In society

The results of the week. Holiday with tears in the eyes

November 21, 2014 Alexander Ryklin

In the processing speed of the process of sliding our country into the still indispensable depths of the political and economic ocean, the history of the outgoing week with a frontal attack on the Echo of Moscow radio station occupies a special place. If only because this media itself is obvious from the workshop line of the leaders of information and analytical broadcasting.

The main difference from others is in the proposed circumstances the radio station was able to resist within the framework of classical journalistic standards, to maintain the independence of the editorial policy. This does not require any additional evidence today. It is obvious to anyone: large television channels, large newspapers, whose socio-political content is suitable for use by a normal person, does not cripple the brain, does not destroy the soul, in Russia today is not. And there is a large radio. It is called "Echo of Moscow." And millions of people in many cities of Russia would undoubtedly want it to remain as long as possible. Those who breathe oxygen cannot endlessly stay in the airless space. Even those who seem to have an immense volume of lungs or in each pocket hidden on acwalang. Even if most of them realize that the sad result is actually inevitable.

Here the choir of radicals, lovers of simple landscapes enters: they say, the cleaner the picture, the more carefully cleaned the clearing, the fewer harmful illusions about the prospects. All these ambiguous formats give birth to only empty hopes. Therefore, even if they were the last time they will pass with their flamethrower, burn the ground all the living things that still floundered under the harsh Russian sun so that we could calmly evaluate costs, calculate the damage and develop a salvation strategy.

However, it has the right to exist and moderately optimistic view of our general prospects. We, in reality, are only working on these depths, which, most likely, are also intermediate. In this sense, the statement that “Russia is returning to the scoop” does not withstand any criticism. Of course, the “scoop”, which it remains in our memory, will not be able to reproduce. (By the way, I am not sure that someone is seriously striving for this, except for Grandfather Zyuganov.) Over the past twenty-five years, the world around has changed dramatically, therefore we will be placed to other frames, other circumstances and conditions. The general and well -founded understanding that, whatever one may say, it will still be very bad, it creates, of course, a certain emotional background, but in no case does not make clarity about details and nuances. What if they still leave a little oxygen, they will put some hose on top and allow them to apply from time to time? Or, say, the denouement will come so fast that we will not even have time to get scared seriously? So whether it is better to argue that difficult times are better to worry not in pitch darkness, but having an accessibility of a certain source of reproduction of mental strength and a generator of hope. Even empty ... and in the heads there should be something to cook. Well, just so that the brains do not soften. Therefore, food is necessary for thought.

At the beginning of the week, it seemed that the fate of the Echo was a foregone conclusion. That on Friday Alexei Venediktov will be dismissed, which obviously entail the death of the radio station in the format that we are talking about today. This did not happen: already on Wednesday the head of Gazprom-Media, Mikhail Lesin, withdrew the order to dismiss Alexander Plyushchev and abolished an unscheduled meeting of the board of directors, at which the fate of the radio station was to be decided. So - victory? I would say very joyful news ... Now an important question: why have they crawled today? It seems to me that the answer is more or less obvious.

During his long career in the power, Mr. Lesin gained a well-deserved reputation of a person who knows how to destroy independent media with minimal costs. When the Minister of Press, he closed NTV, TVS, TV-6. Already one appointment to the post of head of the company, which disposes of the control package "Echo", directly indicated the authorities of the authorities in relation to the radio station. And I would say - continues to indicate. Including, therefore, the situation at the beginning of the week seemed hopeless, and the fate of the radio station was predetermined. Even on Tuesday, First Deputy Venediktov, Sergei Buntman, to my question, what, in your opinion, the chances of salvation, replied gloomily: different from zero, but still within the framework of a statistical error. And yet they crawled ... Why?

In Russian domestic policy there are several questions that are in direct competence of the first person. For example, the problem of Alexei Navalny or reformatting ONF in powerful political force, followed by the replacement of it for a long time, all the disgusting “United Russia”. Without a doubt, the question of the fate of the largest and most authoritative conversational radio in the country is precisely from such. The current rejection of an immediate reprisal against the “echo” means only one thing: no political decision on this subject was made at the very top. However, I do not believe for a second that such an experienced and sophisticated court worker, like Mikhail Lesin, acted at his own peril and risk. Of course, he probably enlisted the support of some influential characters ... Say, Mr. Gromova. And perhaps he was even given certain guarantees. Say, attack, and we will pull up and sell all the decisions. But Alexei Venediktov, as we understand, in this sense is not basting ...

The calculation of the attackers was that Putin, in the end, would take the side of the attackers. Like, since they started, finish off. Only quickly and without unnecessary noise ... This calculation did not materialize. I must think, the clerks indicated their place. Perhaps administrative decisions will even follow. Going beyond the scope of competence, especially with an attempt to provide pressure on the leader, can be punishable by a career death.

But we do not care about all this bureaucrats Shusher with you. Let them be removed as much as they like, appoint, exile, give them orders ... However, in the story with the “echo” there is one plot that concerns us directly. I mean the dependence of the fate of public projects important for us on the will of a single person whose moral qualities are doubtful (or rather, they no longer cause) the planet’s inhabitants. I wish this addiction to somehow ruin ...



In the photo above: Russia. Moscow. September 10, 2002. The Minister of the Russian Federation for Press, Broadcasting and Mass Communications Mikhail Lesin (in the picture on the right) and the editor -in -chief of the Echo of Moscow radio station Alexei Venediktov (left) at the premiere show of the film by Pavel Lungin, which took place in the Central House of Writers in Bolshaya Nikitskaya.
Photo by Svetlana Sokolova / TASS
In the photo below: Russia. Moscow. January 13, 2012. The editor -in -chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station Alexei Venediktov and the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin (left to right) after the awarding ceremony of the 2011 Government of the Russian Federation in the field of print media in the House of Receptions of the Government of the Russian Federation.
Photo by TASS/ Valery Sharifulin