Translated material
Tomsk anomaly
On May 20, the deadline for warning Roskomnadzor against the Tomsk independent television channel TV-2 expired. The agency can now suspend its broadcast license at any time. Or even take it away
The most popular word in Tomsk now is "feeder". This word would never have entered the lexicon of Tomsk residents, if on April 19, late in the evening, the air of the only independent city channel TV-2 had not gone out. The signalmen explained to us, journalists, that a piece of cable from the transmitter to the antenna burned out - this is the very "feeder". And they promised to fix everything as soon as possible.
Days passed. The mysterious device was still unrepaired. The phones in our office were ringing. The audience, unlike us, immediately suspected something was wrong.
Everything fell into place on May 15 - exactly on the 23rd birthday of the company. The TV-2 channel received an order from Roskomnadzor - either we resume broadcasting until May 20, or the TV company's license will be revoked. This is despite the fact that we notified the department of technical problems!
„
Feeder with them, with those who started the murder of TV-2. Our viewers will not allow this. And they won't forgive
”
That is, watch your hands - one state structure cuts our connection and disconnects us from the air. The other one demands to go on the air, otherwise, they say, we will deprive the license.
Not that this story came as a complete surprise to us. We know what country we live in. We have seen how the cleansing of the information space has been going on for the last 15 years. And we understood that sooner or later they would come for us. But they imagined it differently. Masks show, sanitary and epidemiological station, this and that ... But not a piece of cable!
Our TV channel is private. And it does not belong to a business affiliated with the authorities. We can't order anything. TV-2 is such a Tomsk media anomaly.
And the people in the city know it. And they know where to run for help if something happens. Because only we will tell about the fact that they close a kindergarten or take away a business, about how officials demand bribes or steal money for the construction of a road.
Tomsk itself has now come to the defense of the TV channel. Thousands of calls to the editorial office and pickets and rallies in the city center. Hundreds of people take to the streets, and I think there will be thousands. These people do not let us despair. So the feeder is with them, with those who started the murder of TV-2. Our viewers will not allow this. And they won't forgive.