On-air protest prompts suspension of Russian
newscaster
Reuters in Moscow
A leading Russian television news presenter was suspended yesterday
after making sarcastic comments on air about the sacking of a journalist.
Alexei Pivovarov's suspension will raise further fears of censorship in
Russia after the sacking earlier this year of TV journalist Leonid Parfyonov for publicly
objecting to his manager's editorial role.
Pivovarov anchored the evening news on NTV - Strana i Mir - the
channel's flagship show created by Parfyonov.
NTV was highly independent in the 90s, frequently offending the Kremlin
with its Chechen war coverage, but its output became more muted after it was taken over by
the state-controlled gas company Gazprom in 2001.
Parfyonov, one of the few leading journalists to stay with NTV after
the takeover, was sacked in June after he complained about the axing of an interview with
the wife of a Chechen separatist murdered by Russian agents.
Now Pivovarov has been suspended for saying Parfyonov's sacking was an
NTV manager's "personal contribution to the history of Russian television" on
Tuesday night.
Pivovarov was reacting to Parfyonov's job as editor of the Russian
edition of Newsweek.
He said that Parfyonov "confirmed the thesis that in Russia it is
sometimes better to write than to speak".
A spokesman for NTV said managers objected to the use of live TV to air
his grievances.
"Airtime cannot be used by journalists, particularly by
presenters, to settle personal accounts," the spokesman told Ekho Moskvy radio,
adding that Pivovarov would continue to report for the channel but would not present the
show.
Ekho Moskvy is a rare broadcaster in Russia not to follow the Kremlin
line. Independent TV channels have been almost entirely hounded off the air since Vladimir
Putin was elected president in 2000.
National channels gave Mr Putin blanket coverage in the run-up to his
re-election in March, while observers said the state media's coverage of the pro-Kremlin
party in earlier elections was "overwhelmingly distorted".
Moscow-based newspapers are more ready to break with the Kremlin's
line, but are little read outside large cities and lack the impact of the three national
television channels.
“The Guardian”, December 9, 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,1369597,00.html |