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3. Regional Tables
At this point in time it is nearly impossible to define the principal distinctions between federal-level and regional-level print media. However, in comparing federal-level and regional-level indicators, there is one finding that stands out. While on the federal level the neutral-positive hate speech perception ratio is 3/1, the similar comparison for the regional-level is 13/1.
3.1. Kemerovo Region
Òàble 3.1.1. Hate Speech Types
| Type | neutral (8) | negative (2) | positive (9) | Total | | Releasing veiled calls for violenceAnd discriminatory practices | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Justifying historic cases of violence and discrimination | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Pointing out (for the purpose of getting the target discredited) that an ethnic community or religious group has been maintaining links with Russian or foreign political or government structures | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Making statements to the effect that an ethnic community or religious group is inherently deficient (i.e. lacking in culture or intellectual capacity, being unable to undertake creative pursuits) | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | | Claiming that an ethnic community or religious group is criminal by nature | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | | Pointing out that an ethnic community or religious group has some inherent moral deficiencies | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | | Making remarks that an ethnic community or religious group is disproportionately well-off, over-represented in government agencies or mass media operations, etc. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Portraying certain ethnic communities or religious groups or their representatives in a derogatory or insulting context | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 | | Providing quoted observations or phrases without commentary | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | | Mentioning the name of an ethnic community or religious group in a derogatory way | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | | Creating a nefarious image of the given ethnic community or religious group | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | | Total | 14 | 2 | 17 | 33 |
Òàble 3.1.2. Hate Speech Targets
| Targets | Neutral (6) | negative (2) | positive (7) | Total | | Caucasus and trans-Caucasus ethnic communities | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Central Asian ethnic communities | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Americans | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | | Jews | 2 | 1 | . | 3 | | Ukrainians | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Roma | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Chechens | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Non-Russians | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | | Estonians | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Russians | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Tartars | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Total | 8 | 2 | 10 | 20 |
We have eliminated the “materials by category” and “character types” tables because of scarcity of the pertinent regional-level articles. Those tables would be unlikely to yield any significant information.
3. 2. Krasnodar Territory
The region’s primary distinction comes in the nearly total absence of articles where the author has censured the hate speech examples cited.
Accordingly, the following tables have lost one column.
Òàble 3.2.1. Hate Speech Types
| Type | neutral (6) | positive (8) | Total | | Making direct and straightforward calls for violence | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Advancing direct and straightforward calls for discriminatory practices | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Claiming that an ethnic community or religious group is criminal by nature | 3 | 10 | 13 | | Making remarks that an ethnic community or religious group is disproportionately well-off, over-represented in government agencies or mass media operations, etc. | 1 | 1 | 2 | | Accusing an ethnic community or religious group of negative influences on the society or government (e.g., “The Russian national identity is being diluted by...”, etc.) | 0 | 5 | 5 | | Portraying certain ethnic communities or religious groups or their representatives in a derogatory or insulting context | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Calling for action to prevent migrants of an ethnic community or religious group, from settling in the given region (community, neighborhood, etc.) | 2 | 11 | 13 | | Providing quoted observations or phrases without commentary | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Mentioning the name of an ethnic community or religious group in a derogatory way | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Creating a nefarious image of the given ethnic community or religious group | 7 | 24 | 31 | | Total | 15 | 56 | 71 |
Òàble 2.3.2. Hate Speech Targets
| Targets | Neutral (7) | Positive (13) | Total | | Non-Slavs | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Africans | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Caucasus and trans-Caucasus ethnic communities | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Jews | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Roma | 1 | 3 | 4 | | Chechens | 2 | 0 | 2 | | Non-Russians | 3 | 11 | 14 | | Non-Christians | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Non-Orthodox (possible Christians) | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Muslims | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Catholics (and Uniats) | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Jehovah’s Witnesses | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Scientologists | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Armenians | 1 | 6 | 7 | | Meskhetian Turks | 3 | 18 | 21 | | Kurds | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Total | 12 | 51 | 63 |
Òàble 3.2.3. Materials by Category
| Category of Material | Neutral | Positive | Total | | Editor’s perspective | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Interview | 5 | 3 | 8 | | Article | 0 | 15 | 15 | | News report | 2 | 6 | 8 | | Reprint | 1 | 1 | 2 | | Reader’s letter | 1 | 4 | 5 | | Total | 9 | 31 | 40 |
Òàble 3.2.4. Character Types
| Character Type | Neutral | Positive | Total | | Politician | 4 | 11 | 15 | | Journalist | 2 | 15 | 17 | | Government official | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Layman | 1 | 3 | 4 | | Law Enforcement Personnel | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Public figure | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Religious figure | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Total | 9 | 32 | 41 |
3.3. PERM REGION
Results for negative and neutral findings are zero, and therefore these result columns have been omitted in the tables for the Perm region monitoring. Admittedly, there have been rather few reports of hate speech in the region.
