22 January 2004 09:18
Russian opinion poll services in dispute over name - radio
[Presenter] A commission of the Russian Ministry of Antimonopoly Policy [and Enterprise Support, MAP] is to resolve
today [22 January] the dispute over similarity in the names of sociological services VTsIOM [All-Russia Public Opinion
Research Centre] and VTsIOM-A. Our correspondent reports.
[Yevgeniya Ten] It is likely that the MAP will meet VTsIOM's request and order VTsIOM-A to change its name. The
head of VTsIOM-A, Yuriy Levada, and other staff are not going to challenge this - they are already thinking up a new
name.
A reminder of the background to the confusion: Levada was the head of the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre
when in August [2003] [the Russian Ministry of Property Relations] decided to reorganize it into an open joint-stock
company. VTsIOM was categorically against it - they believed that this meant that the authorities would be able to
influence the results of the polls. Levada was subsequently replaced by Valeriy Fedorov who had previously been the head
of the Centre of Political Situations.
Levada and a part of his team then registered a new company VTsIOM-A, they also carry out opinion polls and analyze
their results.
[Presenter] It is as yet unclear what the new name of Yuriy Levada's service will be.
[Ekho Moskvy radio] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
