What a disgusting spectacle. First he lies, and then he throws out of the studio the person who caught him in that lie.
And he lies about the big things too: the claim that "the Malaysian Boeing was shot down by a Ukrainian aircraft" was not merely floated on a TV broadcast (apparently this refers to Leonyev's ridiculous fabrication on Channel One, Russia's main state TV channel); it was an official version considered by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. All the made-up stories about "Captain Voloshin" are still posted on their website.
And he lies about the small things too: Norkin calls yesterday's devastating BBC interview with Peskov "an interview with some Ukrainian journalist."
And the most disgusting thing is the motive for the lying. "Journalist" Norkin is not some rabid pro-Kremlin type, not a statist, and certainly not anti-Western. He worked for Echo of Moscow, Echo TV, RTVI, and so on — some of the most liberal media outlets.
He's just a sellout with a mortgage. His former colleague Vera Krichevskaya describes it perfectly:
He didn't have enough money, and people had to go ask a deputy chairman of Sberbank on his behalf.
Ever since he started wriggling out of things in 2010, he's been doing it ever since. He has already lost any human face, yet he still shakes his gray head and exclaims, trying to perform a dignity he lost long ago: I've been in journalism for 26 years!
Dear Andrei Norkin, next time just shout it outright: I've got a mortgage, get out of the studio! Three more years of payments, and then the car installments. Out, out, get out!