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– What are the major changes you think have occurred in Russian journalism over the past few years?

– All dull. Absolute regression, minimize alternative means in the media. Severe impact – acceleration of the “Lenta.ru”, which was a leading news resource. Cause shareholders to the presidential administration, somehow they are there to bend over, after which they are forced to do such things. On the “Ekho Moskvy” was forward, “TV Rain” is a poor thing, “Novaya Gazeta” in an amazing way… While there is a trend. In a situation when the obvious course is to murder the opposition when it came to extremes, there can’t be another trend. All that will occur against the will of the presidential administration, will be rigidly suppressed.

There are a number of reporters, who continue bravely to do their job, like Lena Kostyuchenko, but in general, and new names arise. Where them to take? Sites not. In connection with the strangulation of independent media lost the competition, the normal situation of market development of journalism, as it were, for example, in the 90s, in the early noughties. Now the meadow is cleared.

What is happening in the public segment, are generally not journalism. Propaganda and journalism are diametrically different things. I feel sorry for the girls and boys that get into it at a young age, because that’s where they break through the knee, and it’s already crippled people.

There are some areas of escapism, where you can escape there and do something that does not concern directly the interests of the state, for example, science or travel. But you have no right to an independent point of view. To me, this story was. I went to the channel “My planet”. There I said the old man, behind the scenes you may have something to do, and show your face we can’t, you have this image in social networks. As said the main Director of the channel: “got game”. I have come to do not about the bloody regime, but about the journey. But it was all over, I “got game”.

Is there any sense to go to study journalism?

– I don’t know how should be a strong inner pull, a sense of mission within the person. It must be very clearly aware that you’re going into a profession that doesn’t exist, and, therefore, to understand that in the next few years interesting work you might not be. May no not be. I’m primarily talking about television journalism, because the biggest impact was on television, where there is no longer anything alive. There is an unfortunate “TV Rain”, but how much he can take people and how many can pay? For a young person, especially if he is not from Moscow, it is a very difficult option. In regions the situation is no better. In general, something comforting to say to me difficult for young people.

– It turns out that it was not necessary to enroll in journalism?

– No, actually, there is a hope called “the Internet” is a great thing that allows you to create startups from scratch. On the Internet you can try, there still is a zone of freedom. Unfortunately, there is no such a kid, who did something besides “Look At Me”, I guess. This hipster-posed a story that has grown into something bigger – to build a serious player on the market. I really miss some of the youth of madness, in a good way. I’m always trying to find some interesting projects. There is “Baten’ka”, “VOS”… This is not enough. To create a web page and learn HTML even I can. It is quite easy kapitaliserede, if you do not immediately begin to expose the bloody regime, of course. The availability of technologies and the opportunities offered by the Internet is cool. Just you young people have not yet realized that it’s fun – not just to post photos to Instagram and write on Facebook, and to unite and create a common creative energy. I told you, not enough strong to some story that I, a forty year old man, was blown away.

– Media platforms that combine a bunch of content formats: text, pictures, video, audio, links, different – good prospects for the future of journalism?

– These are The New York Times and The New Yorker is doing well. But I saw something that could impress me as a new multimedia piece that embodies the different sides, I can’t say. Of course, this phenomenon is worth exploring and may need to do. Not sure about the viability of this genre, but now it is interesting to deal. We might nagrama, and everything will come to a black and white text with images. It has a cyclical form of development. For example, at some point, everything went crazy and started making the “docudrama” with historical reenactments is almost an art movie. Now all of a sudden realized that it was expensive and pointless, and went back to the documentary films based on the classic narration and serious work with archives.

– By the way, about documentary film. Why you started doing it a documentary?

– I’m still not sure that they documentary. No, a couple documentaries, but I still consider myself a reporter. For example, “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” – reportage series, but not a documentary. But not a single report – somewhere in the between. Reportage is when you are driving and don’t really understand what will happen next. We in “the Journey” was produced 30 percent of the material. And in the documentary film opposite proportion – 70 percent should already be clear and spelled out a scenario. How carefully we mounted and worked with audiovisual pieces, this film is much more than reportage. We shot on a film camera with the big boys. The report usually shoot with operators who are already tired of everything.

Documentary is very interesting to me, but I don’t quite know how to work with structured reality as it should do the documentary. He first considers the skeleton of the story, and then this skeleton strung reality. I have always had a different approach: I dive into this reality, and then it creates around itself all by herself. It is an unpredictable experience, it is always a trip that will lead nowhere. This is exactly what I would have to recommend the guys who want to make a life.

In one of your texts was the phrase “Moscow is us, and Russia – are they”. Do you think you know you in the regions?

– I Russia is no longer present. Used to be when we went to Prime on NTV, it was clear that are watching everything. I with this in mind, and made history, realizing that I’m telling people something new, what we know here in Moscow. I felt some kind of educational mission.
I have a feeling that there more or less conscious public audience. I think ten percent of the population who is more critical of the reality I know and see. Gets something same “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”, beyond the ten percent, I don’t know. The film, of course, more powerful stuff, because it’s not a text column or clever that you should read. I think he broke. The problem, however, is that “TV Rain” cut from the network all of what they have not posted. It is clear that they are trying to make, but they are a little bit clipped in the film wings. And then ceased to remove. If you read the comments on Rutrecker or Youtube, you can see that these are people who are not readers of my Facebook, for example, for whom such a view of Russia was not something important. We have shown the usual Russia. 10 years ago such an idea in my head would not come, because there is nothing interesting, it also says about the degradation of the profession – just to go from Peter to Moscow and just to show how people live on the sidelines…

It all depends on the context. He is alive, especially in Russia, where every 10 years things change for 100 years, nothing has changed. When tell only about how to live in Eastern Ukraine and Crimea, you are going mad. Still the numbers show that the people are satisfied. Now we are going to look at this people, to talk to him. In this context, it’s interesting. The task of the journalist to feel sensitive to the context. This situation, a fair environment, because you’re responding companies. A journalist should always hit where it hurts. This is correct journalism.

– How do you think will change the essence of the profession of journalist in the future and will change it at all?

We see that this is not such a sacred community of know-it-all as before. The Internet and the availability of the camera phone changed the situation. Now everyone can go to shoot something unique, try to break through somewhere and it all publish. You own the media right now. Who is the blogger who is a journalist, did not understand. Is a “shifting” one to the other. Cool, I guess. Just journalist is no longer something exclusive. The request for smart, analytical, investigative journalism exists.

Valery Panyushkin in one of the texts in the “Snob”, speaking about his place in the profession and other journalists used the term “downed pilot”. How do you understand this term?

I don’t like that he and I have recorded in this list. I didn’t read the text, but I’ve got some words. “Downed pilot” is the one who broke. He was hit, the strength to fly anymore. Power I still have, I resist, I have ideas. To do something is always possible, the important thing is that there are people who want me to do something. If you’re doing something interesting, you will always find those who are willing to work with you for the idea.

– In general, are there some ways of development of Russian journalism? Or none?

– There are. Through those media that are created on the Internet. It is not necessary to look for a rich uncle who will give money. If you’re young, you learn, you can already start to create a media great joke this time, which we did not have. We could do some newspaper (laughs), but so with video, photos, texts and more that everyone can see not only your classmates, but in general all…

– It turns out that everything depends on us and we need to resist?

– Absolutely. Burn. Love life. To empathize with human grief.