Never Let The Truth Get In The Way Of A Good Story

Michael Hedges November 28, 2011 Follow on Twitter

Put a provocative title on a video clip, in context or not, and world wide attention on the world wide web is guaranteed. There are certainly a lot of people out there with nothing better to do. Ah, the viral flames; so creative, so very post-modern.

Two weeks ago, November 14th precisely, day-time newscaster Tatiana Limanova on Russian channel REN TV, thinking she was off camera, looking down at and reading the script, signaled the production crew to speed up the teleprompter, according to her version of events. Her hand gesture, in some cultures, looked very much like “flipping the bird,” mildly obscene, certainly, appeared as she was finishing an item about Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev becoming chairman of the APEC summit. “This post was previously held by US President Barack Obama,” she said before video from the summit rolled. 

Some reports suggested Ms Limanova was responding to the production crew trying to break her up on-air. Anyone familiar with television news sets knows these are not exactly libraries or other monuments to civility. TV news is like sausage; you don’t want to know what’s inside.

As it happened, there was a guy not just watching the newscast but recording it. Recognizing the gesture as, well, something he sent his clip to a Russian news scraping website, which titled and posted it to the Web. Not much happened…for about a week. Then it hit YouTube.

First to seize the moment were far-right American websites, always eager for a new conspiracy theory. The Russians, they howled, were “flipping off” Barack Obama. Newspapers in the US and UK, generally with the same bent, picked up – and made up – the story. It all got to be too much for the management at REN TV and Ms Limanova, awarded in 2010 as one of Russia’s best newscasters, was pulled from the air. This set the wailing to a vampire pitch. By the end of the week (November 24), Ms Limanova had quit. Cue the shrill; conspiracy lovers and headline writers certain she’d been fired  - in pretzel logic - by the Kremlin.

REN TV is owned by National Media Group (NMG), which holds other television channels and a 50% stake in newspaper Isvestija. RTL Group holds a 7.5% stake in NMG after swapping its 30% stake in REN TV in June. NMG is the largest private media company in Russia, majority owned by Bank Rossiya co-owner Yuri Kovalchuk. “REN TV management considers this a gross violation of on-air discipline and unprofessionalism,” said the official statement on Ms Lenanova’s suspension.

The Russian government has recently given particular attention to encouraging Western investment in media, so long as control remains in Russian hands. Russian law limits foreign investment in media to 50% holdings, which was recently extended to radio stations. In October President Medvedev met with RTL Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler, Modern Times Group (MTG) Hans-Holger Albrecht and AB Kinnevik Chairman Cristina Stenbeck to “discuss prospects for developing the industry, and to talk about modern technologies that could be used to develop the media sector in our country,” said the official statement (October 7). MTG also has a stake in NMG through its CTC Media investment. Shortly after the big meeting with President Medvedev the Walt Disney Company completed its 49% investment in a free-to-air television channel that will be re-branded as the Disney Channel in the new year.

Other foreign media companies have found restrictions – and other obstacles - in Russia too difficult. News Corporation exited its outdoor advertising and radio station investment, a twisted story in itself. Lagardère is in the process of exiting the national radio channels it has owned for more than two decades, finding the new ownership cap not to their liking.

Clearly, Russian television managers have content sensitivities. In 2005 REN TV news host Olga Romanova was suspended – which became permanent – after publicly accusing the station’s management of censoring controversial news stories just a few months after RTL Group acquired its 30% stake. The station’s news director subsequently resigned. “While we are a minority shareholder,” said an RTL Group spokesperson at the time, “we are clearly the shareholder with experience in the TV world, but it should be noted that we cannot be held responsible for ensuring or guaranteeing press freedom from this minority position.”

“I am calm and understand the decision,” said Ms Limanova to RAI Novosti (November 24).  “Apparently, station management decided to take this absurd curiosity seriously.”

“It all happened because the English language titles on the YouTube (clip) attracted the attention of Western audiences and journalists. This is a wonderful object lesson in how to interpret the facts. The Western press presented a conspiracy theory. In comments to the video on YouTube there were so many words of support from racists. My attitude toward President Barack Obama is quite normal, and my gesture had nothing to do with the respected US president.”

“I thought I was off camera. I was reading the script from paper and I made the gesture to speed up the text on the teleprompter. The gesture turned out as it was most clearly seen.”

“My love affair with REN TV is over.”

As one of the greatest liars in American broadcast news once said, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”

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