Rating the media - and the governors

Medialogia, a useful ratings website I've followed in the past (which, however, seems not as frequently updated now that the election cycle is over) has a couple of interesting recaps of the Russian media market. The most comprehensive is the rating of newspapers and magazines most frequently cited in the Russian media in 2008. Interestingly, four of the top ten newspapers and five of the top ten magazines are either foreign or are Russian editions of foreign publications (albeit with local talent and content). Medialogia also has a rating of the most authoritative internet media for the fourth quarter of last year.

Also quite interesting is the ranking of governors by mentions in "central" news media for December 2008 (excerpt above). It's predictable that Luzhkov and Matviyenko would head up the list, but the drop-off in number of mentions once you get outside of the two big cities is precipitous.

Also, the previous month's bronze medalist, that connoisseur of track suits and Hummers, Ramzan Kadyrov, was knocked down a peg in December by erstwhile opposition leader and new governor of the Kirov region Nikita Belykh. Belykh's appointment occasioned much hand-wringing among the opposition about whether he was selling out or on the contrary taking an opportunity to demonstrate that politicians from the non-United-Russia camp can be successful as managers - or whether, on the third hand, he was being set up for failure by the powers-that-be by being given the governor's spot in a struggling region.