Stolichnoye Television (STV) started airing in 2001 and since 2005 has expanded its signal across the country. The broadcaster, which rebroadcasts the programs of the Russian television channel REN-TV, also manages the RTR-Belarus TV channel, which is the local channel of the Russian station RTR Planeta.
Media assets
Television: STV, Belarus RTR
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
Stolichnoye Television (STV) was incorporated as Stolichnoye Television Closed Joint Stock Company in 2000. The station’s top management is appointed by the government through the ministry of information, which runs the station. STV is majority owned by state companies, the largest shareholder according to our database being Minsk Novosti, a state-owned company run by the municipality of Minsk, with a stake of over 70%: we collected this information from a Poland-based journalist in 2019. The President of Belarus has to give his agreement to the appointment of the STV’s CEO, according to local journalists and experts.
Source of funding and budget
STV is funded mostly through state financing, according to local experts and journalists. The channel also generates funding from advertising, which also comes mostly from state-owned companies.
Editorial independence
STV is under the strict editorial control of the government, which makes the key decisions related to its news content. An ad hoc analysis of the content published by the outlet online shows a clearly positive bias towards authorities, which are never targeted by any critical articles.
No domestic statute and no independent assessment or oversight mechanism that would validate the editorial independence of STV have been identified.
September 2023