Monday, February 07, 2005
"...for those not indifferent to Russia's fate"
I was fortunate to catch most of Monday evening's edition of "Vyorsty" ("Вёрсты"), a political talk show hosted by journalist/author Leonid Mlechin and aired live (a rarity in today's controlled media environment) on the TV-Tsentr (TVC) channel. The show is described on its website as "a program for those not indifferent to Russia's fate."
The topic under discussion was whether the Duma should vote out the government this week. Four Duma deputies - including Vladimir Ryzhkov, who seems like one of the most promising opposition politicians around today - had a lively discussion with much criticism of both the government and of the president.
TVC (their English website is here) is often talked about, along with REN-TV, as a channel that's bucking the current trend of tamer, more Kremlin-friendly informational programming. This channel airs some of the most honest programs (go here for a summary of the station's programming in English) around. These include the late-night news show 25th Hour, which was popularized by the controversial Stanislav Kucher (his coverage of the Beslan crisis was especially noteworthy) until he was removed from that role, and the long-running Postscriptum, hosted by Alexei Pushkov.
[Note - I watched 25th Hour tonight and was surprised to see an interview with a rather tongue-tied analyst named Alexander Zhilin in which he mentioned the presence of NATO-backed forces in Chechnya as though it was a proven fact, although the host - Kucher's successor Il'ya Koloskov - to his credit did seem to be getting after Zhilin about the question of how Russian special forces could really have failed to find people like Maskhadov and Basayev for such a long time.]
The station's management, meanwhile, has claimed that reports of its opposition status are greatly exaggerated by individuals with a commercial interest in rolling back TVC's access to the "Orbita" satellite relay network, which has allowed it to reach a nationwide audience. TVC was originally a Moscow city channel.
Notwithstanding the management's protests it appears the station will not be allowed to keep its broadcast license, which comes up for renewal on May 1 of this year, without a fight. One idea which has been floated about a potential replacement for TVC is a channel - to be called "Derzhava," or "Power" - which would be run by the Russian Orthodox Church. In addition, I recently heard a rumor from a well-informed friend that another contender to take over the third channel slot is the proposed Ministry of Defense channel - to be called "Zvezda," or "Star" (on Jan. 27 of this year, Kommersant apparently broke the news that this network has official blessing by publishing a draft government resolution titled, "With the goal of creating optimal conditions for the patriotic education of Russian citizens...").
The Church and the Ministry of Defense are two of the most corrupt and discredited institutions in Russian society today - the military's trustworthiness ratings in public opinion polls are low, although the ROC's are not particularly low. They also happen to be two of the closest institutions to the Kremlin, which should give them an inside track in the scrum for the broadcast license, so at this point it doesn't seem likely that TVC will exist in its current form in six months. If the church or the generals don't get to take over the frequency, there are at least a couple of oligarchs who would like to pad their empires with it, so whatever happens it seems likely that TVC will soon go the way of TVS, TV-6, and the original NTV. I will be happy if events prove me wrong.
As for what might happen to the third button on people's TV's and the larger impact, it's impossible to see any of the possible outcomes mentioned above as a win for pluralism on the airwaves; in fact, any of those outcomes would represent another victory for those forces in today's Russia who would rather have bad news kept from the TV-viewing masses.
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5 comments:
I have to differ on your assessment of the Army's rating (note, by the way, that the army is in no way identical to the Ministry of Defense): it is quite impressive relative to the popular opinion of the Duma, the Cabinet, and even of local governments. This rating reflects a cognitive dissonance of enormous proportions, but it is precisely because it is so undeservedly high.
Also, I would not go as far as to put the Orthodox Church next to the army in a "most corrupt" list. Even assuming the Patriarchate, i.e., the senior bishops and their staff, are as corrupt as the Vatican of the Borgias -- a huge exaggeration of course -- the Church's fabric would still be made of common priests, who are mostly decent people. In the army, on the contrary, the root of the problem seems to be the whole officer corps.
Forgot to add this -- TVC is controlled by the City of Moscow, as far as I know, so if it loses its license, it will reflect, above all, the not-so-recent weakening of Luzhkov.
Alexei, you make very good points about the ratings. As far as being "corrupt and discredited" (the words I used), I think that as an institution, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), after decades of cooperation with the Soviet authorities and continued indifference to social problems such as the HIV crisis in Russia, is rather discredited. True, the average rank-and-file or even mid-level representative of the ROC is less likely to be corrupt in a bribe-taking way than the average rank-and-file or mid-level military officer, and obviously I have a great deal of respect for the priests who actually interact with the people (by the way, I don't have an axe to grind with respect to the ROC, I was actually baptized Orthodox myself before my wedding 5 years ago), but none of that makes me think the ROC as an institution is more worthy of respect. Probably my mistake in the post was to try to project onto the poll results something reflecting my own opinion which wasn't there.
A very good point, also, about TVC. Luzhkov is certainly no longer the national political figure he was 5 years ago (remember the OVR party?). I have to think that if I were him I wouldn't be too worried - he and his wife have definitely accumulated enough wealth that they don't have to worry about their old age or the future of their descendants.
Anyway, I very much appreciate the thoughtful comments - please keep reading and keep commenting when you think I am off the mark - it keeps me honest. You can also feel free to comment if you happen to especially agree with something I've written!
Regarding the ROC, I still don't agree that the sins of its hierarchs are enough to declare it corrupt. Besides, I do not count the Church's cooperation with the state in post-Stalin years among its gravest sins. (The Sergian compromise is another matter.) The ultimate assessment of this compromise depends on whether one subscribes to the Orthodox, or Catholic for that matter, doctrine of the Church.
I am concerned about Luzhkov's weakening not because he is a paragon of business virtue, of course (although I am more willing to excuse his corruption than that of Putin's buddies). There ought to be powerful figures in opposition to Putin, no matter what their words and deeds.
Alexei,
I couldn't agree more with you about Luzhkov. As for the ROC, probably we can agree to disagree, although you clearly know more about the history of these issues so you're probably right.
Lyndon
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