Nothing Heroic Left in Roman Abramovich
// Story about Chukotka’s governor was removed from NTV
Sequel of the story about early years of Chukotka’s governor Roman Abramovich, which was announced a week ago, did not come out on Sunday in Glavny Geroy (Protagonist) new weekly program on NTV channel. NTV head Vladimir Kulistikov said it was “his personal decision” and that “he did not receive any signals from Roman Arkadievich Abramovich”.
Glavny Geroy weekly program on NTV came out for the first time on February 4. It is made up of stories about famous people and comes out in the very prime-time, at 9 p.m. on Sundays, which proves its rather high status on NTV. Its host and one of the idea’s authors Anton Khrekov was the author of the story about Abramovich. The material was positioned as the main one on the program’s first day.
The story came out on February 4 at the very end of Glavny Geroy, lasting for almost 15 minutes, a record-breaking length for a TV story. The report contained many exclusive details of Chukotka governor’s life. The journalist visited places where Abramovich was born and grew up, talked to neighbors, spoke about his parents and their tragic death. NTV showed the governor’s school in Moscow, his teachers and his first love. A not very young and not very neat woman showed photographs of young Abramovich and confessed to the journalist that she had been intimate with the former. At the end of the report, Anton Khrekov announced the story’s sequel in next program.
Until Thursday, NTV was still announcing the story, but it did not come out on Sunday, and the program was 10 minutes shorter. NTV director general Vladimir Kulistikov denied pointblank the suppositions that it was the governor’s initiative to take out the story about him.
“It was absolutely my decision. Announcements often run ahead of the director general’s thought, and then I suddenly make different decisions. It is common practice in our work: we let something into broadcasting, and we take something out,” he said. Kulistikov was surprised to hear speculations that it was Abramovich who asked not to let out the story: “First story was all right, there was nothing bad in it! Unfortunately, I’m not personally acquainted with Roman Arkadievich. We showed reports about him many times, and never got any objections from the governor”. At the same time, Kulistikov did not name the reason for taking the story about Abramovich out of the program on February 11. Journalist Anton Khrekov was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Millhouse company’s press service (the company manages Abramovich’s assets) said: “We are not informed about NTV’s program policy.” Gazprom-media (NTV’s chief shareholder) director general Nikolai Senkevich said that he does not know the reasons for taking out the story either. “NTV has its own information policy, and I, as a shareholder, never interfere in these questions,” he explained. “When I was NTV’s head, I made stories without pointing from shareholders or anyone else. Moreover, the story was about Abramovich’s private life, and not politics.”
The Kremlin denied the story’s political subcurrent as well. A high-placed source in the president’s staff said: “We absolutely deny the very thought about possible interference into NTV’s editorial policy and specifically into Anton Khrekov’s program.”
President of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAT), member of the Public Chamber Eduard Sagalaev said yesterday: “Knowing the character of Roman Arkadievich, not very inclined to big PR, and considering that until recently his governor’s fate was being decided upon [the Kremlin’s press service announced that Abramovich will remain Chukotka’s governor only last Friday], I accept that he might not have needed that story at all, taking into account that situation. I do not by any means want to paint Abramovich as the choker of free speech. Similar decisions are quite common, and I would also avoid disclosing the motives, if I were Kulistikov.” NAT president added that canceling the story about Abramovich happened “in full accord to all interested parties”: “the only one who suffered, might be the report’s author. Yet, something tells me, it is unlikely that he will complain against the decision. I rather see the humorous side of the entire story.”
Arina Borodina, Maxim Shishkin
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 13, 2007
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