Official position/function regarding the conflict

Channel One is one of the three largest TV channels in the Russian Federation, its direct competitors are Russia-1 and NTV. It is positioned as the country’s main channel, but since 2016, it lost its top ranking to Russia-1 in the rating. The form of ownership is a joint-stock company, but 51% of the shares of Channel One are controlled by the state, and 29% belong to the National Media Group (Chairperson of the Board of Directors is Alina Kabaeva), and 20%, to the “pro-state” VTB bank. The General Director of Channel One is Konstantin Ernst.

Until the end of 2013, Channel One managed to maintain the image of an apolitical or loyal neutral media. With the beginning of the Euromaidan, it became impossible to stand aside – all the Kremlin’s media assets were thrown onto the “Ukrainian front.” The channel has been actively involved in the information war and has been criticized more than once for its obvious bias towards Ukrainian topics in news reports or socio-political talk shows. Channel One is an active promoter of the Kremlin’s official position: the war in Donbas is an “internal conflict,” caused by the coming of right-wing forces to power and discrimination against the Russian-speaking population in the eastern regions. In 2014-2015, the channel actively promoted the idea of ​​“federalizing” Ukraine.

Interests/goals in the conflict region

Channel One does not have its own interests or goals, but it is a relay of the state information policy in the region.

Actions regarding the conflict

TV critics and journalists note aggressively hostile rhetoric, a one-sided approach, manipulation of facts, and the use of unverified information in political broadcasts and talk shows of Channel One. Since 2014, the channel has been repeatedly caught in falsifications, the most famous of which is the story about the “crucified boy” in Sloviansk (July 2014). Other examples of fakes are the story of the mass exodus of Ukrainians to Russia (March 2014), a fake photo of the shelling of the MH17 liner by the Ukrainian jet MiG-29.

On 25 February 2015, correspondents of Channel One Elena Makarova and of NTV Andrey Grigoriev were detained in Kyiv and expelled from the country with a ban on entry for 5 years. Officials from Ukraine explained that the arrest was related to “anti-Ukrainian propaganda carried out by these journalists.” Since August 2014, international broadcasting of Channel One is prohibited on the territory of Ukraine. Since September 2015, the TV channel has been on the sanction list of Ukraine, its assets are blocked.