The flight of Putin propagandists

The case of Marina Ovsjannikova is not isolated. Many have moved to Georgia or Central Asia. At most 10 percent of journalists and TV operators support the war in Ukraine. Those thinking of leaving dream of a visa from Poland and the US.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The case of Marina Ovsjannikova, the Russian journalist who caused a stir in late March for showing an anti-war sign on the news, appears to be far from isolated. A Russian television executive, under condition of anonymity, revealed to Theins.press that "at most 10 percent of journalists and TV operators support the war in Ukraine, and if any European countries were willing to take them in, "we would flee like the anti-Soviet intellectuals of 1922, the hundreds from the so-called ship of philosophers."

The resignations of Russian journalists began en masse just after the Ovsjannikova episode, and the subsequent exit from the Ntv channel of Lilja Gildeeva, who had been one of the most beloved faces of the TV audience since 2006. Many would like to follow suit, but the very first dismissals have imposed a top-down blockade on everyone else, who in any case are doing everything they can to avoid going on the air with propaganda proclamations in favor of the operation against so-called "uchronazism." Some of these refusals are nonetheless making noise, such as that of one of the anchors of Rossiya 24, Maria Gladkikh, and Stanislav Kulik of Moskva 24, two widely watched channels.

The executive interviewed explains that most others "do everything they can not to get their hands dirty with blood and mud, and look for possible ways out," perhaps using the "white strike" technique, which in Russia is called the "Italian-style strike," in which everyone just does the bare minimum to avoid trouble, but keeping away from any commitment that forces exposure. The senior cadres themselves pander to this position, most often sharing their motives, and assign "neutral" assignments or nature reports, to be carried out in faraway places to avoid involvement.

In many television bureaus, grim "curators" have appeared, says the anonymous executive, who check broadcast lineups and the list of operators, but they cannot follow the entire schedule of all national and local networks, and only the main ones are totally under control. In many broadcasts, the speeches contain "signals" of dissent, which are not always understandable to the public but very obvious to professionals in the field, as denounced by the theorist of television censorship, RT director Margarita Simonyan, according to whom "no great nation can exist without information control."

The executive explained that in principle "there are three categories of operators among us: the 'technicians' who simply carry out orders and collect their salaries, and they are the vast majority; a 10 percent of fanatical supporters of propaganda; and at least 20 percent who are resolutely opposed to the war," and they can be recognized by the degree of emotional involvement in the content offerings of the various channels.

Those who could moved to Yerevan or Tashkent, giving up their careers and any other ambitions, like the executive interviewed, about to emigrate to Armenia. "Our dream would be for Poland, or some other country close to us, to make an appeal to all TV journalists in Russia, giving us visas and help to support ourselves: other than a philosopher's ship, we would escape on foot tomorrow." A Moscow state TV executive, on the other hand, went through the whole procedure to obtain a visa for the U.S., but it was denied to her, for fear of welcoming a Putin propagandist, when in fact she is a staunch pacifist.

Many feel they are hostages of propaganda, but precisely because of the work they do they are considered soldiers of the regime, "victims of a double cancel culture," according to the interviewee. "Many of us are going to psychoanalysts, who never before prescribed us massive doses of antidepressant drugs, and others are drowning in alcohol, in Russian tradition, the sense of despair into which we have plunged."

• Russia
• moscow
• war
• invasion
• ukraine
• propaganda
• censorship
• journalists