount of funding.
Editorial independence
Mir is known to be a promoter of the interests of the founding governments, never engaging in criticism of authorities in the CIS region. The channel is also very much under the control of the Russian government, which is its largest funder, according to Russian experts.
No domestic statute and no independent assessment or oversight mechanism to validate Mir’s editorial independence have been identified.
October 2023