Òàble 3.3.1. Hate Speech Types
| Type | Positive (5) | | Making statements to the effect that an ethnic community or religious group is inherently deficient (i.e. lacking in culture or intellectual capacities, inability to undertake creative pursuits) | 1 | | Claiming that an ethnic community or religious group is criminal by nature | 6 | | Making remarks that an ethnic community or religious group is disproportionately well-off, over-represented in government agencies or mass media operations, etc. | 1 | | Accusing an ethnic community or religious group of negative influences on the society or government (for example, “The Russian national identity is being diluted by...”, etc.) | 1 | | Creating a nefarious image of the given ethnic community or religious group | 4 | | Total | 13 |
Òàble 3.3.2. Hate Speech Targets
| Targets | Positive (9) | | Caucasus and trans-Caucasus ethnic communities | 2 | | Central Asian ethnic communities | 2 | | Americans | 1 | | Chechens | 1 | | Azeris | 1 | | Arabs | 1 | | Afghans | 1 | | Armenians | 1 | | Tartars | 1 | | Total | 11 |
Òàble 3.3.3. Materials by Category
| Category of Material | . | | Interview | 3 | | Article | 3 | | News report | 2 | | Reprint | 2 | | Fiction | 1 | | Total | 11 |
Table 3.3.4. Character Types
| Character Type | . | | Journalist | 8 | | Law Enforcement Personnel | 2 | | Total | 10 |
3.4. RYAZAN REGION
Table 3.4.1. Hate Speech Types
| Type | Neutral (5) | Negative (6) | Positive (18) | Total | | Making direct and straightforward calls for violence | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Calling for violence in the form of generalized slogans | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | | Advancing direct and straightforward calls for discriminatory practices | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Issuing calls for discriminatory practices in the form of generalized slogans | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Releasing veiled calls for violence and discriminatory practices | 0 | 2 | 10 | 12 | | Releasing publications and/or pronouncements designed to cast doubt on universally recognized historical facts of violence and discrimination | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 | | Pointing out (for the purpose of getting the target discredited) that an ethnic community or religious group has been maintaining links with Russian or foreign political or government agencies | 0 | 2 | 10 | 12 | | Making statements to the effect that an ethnic community or religious group is inherently deficient (i.e. lacking in culture or intellectual capacity, being unable to undertake creative pursuits) | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | | Claiming that certain historical crimes had been committed by an ethnic community or religious group | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Claiming that an ethnic community or religious group is criminal by nature | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | | Pointing out that an ethnic community or religious group has some inherent moral deficiencies | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Making remarks that ethnic community or religious group is disproportionately well-off, over-represented in government agencies or mass media operations, etc. | 0 | 3 | 8 | 11 | | Accusing an ethnic community or religious group of negative influences on the society or government (for example, “The Russian national identity is being diluted by...”, etc.) | 1 | 0 | 8 | 9 | | Portraying certain ethnic communities or religious groups or their representatives in a derogatory or insulting context | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Calling for action preventing migrants of an ethnic community or religious group, from settling in a given region (community, neighborhood, etc.) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Providing quoted observations or phrases without commentary | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | | Mentioning the name of an ethnic community or religious group in a derogatory way | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | | Creating a nefarious image of the given ethnic community or religious group | 2 | 0 | 12 | 14 | | Total | 6 | 11 | 79 | 96 |
Table 3.4.2. Hate Speech Targets
| Targets | Neutral (4) | Negative (16) | Positive (18) | Total | | Non-Slavs | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | | Africans | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Asian ethnic communities | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Caucasus and trans-Caucasus ethnic communities | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | | Central Asian ethnic communities | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | | Americans | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8 | | Jews | 1 | 1 | 9 | 11 | | Roma | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | | Chechens | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | | Azeris | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | | Non-Russians | 0 | 3 | 13 | 16 | | Non-Christians | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | | Muslims | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | | Catholics (and Uniats) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Estonians | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Arabs | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | | Afghans | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | | Pakistanis | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Armenians | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | | Kurds | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Russians | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | New Muslim teachings | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Total | 4 | 23 | 53 | 80 |
