Russian TV lacks political criticism

Wednesday, July 12, 2006
By Maria Danilova, The Associated Press

MOSCOW -- It used to be about elections and terrorist attacks. Now it's more about drunken husbands and breast enlargements.

Russian TV channels bristle with colorful talk shows, where guests and the audience get into arguments over frequently tawdry topics.

Media watchers say, however, the numerous programs are merely an illusion of freedom of speech in Russia, serving as a smoke screen for an increasingly restrictive media climate where political talk shows have been yanked off the air and where government criticism is rarely voiced.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power six years ago, the number of TV shows addressing family matters and other social issues has drastically increased. But political talk shows that pitted guests, including fierce government critics, against one another on subjects such as elections, corruption and the bloody war in Chechnya have disappeared or been replaced by programs in which speakers often compete with each other in a different way -- to praise government policies.

Moreover, such shows are no longer broadcast live, so statements deemed unfit can be edited out.

"The heads of television networks are afraid that if something is said that shouldn't be said, then heads could roll," Vladimir Pozner, the broadcast journalist who's credited with starting Russia's first political talk show in the late 1980s, told The Associated Press. "The authorities have tightened the screws in this respect."

Some critics say Pozner's own weekly talk show also has softened.

Some shows, such as "Let Them Talk," have heated debates, but the topics steer clear of politics and veer toward tabloidy topics -- prompting tears and outcries from guests and the audience a la "The Jerry Springer Show."

A recent program focused on the violent killing of a 15-year-old girl in a small provincial town several days after she won a local beauty pageant, sparking speculation that she may have fallen victim to competitors' revenge.

Speakers including the slain girl's teary best friend, uncle, the town's mayor and a number of beauty experts discussed the pros and cons of the modeling and fashion industry. As the victim's photos were displayed and the sound of her voice played to the public, a woman in the audience sprang up and pleaded to all mothers to keep their daughters away from the business.

"It's a certain substitution -- it's more about freedom of screaming than about freedom of speech," said Irina Petrovskaya, a media commentator with the newspaper Izvestiya. "Sometimes they discuss things on television that some people wouldn't even discuss in their kitchens."

"Let Them Talk" host Andrei Malakhov, a 34-year-old with shoulder-length dark hair, stylish glasses and tight jeans -- which, according to his official biography, he likes to wear without underwear -- disagrees, saying his show is what the public needs.

"My show is like Chekhov short stories -- but in a televised form," he said at the end of the shooting of his show, as teenage girls clustered around for an autograph.

Opinion polls indicate that most Russians aren't bothered by what critics say is Putin's campaign to curb media freedom as a part of a broader drive to increase the government's control over Russian politics and society.

"I like how democratic it is: 'Let Them Talk' -- they really do talk about all kinds of stuff here," said Alexei Vorfolameyev, a 23-year-old government agency worker who was in the audience for one of Malakhov's shows.

Petrovskaya said the sensational programs also serve a therapeutic purpose: "If there is a goal of distracting the population from their vital problems, of entertaining them, then ... when they see that an 11-year-old gave birth, a mother is living with her own son and a father ate his daughter, even if they don't live perfect lives either, they will think, 'Look, we are not so bad off after all. We don't eat each other!' "

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06193/705066-237.stm