Goodbye to the only independent television station in Russia? - Global Voices in Spanish

Could end TV Rain in the trash of history? Mixed by Kevin Rothrock images.

The only opposition TV station in Russia today is threatened with losing access cable transmission. Proceeds from the brief political strife that happened under the leadership of President Dmitri Medvedev, TV Rain or “Dozhd” (rain) in Russian, has been on the air since April 2010. The station is accessible (for free) online, satellite and pay TV [ru]. The latter option could take the same route as the dinosaurs soon.

The supposed reason for ending the spread of pay TV is a TV Rain alleged unpatriotic survey conducted trough the January 27, 2014, in which readers are asked to assess Soviet military tactics during the siege of Leningrad during World War II. The question that caused so much commotion was “Leningrad should have given [the Nazis] to save hundreds of thousands of lives” (The station canceled the poll and apologized after [ru] by the question).

The next day, Yuri Pripachkin, president of the Cable Television Association of Russia (AKTR by its Russian acronym), publicly said [ru] what many interpreted as an intention to eliminate transmission cable TV Rain in Russia. Pripachkin later clarified [ru] comments and explained that AKTR is not considering as a requirement that cable operators to stop broadcasting Rain TV coverage, but acknowledged that the organization is discussing the enabling operators to make that decision “based on financial considerations. “

Pripachkin argument is that TV Rain, offered as part of a package of several television channels, often offended viewers with provocative content, which may cause potential losses to cable operators when consumers allegedly fail to see the channel in disgust. Another claim is that the usual AKTR promoting online streaming TV Rain (available for $ 90 per year) also deprives cable operators money and customers. (At the time of writing, the website [ru] is disabled by what seems to be a DDoS attack [on].)

response TV advocates Rain this scandal has been tenacious. Although most admit that the wording of the survey on the blockade of Leningrad was unfortunate, many fans insist that the channel topic should be open to debate. The only threat to the opposition television station in Russia has, of course, be mobilized to the most active group of bloggers in the country. Russian journalists

Andrei

??Arkhangelsky argued [ru] an entry on Facebook that the question about the Second World War, regardless of the tone, provided a service to society by exposing expert opinions on the siege of Leningrad. Rustem Adagamov, a Russian living in Prague photoblogger in self-exile, came to a similar conclusion [ru], said TV Rain never expressed any approval by the idea of ??giving the city the Germans. On a different note, television personality and director, Andrei Maksimov wrote [ru] on Facebook that Russians should not expect anything more than the young, given the “castration” of modern education, which separates the current generation of old values ??of the Great Patriotic War.

Michael Idov, GQ Russia magazine published [ru] on Facebook one of the most interesting, if not unique, reflections on the possible crackdown TV Rain. In order to demonstrate the power imbalance that weighs on the station, Idov asked readers to consider what he says is “the only justification for the behavior of the State of Israel,” a mental exercise where you imagine the situation “from within to the outside. ” For Israel, this means seeing the world where Israel is a small and lonely Muslim state, surrounded by Jews countries. To understand TV Rain, Idov recommends imagine a lonely tiny television dedicated to pro-regime militants surrounded in a sea of ??liberal media giants. (This could determine the first time in history that someone refers to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a consistent antagonism). Rain TV Idov argues that, despite the mistakes along the way, has become a media marvel worthy of respect.

The TV channel has not won all Internet users, as well of course. Kirill Shulika, a wily Russian Democratic Party activist Option, remarked [ru] on Facebook administrators should have anticipated TV Rain reactions like Pripachkin. Shulika suggests that the television station could have made the scandal to promote certain advertisements, or possibly get rid of its contracts with cable television, which he speculates, were less than profitable.

dictated the destination, the misstep in the history of World War II in TV Rain was not the only one in the past 48 hours. The television station akin to the Kremlin, Russia experienced its own 24 and even more entertaining mistake [ru], when the team of social media marketing channel included a picture and a quote from Nazi ideologue Joseph Goebbels praising Vladimir Lenin. The quote: “Lenin was the greatest of all Russian” was part of a [ru] Celebrity comments on Lenin for the 90th anniversary of his death.

quickly dismissed Russia 24 [ru] the entire editorial staff team of social media marketing. At the time, no one with any authority [ru] Russia has proposed sanctions against the station by spreading the image of the most ardent defender of the Third Reich. Furthermore, Roskomnadzor, the media monitoring agency of the Russian government announced [ru] that has received complaints and opened an investigation regarding the Rain TV poll on the siege of Leningrad.