Table 3.4.3. Materials by Category
| Category of Material | Neutral | Negative | Positive | Total | | Editor’s perspective | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Interview | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | | Article | 2 | 4 | 12 | 18 | | News report | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Reprint | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | | Joke | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | | Classified and commercial ads | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Total | 2 | 7 | 27 | 36 |
Table 3.4.4. Character Types
| Character Type | Neutral | Negative | Positive | Total | | Politician | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | | Journalist | 1 | 4 | 16 | 21 | | Cultural worker | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Layman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Judge | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Law enforcement personnel | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Public figure | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | | Total | 2 | 7 | 22 | 31 |
3.5. ST. PETERSBURG
Table 3.5.1. Hate Speech Types
| Type | Neutral (6) | Negative (4) | Positive (7) | Total | | Issuing calls for discriminatory practices in the form of generalized slogans | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Releasing publications and/or pronouncements designed to cast doubt on universally recognized historical facts of violence and discrimination | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | | Calling for action to prevent migrants of an ethnic community or religious group, from settling in the given region (community, neighborhood, etc.) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Making statements to the effect that an ethnic community or religious group is inherently deficient (i.e. lacking in culture or intellectual capacity, being unable to undertake creative pursuits) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | | Claiming that an ethnic community or religious group is criminal by nature | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | | Pointing out that an ethnic community or religious group has some inherent moral deficiencies | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | | Making remarks that an ethnic community or religious group is disproportionately well-off, over-represented in government agencies or mass media operations, etc. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Portraying certain ethnic communities or religious groups or their representatives in a derogatory or insulting context | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 | | Calling for action to prevent migrants of an ethnic community or religious group, from settling in a given region (community, neighborhood, etc.) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Creating a nefarious image of the given ethnic community or religious group | 8 | 1 | 14 | 23 | | Total | 14 | 4 | 27 | 45 |
Table 3.5.2. Hate Speech Targets
| Targets | Neutral (13, 11) | Negative (2,2) | Positive (27, 10) | Total | | Non-whites | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Africans | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | | Asian ethnic communities | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | | Caucasus and trans-Caucasus ethnic communities | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Central Asian ethnic communities | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Americans | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | | Jews | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | | Roma | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Chechens | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 | | Azeris | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | | Non-Russians | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | | Muslims | 1 | 1 | 7 | 9 | | Catholics (and Uniats) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Estonians | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Afghans | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Total | 13 | 2 | 27 | 42 |
Table 3.5.3. Materials by Category
| Category of Material | Neutral | Negative | positive | Total | | Editor’s perspective | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | | Interview | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | | Article | 7 | 1 | 16 | 24 | | News report | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | | Joke | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | | Total | 12 | 2 | 22 | 36 |
Table 3.5.4. Character Types
| Character Type | Neutral | Negative | Positive | Total | | Journalist | 9 | 0 | 10 | 19 | | Expert | 3 | 2 | 10 | 15 | | Cultural worker | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Total | 12 | 2 | 21 | 35 |
