You misheard

When the discussions around the “Echo of Moscow” and the assistants of the editor-in-chief, who scares venerable politicians and publicists, are caught my eye, when I hear that this young uneducated assistant, through the mediation of the most common sense of the editor-in-chief, is muffled by the reputation of the radio station, it seems to me that I was in some special strange world, devoid of real oxygen. The trouble is that the inhabitants of this world were weaned from real air so much that they sincerely perceive what they breathe, as an atmosphere.

There are many sincerely respected colleagues on Echo of Moscow. Among the guests of the broadcast, there are also a lot of those to whom I am with respect and interest. And I myself have repeatedly accepted invitations from this radio station. I am sincerely grateful to Echo for the opportunity in the 90s to conduct the first and last Ukrainian program on the Moscow air. Moreover, when I fell to decide which media first in the world will report on the proclamation of state independence of Ukraine on August 24, 1991, I chose the Echo of Moscow.

But at the same time, I absolutely do not understand what reputation can we talk about when we are talking about a radio station on which Leontiev, Prokhanov, Shevchenko and others can appear on the air, well, how to say it softer ... agitators, or what? Well, let there be "agitators". And I do not need to poke about the freedom of opinions and about the competition of positions here. I am not the producer of the BBC. I know for sure the differences between position and propaganda, truth and lies, good and evil. And I understand perfectly well that some propagandist opposite me tomorrow he will have a completely different aria - if he is replaced by a cassette. But they will not change, so they will send another propagandist, Prokhanov can be replaced by Shargunov - no one will notice.

But did I ever leave the air when I was opposite Prokhanov? Or opposite Leontyev? Yes, never in life! Just because I perfectly understand that "echo" is no reputation. This is an opportunity.

My journalistic career has developed in such a way that I was directly present when creating the first democratic media in Russia. And I had no doubt about who created them and why. Yes, then I was a very young journalist, but I remembered well what the literary newspaper is, and I also met a schoolboy in Jurmala with Alexander Chakovsky. Not because I thought about his reputation. And because I was interested in the very possibility of at least relatively honest work in the country of liars and I was interested in how to do it. But even then, in childhood, when I was extremely far from Moscow journalism, it never occurred to me to consider Chakovsky one of us. No, it was one of the “them” - a smart, tough, imperious official from journalism, who nevertheless provided the opportunity. This opportunity could be used - or it was possible to choose an uncompromising position, write to the table or “samizdat”, run away from all this nightmare closer to the microphones of “Radio Liberty” and “German wave” - but this is already a personal choice of everyone.

So, Lesha Venediktov was never one of us either. He has always been one of the “them” - a smart, tough, powerful official, tightly soldered into an existing nomenclature structure. But did he not provide or not provide an opportunity? And is it not clear that for all these opportunities you need to pay a cascade of compromises, tricks, agreements and "deception"? And did Lesha ever hide his proximity to them from us? No, he was always proud of the fact that on a short leg with Julia. And when this julier quietly turned into a gang of war criminals, did he renounce them, made an indignant statement? And if you spoke, then where would you speak and what would you listen? And even if - suppose - the task of turning the "literary newspaper" into "Crocodile" and the retraining of engineers of human souls into characters of caricatures is set - what can he do besides the execution of the order? Well? Or do you think he can refuse? Maybe. And then someone else will turn the "literature" into Shapito - and faster. But Venediktov will retain his reputation. You may ask: why do you need a reputation by Venediktov? Or even otherwise: do you really think that he has a reputation? Or that he himself needs his reputation? But he, like an “echo”, is not a reputation. He is an opportunity.

We often talk about the children's level of development of Russian society. Yes, they have not matured. And when it was growing up-serfdom, Bolsheviks, wars, Putin ... But at least you, those who want Russia of good, can you finally be, if not adults, then at least realistic? Can you tell yourself once a half -truth, but the whole truth? There is nothing shameful in a speech at Echo of Moscow, if you are not manipulated on the air. And there is no need for such a speech if you are used. And this is not only Echo and Venediktov concerns. This applies to various Savikov Shusters, Vladimirov Poznerov, Evgeniev Kiselevs and even Vladimirov Solovyov. If you understand that you can get out of a fight with a burned manipulator winner - go and dress up. If you suspect that you can just become a side dish in the acute dish that they are familiar with, stay at home and look for other opportunities for communicating with the audience. But please, do not attribute reputations to those who have never needed them and who gives you an opportunity only when they do not risk anything when this provision is either part of a large game or a consequence of hardware stupidity.

Yes, and the last. What does Lesya Ryabtseva have to do with it? Yes, the fact of the matter is that Lesya Ryabtseva has nothing to do with it.