REGIONAL MEDIA MAY DOMINATE ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

Support from regional leaders may be critical because they often control the provincial press, and that part of the media now reaches more people than do Moscow papers, Obshchaya gazeta (no. 16) said. The paper noted that regional papers for the first time had a larger total circulation last year than did the Moscow ones. Moreover, the situation of the Moscow papers is increasingly critical. Few central papers can survive without government subsidies, and none will get any if they fail to follow the government line, Russian journalist union chief Vsevelod Bogdanov told Argumenty i fakty (no. 17).

Federation Council Debates Electoral Arrangements.