the new russian nationalismfurther increases.^29 Particularly controversial is the application of
the terms ‘migrant’ or even ‘illegal migrant’ to Russian citizens.
Even the Kremlin- sponsored discourse lacks consistency on this
issue. Putin has sometimes argued that no citizen of Russia could
be called a migrant.^30 But he has also used the term ‘migration’
to describe the residency of North Caucasians in cities of Central
Russia (Putin 2012b). Such contradictory pronouncements are
reported without reflection. Likewise, Russian television news
often covers stories about Russia’s tsygane (Gypsies) as part of
the discussion of the impact of migration flows on Europe, even
though Russia’s Roma communities date back centuries and their
members are Russian citizens.^31 Such terminological laxity inevi-
tably has social and political implications.
Migration stories exhibited several striking features. From 2010
onwards, opinion polls have indicated rising resentment towards
non- Slavic nationalities (Levada Centre 2012b). While the print
media and television channels like NTV were already featuring
alarmist reports on the effects of migration on Russia, in 2010
and 2011 Vesti and Vremia were avoiding opportunistic exploi-
tation of these widespread perceptions, following the Kremlin’s
general view of migration as essential to the Russian economy.
As Figure 11.2 demonstrates, in frequency terms, migration was
Vremia’s second least covered topic, and on Vesti it generated less
coverage even than ‘ethnic cohesion’. During our first recordings
from September to November 2010, migration- coded stories were
absent from Vremia, at a time when the controversial deportations
of East European Roma from France were being criticised by the
EU (Vesti, however, used the opportunity to claim better condi-
tions for Russian Roma). Overall, Vremia’s coverage of migration
remained minimal (see Figure 11.9). The amount of coverage on
Vesti was greater (see Figure 11.10) and, unlike Vremia, it fea-
tured occasional reports on clashes between labour migrants and
locals, particularly in Moscow. Thus, with migration, differences
between the two channels became particularly noticeable.
As Figures 11.9 and 11.10 indicate, both channels highlight
migration- related issues outside Russia. During our recording
period, the situation in Russia was contrasted to developments
in Europe, where migration, it was argued, had fostered societal