BROOM AMENDMENT

THE FOURTH POWER

The editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, Alexei Venediktov, who has held this position since 1998, like President Putin, is concerned about his own rating. If he is re-elected, the next election of the editor-in-chief will be held along with ...

The editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, Alexei Venediktov, who has held this position since 1998, like President Putin, is concerned about his own rating. If he is re-elected, the next editor-in-chief elections will be held together with the presidential elections.

The provision on the re-election of the editor-in-chief appeared in the new editorial charter, which was adopted on February 18. The change in the document is due to the desire of the main shareholder, the Gazprom-Media holding (GM) (it owns 66%, including a two percent stake owned by the NTV channel) to put things in order in legal documentation. Previously, the editor-in-chief was appointed indefinitely - by the meeting of the station's shareholders (journalists and GM). Now the editor-in-chief will be appointed for a period of three years - until 2008, and the last word will belong to the board of directors of the station, which is headed by the general director of GM Nikolai Senkevich.

“Many journalists of the station do not agree that I take radical journalists – from the radical statesman Mikhail Leontiev to the radical liberal Yevgeny Kiselyov,” says Venediktov, “so the election of the editor-in-chief for me is an approval or disapproval of editorial policy. <…> I will assume that the majority will vote for me, but it is important for me to get two-thirds of the votes of the team.”

In order to elect the chief editor under the new rules, there are two ways. As Sergey Buntman, Venediktov’s deputy, told Novaya Gazeta, shareholders who own at least 3% of the shares can nominate candidates (this is Venediktov himself, who owns 18%, Echo CEO Yuri Fedutinov - 14%, the rest of the employees - one share of the station ). The second way is to propose a candidacy by any five journalists of the station who have been working there for at least three months. Candidates must be named before the 5th, secret rating voting will take place on the 10th, and the board of directors must approve the 17th editor-in-chief.

However, the intrigue remains whether Venediktov will be re-elected. According to some rumors, Savik Shuster, who allegedly refused, and Vladimir Solovyov were already offered to take his position. Shuster reacted nervously to Novaya Gazeta's question about the correspondence of the rumors to reality: "Stop talking nonsense with your rumors!" Solovyov said: "I have been working at the Silver Rain radio for seven years, and the neighboring stations do not interest me."

In turn, to Novaya’s question about whether the main shareholder of the station was really considering these candidates, GM General Director Nikolai Senkevich answered with a joke: “Yes, it’s true, and Leonid Parfyonov is for the post of editor-in-chief of Popsa radio (the station also belongs to GM - N.R.). “The holding's position on Echo,” says Senkevich, “I have voiced it many times lately… The main thesis: Venediktov is forever! (English "forever." - N.R.) ".