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE REGIONS
The press in the Krasnodar territory (40 entries) appears to be particularly focused on local problems. Over half of the filed entries are dedicated to the issue of migrants (Meskhetian Turks, Armenians, Roma, Kurds, Chechens, “non-indigenous” communities). The material that was surveyed, for the most part, was related to public appearances by the regional authorities, primarily by A. Tkachev, Governor of the Krasnodar territory. The regional leadership’s sentiments could generally be characterized as following an observation made by the Governor: “Kuban is for Kubanites! Yes, Kuban is a multiethnic region; however, Russians are the core ethnic community. Everybody who comes here needs to adapt to our ways, our customs and traditions …” Not only “non-indigenous” communities are unwelcome and unloved by local authorities but also “foreign” religions (Catholics, Protestants, and particularly Jehovah’s Witnesses and Scientologists). The two major issues that have been the focus of public attention are “non-Russian” migrants and the persisting ethnic tensions allegedly generated by the criminal nature of the local “migrants.” Following the substitution of A. Tkachev for N. Kondratenko as regional head, “anti-Zionism” has become less of an issue, although it is still very much present. For example, according to A. Tkachev, the federal-level NTV television network keeps attacking the Kuban authorities because it employs people like V. Shenderovich and S. Shuster. Unlike other Russian regions where puns could be exchanged on the topic of ethnic relations, within the Krasnodar territory such mundane things appear to carry high-level official connotations.
Out of the 29 Ryazan-origin hate speech entries, six were politically incorrect and basically harmless jokes. The Ryazan-based newspapers and magazines are keen on printing historical-philosophical and geopolitical articles smacking of nationalistic supremacy. One can easily find for example an RNE (Russian National Unity) leaflet carried by a local daily as a congratulatory message on the organization’s eleventh anniversary or excerpts from the book by David Duke (former Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan) on the true role of Jews in today’s world. Overall, the publications originating in Ryazan have been rather discursive, with personalized observations on historical topics relating little to pressing regional issues of the day. The regional media appear to be rather tolerant of calls of the “Jews get out of Russia!”-type. What is more, the local papers can tell you that D. Dudaev “disappeared” because he was a Jew and that the Jews who owned the industrial facility on the Lena River at the beginning of the XIX century were responsible for the execution-by-fire of Russian industrial workers there. Reporters in Ryazan sought to criminalize Caucasus-origin migrants, though this topic appears to be tertiary in relevance to subjects reported upon. Residents of Ryazan and the region seem to be so fond of reading about history and geopolitics that hate speech practices with regard to members of the larger migrant communities have been reported as nearly negligible. However, one might conclude that a migrant-related problem (should it ever become significant there) would be handled just as in the Krasnodar territory. This conjecture seems to be plausible, particularly given that the Ryazan region, with its population being 96% Russian, has always been characterized by a very high level of nationalistic sentiments.
St. Petersburg (34) rests in a middle ground, between “soft” Perm and Kemerovo and “hard” Ryazan and Krasnodar. Nearly half the mentions are attributed to the September 11 attacks, anti-Americanism and anti-Islamism; the remaining responses address the criminality of Chechens, Azeris, Tajiks, Roma and Syrians. In addition, there have been other external political attacks (against Jews and Arabs) and discussion of a high-profile pop-star’s father-in-law being Jewish by origin. At this point in time, we do not have enough data to conclude whether the situation in St. Petersburg is the result of the city being a megalopolis or its “inferiority complex,” a by-product of its “second capital” status. Whatever the reason, while Moscow’s “amateur-politicians” have been marginalized, those from St. Petersburg have been placed in the “‘mainstream.”
In Perm (11) hate speech practices appear to be limited to the following: articles written to promote stereotyping an ethnic group as criminal, ethnic humor, defaming statements with regard to aliens and Chechens, the latter statements being war-related.
In Kemerovo (30) the relevant hate speech examples, while basically rather soft (limited to unintentional turns of speech), appear to be somewhat defamatory with regard to certain ethnic communities (Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Afghans, Americans). One report refers to a local resident alleging that “all Chechens are thieves.”
Rather low levels of hate speech manifestations in the latter two Russian regions seem to be explained by the fact that those provinces have few migrants, though Ryazan clearly is an exception to this logic.
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