BUSINESS

The French Arbitration court has allowed Russian businessman Alexander Pugachev to acquire France-Soir, a popular tabloid. The young and wealthy Russian has already said that he plans to transform the paper into a respectable publication. He also said that he will readily finance the paper, hiring new employees and supposedly inviting the former editor of Le Parisien to become the publication's new editor-in-chief. At the same time, market watchers doubt that Pugachev will intervene in the paper's editorial policy. "The acquisition of this stake is a portfolio investment for him: due to the advertising market crisis the price of Western media assets has taken a plunge, making the acquisition very profitable," said Maksim Klyagin from Finam Management. In three or five years Pugachev will be able to sell France-Soir for a handsome profit.

Analysts also agree that the situation on the advertising market will continue to deteriorate, thus putting more and more of the printed publications in dire financial straits. This means that foreign publications will remain a point of interest for Russian businessmen who prefer to invest in media abroad since it is the safer business bet. For example, a well-known Russian businessman-cum-politician Alexander Lebedev has bought the British paper The Evening Standard whose annual losses are estimated at £10-20 million.

One very interesting question arises in connection with this development. It is no secret that the tone of a paper's publications depends a lot on the ownership. The media empire of Rupert Murdoch is a perfect testament to that. It is also no secret that virtually any attempt by Russian companies and individuals to acquire businesses abroad undergoes great scrutiny by the regulating bodies in the relevant countries. Acquisition of controlling stakes in foreign media publications de facto means acquisition of control over their editorial policy - regardless of whether the new Russian owners will or won't exercise this right, they are by default suspect. And while Russian businessmen are looking to the West to make investments that are safe from the political uncertainties of owning a media publication in their homeland, the West views these investments with suspicion, because it fears that the new owners will interfere with the paper's long-time editorial policy promoting whatever unattractive realities of Russian life one can imagine. It is a doomsday scenario, but scenarios of this sort are a regular thing in the world of politics - and media, unless it is fully entertainment-centered, is very much a part of the world of politics.

So, on the one hand I would not be surprised to see more and more Russian investors declaring interest in Western publications; not would I be surprised by expressions of alarm from the West. On the other hand, unless Gazprommedia decides to branch out into foreign media, I don't see any danger of any Russian businessmen buying any prominent Western publications with the sole goal of changing their editorial policy. And still - if these acquisitions continue and are allowed to be completed, in three or five years we may see that Russia is being portrayed in a very different way by the Western media. The changes will be subtle, but they will be there. It will be interesting to see.

By Marina Pustilnik