No irony as OBS story shuts Moscow newspaper

Michael Hedges April 19, 2008

Russian President Vladmir Putin, weeks away from a new job, faced questions about his personal life at a press conference while standing along side Italian media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, also weeks away from a new job. Such it is with those tabloid reporters, always chasing the rich, famous and powerful for a headline. Mr. Putin was nonplused, Mr. Berlusconi (mostly) silent and the newspapers’ editor fired

Moskovsky Korrespondent (Saturday April 12) breathlessly reported Mr. Putin’s secret divorce and secret wedding plans. Several other Russian newspapers – but no Russian TV channels – reported the rumors dismissively. Mr. Putin is wildly popular among Russians who, like most folk, harbor a fascination for the rich, famous and distant. That Mr. Putin’s private life has been largely off-limits to headline-seeking tabloids only fuels that fascination.

Italian media has created an entire industry around Mr. Berlusconi’s personal life. Photos of ‘bimbo eruptions’ pop up every few months to the delight of all. Mr. Berlusconi, returned to the Prime Ministers’ post by Italian voters, tepidly complains but, as his family controls Italy’s largest media conglomerate, there’s a rather hollow ring to it all. He recently proclaimed that women members of the Italian Parliament aligned with the right-wing are better looking than those aligned with the left.

So when Mr. Putin faced a Russian reporters question (Friday) about the story at the press conference celebrating the end of several days in Italy, Mr. Berlusconi “mockingly pretended to mow down the offending reporter with a machine gun, then jokingly proposed swapping the Russian press with the Italian press,” said ABC News (Australia). A Reuters photographer caught the moment (above).

“In other publications of the same type, the names of other successful, beautiful young women from Russia are mentioned,” said Mr. Putin. “I think it won’t be unexpected if I say that I like them all - just as I like all Russian women. If anyone can compete, it may be only Italian women.”

Mr. Putin also fired a shot at journalists “who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others lives.”

Without a hint of irony, Moskovsky Korrespondent was ‘suspended’ (Friday April 18), its editor Grigory Nekhoroshev ‘resigning,’ according to Interfax. Owner (and billionaire) Aleksandr Lebedev wrote a front page editorial, apparently before shutting down the newspaper, calling the report “nonsense” and based on “the OBS news service…one babushka says.” Lebedev said he’d been away fishing. Deputy editor Igor Dudinsky told Reuters the paper would be looking for “a new concept.”

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