How Madonna got on the stop list

Teleweek with Irina Petrovskaya

Everyone scolds television, and I really felt sorry for him last week. Well, okay, when Navalny, Ksenia Sobchak or Nemtsov get into the infamous stop lists, there is, as they say, for what. But when Madonna gets on the stop list!

News on TV is increasingly reminiscent of "The Big Difference"

Everyone scolds television, but I really felt sorry for him last week. Well, okay, when Navalny, Ksenia Sobchak or Nemtsov get into the infamous stop lists, there is, as they say, for what. But when Madonna gets on the stop list!

But they, the TV people, were probably preparing for the most detailed coverage of her visit to Moscow - they washed their necks in advance, held a creative contest "Who will interview Madonna." All the same, a world-class star, and not Buranovskiye Babushki, which, although they also entered the international level, have not yet managed to gain a foothold there, distracted by their own gardens and cattle.

If she had appeared in Russia with an open heart, she would have received such PR that she did not even dare to dream of! After all, the organizers sent the best representatives of the Russian elite to meet her in advance: Philip Kirkorov, Dima Bilan, Anita Tsoi, Nikas Safronov, TV presenter Oksana Pushkina, legendary figure skater Irina Rodnina. This is how many exclusive talk shows on the topic “How I made Madonna happy with my inimitable creativity” could appear as a result of this historic meeting, how many photos “Me with Madonna” could be published! The bummer, however, came out. Not only that, the superstar herself, according to eyewitness accounts, did not appreciate her happiness and arrogantly neglected precious gifts - the disk of the ex-husband of the Prima Donna and an album of drawings by an outstanding painter of our time. So she also decided to support the blasphemers from the punk band PussyRiot. That is, roughly speaking, she landed in a strange monastery with her charter. And as the old Soviet song says, "those who wear their stone in their bosoms find it very difficult in our village."

And she stayed with Russian Riot (by the way, also PR), but without the PR that she could have had if she were more accommodating and deader. And the TV people lost their bread, simultaneously depriving the audience of the spectacle. The concert and the action in support of the punk band on the day of the concert were described in more or less detail only in the NTV news. The rest of the federal channels were either completely silent, or casually mentioned the concert taking place in Moscow.

It could have been worse, of course, if the TV men edited the footage of the criminal PR speech in the XXC butt-to-toe with the scandalous footage of Madonna herself, the famous blasphemer, who also has nothing sacred in her soul. But the masters of such editing Arkady Mamontov, Alexei Pimanov and others like them, having contributed to the fight against blasphemy, went on well-deserved vacations, while others, apparently, were not entrusted with such a responsible mission. But in their tweets, bright representatives of the political and creative elite said a weighty word. While the movement in support of PussyRiot is expanding around the world and Sting, Peter Gabriel, Stephen Fry, Yoko Ono, Denis de Vito and even deputies of the German Bundestag have already stood up for them, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Rogozin wrote after Madonna’s action: “Every former b … with age tends to lecture everyone on morality. Especially during foreign tours and tours. Producer Prigogine, on the other hand, spoke even more elegantly: “That’s a complete bitch. The money was raked out and the political issue was resolved.” So Madonna, consider, still got off lightly, not having received the expected information support from the main television channels of the country.

But the TV people working in information services are still sorry: making news in an atmosphere of growing absurdity is hard work. Sometimes it is better to be silent than to speak and show. Even a cursory picture from the Khamovniki Court, where the members of the PussyRiot group are being tried, not to mention the rare synchro from the courtroom breaking into the air, can shake the confidence of even the most unshakable in the adequacy of what is happening. Here, the girls, like hardened criminals, are led in handcuffs by dozens of well-fed police aunts and uncles with a brutal escort dog on a leash, the barking of which then blocks the speech of the lawyer of the accused. But three fragile girls are sitting behind glass, not at all reminiscent of “swindlers”, as the young mentor and TV presenter Yuri Vyazemsky called them on Mamontov’s talk show, but those very clever girls from his own program, for whom he opens the way to the world of knowledge. However, the smart prisoners in terms of their level of education will give odds to many pupils of Vyazemsky. And poor correspondents have to turn this plus into a minus: like, they want to show their education, they quote Solzhenitsyn, Socrates and even Nietzsche. And - oh, blasphemers - compare themselves with Brodsky! By the way, the film about Brodsky "The Return", shown this week by the "Culture" channel, surprisingly fell into the context of what is happening today in Khamsud, confirming the validity of comparisons and associations.

Or here’s another piece of news from the week the news releases started: Andrey Makarevich wrote a letter to Vladimir Putin, who, in turn, replied to the singer, who was worried about the scale of corruption in the country and urged the president to do something about it: “After all, it’s not so much for you don’t give a damn about the country” (here the key phrase is “not as much”, which for some reason few people noticed). Vladimir Vladimirovich, smiling wryly, noted that corruption is obvious, but indestructible, it’s good that the public, represented by Makarevich, is not indifferent to it, and let’s all fight it together and change our own mentality. Yes, and you definitely need to write a second letter to businessmen who provoke officials to kickbacks and bribes ... Vladimir Vladimirovich said this and went away, satisfied: he washed everyone again! And break the head of the TV people - how to show and comment on all this, especially when the absurdity from the plot is rushing.

And what about the monk on Valaam, who tried to kiss the hand of the GDP, which (the hand) our "anointed of God" pulled back in horror? And what about the unexpected admission of the current president that it was he, in fact, who gave the order to start a “small victorious war” with Georgia, and not the then President of Russia Medvedev, which, in turn, the latter immediately refuted? And after all, you can’t ask clarifying questions, you can’t compare today’s and previous speeches of the figures in history: who are you, television people, to catch the first persons of the state at their word?

Oh, this is not an easy job - to drag out of the swamp ... at least some sense, while maintaining a serious mine on their own faces. The "Big Difference" compared to natural news is resting. Although the plot "Madonna with the ex-husband of the Primadonna" is her material, of course. “Oh, Philip, on what to record such happiness?” - the superstar mutters, fainting from the sudden luck that has befallen her and completely forgetting about some PussyRiot there. And there are hundreds of TV cameras around!