Today, Russia’s “Public” “Television” began broadcasting. As you may remember, the decision to create it was one of the responses to the Moscow protest rallies at the end of 2011. So far, 1.5 billion rubles have already been spent on OTR, and it is asking for another 700 million rubles “for launch”; after that, it plans to gobble up another 1.5 billion rubles of our money every year. Today, Public Television is showing: a clip featuring State Duma Chairman Naryshkin, announcing that OTR must be “very honest” (presumably just like his party);
a clip saying that it (OTR) “will seek answers to the most important questions facing society and speak truthfully about them.” a program with the trendy youth-oriented title “Tru?th!” The participants in the programs are “heroes of our time,” caring people, real citizens. The position, experience, and story of each of them is food for thought and a guide to action. Every day, by examining some particular situation in the studio, we, together with our heroes, will look for a solution to a broader problem. And those problems may be very different—healthcare, local self-government, the integration of migrants... In short, all the most pressing and acute issues, without addressing which it is impossible to build a civil society. The discussions in the studio will be heated, but without squabbling between participants. OTR stands for a constructive solution to any problem! On the program “Tru?th!” they will discuss an ultra-relevant topic that supposedly gives society no peace: YESTERDAY’S PIONEERS — FROM DAWN TO DUSK... Do you remember the opening tune of “Pionerskaya Zorka” (a Soviet children’s radio program)? How do you tie the red neckerchief? Which side of your chest do you pin the badge on? Once, all of this was an inseparable part of everyday life. What was good and bad about the Young Pioneer organization (the Soviet communist youth movement for children)? What is the situation now with children’s and teenage associations? Under whose guidance is today’s young citizen being formed? Well, I remember the “Pionerskaya Zorka” tune perfectly, I can easily tie the neckerchief the right way, I subscribed to Pionerskaya Pravda and Kostyor, I remember the “and everyone laughed” section, and I can sing the Pioneer anthem both in its standard version and in the more popular parody version (“Blaze up with bonfires, barrels of gasoline, we are Pioneers—the children of Georgians”). So what? Are these really the pressing problems facing society? A much more pressing problem is that billions of rubles are being spent on some incomprehensible kiddie-propaganda TV channel, all under the slogan “people took to the streets because they were begging for this so badly.” Overall, this “public” “television” strongly resembles that episode of The Simpsons where Mr. Burns (born in 1918) dresses up as a teenager and, using youth slang, tries to persuade the school administration to hand over the oil found on school property. Reading the interview with the “head” of “public” “television”, you realize the only difference is age: Lyssenko is younger—he was born in 1937, not 1918. Still, credit where it’s due: the trendy youth title “Tru?th!” for a TV program would have fit right in even in 1918. Since all the regime’s hack propagandists in this country have gotten into the habit of endlessly repeating “they have no constructive ideas or real proposals” and “why don’t you go and do it yourselves,” here are my own constructive proposals for the pressing problem of public television: Shut this whole OTV thing the hell down. Make at least a minimal effort to fight censorship, which exists on state (and quasi-state) channels completely openly and obviously, even though it is just as openly and explicitly prohibited by law:
There is no need for any special television channel. Let the existing ones operate according to the law. Officials and journalists who engage in censorship should be held accountable.