• Українська
  • Русский
  • English
Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

It Took Quite a While in the Rain to Get This Soaked 

8 June, 1999 - 00:00

First we were in shock at so much negative advertising. Then we learned
about Oleksandr Omelchenko's landslide reelection. Millions of fellow citizens
lived through these cataclysms glued to their home screens. This author
happened to be one of the participants in the STB television marathon (on
the night of May 30-31), watching the studio's inner mechanism in many
respects echoing the moods of most its viewers now casting their ballots.

Projecting the municipal elections onto the upcoming presidential ones,
it is perhaps safe to assume that the Left was actually forced to step
down in the campaign - and this in the capital city, not some backwater.
More evidence of the Presidential Administration's scenario being totally
chimerical, namely their brandishing the "Red peril," trying to scare the
electorate into voting for the only "right man." Secondly, the Ukrainian
public demonstrated its readiness to say a firm no to an unprecedented
oligarchic onslaught. The red flag instinct had finally worked; people
were alarmed not so much by wads of bills as by the manner in which all
that dirty money had been earned and how that money was being used to build
dirty political careers. This and the fact that many stepped into the booths
to vote against rather than for. Analysts call this a protest vote. We
may really have this kind of lumpenized electorate. If so, it played its
role on this particular occasion, considered in purely ethical and value
terms. It was also evidence that we are mature enough to reject false pie-in-the-sky
promises and are learning to make those in power to reckon with and respect
us as the people. On that particular occasion Ukraine suffered the biggest
loss, the President's loss of face. Mr. Kuchma's personal involvement in
that ugly, cynical campaign meant to establish what ex-President Leonid
Kravchuk called an "urban-scale politician" was perhaps the final devastating
touch to the former President's image, now campaign manager for Mr. Surkis,
which is very bad, considering that his image is part of the nation's property.
It took quite a bit of dodging between the raindrops to wind up so soaked.

It is unlikely that the 1+1 and Inter nationwide channels could put
a brave face on a sorry business under the circumstances - the point is
not that they were obviously playing into Surkis's hand, but the campaign
methods they applied. True, 1+1 was more restrained, than Inter, yet both
channels went further than direct and indirect promotion; they went as
far as denying his opponent air time and providing what could be mildly
described as unconfirmed information about the incumbent (for example,
on the Monday following the elections they reported that the President
had, until the very last moment, held back any information concerning his
preference for a candidate - despite the generally known fact that Oleksandr
Omelchenko, at a news conference prior to the elections, stated that the
head of the Presidential Administration had offered him the post of first
Deputy Premier in exchange for stepping down in the municipal race. It
is also true that Mr. Biloblotsky is doing his best to refute the allegation,
but we all heard Vyacheslav Pikhovshek on his "Epicenter" utter these words,
"You [politicians] have your jobs to do and we [journalists] have ours."
Inter managed to keep silent (on May 31) about the news conference organized
by Oleksandr Omelchenko's campaign workers - probably because the studio
had once again "failed" to find out the place and time in advance - during
which a number of highly unfavorable statements were made about the Ukrainian
media promoting their candidates for the mayor's seat with Inter setting
the tune. Instead, Mr. Surkis's shattering fiasco was presented as yet
another victory scored by his United Social Democrats. One could have expected
pensioners' involvement, yet there was none, probably because those deciding
on the scenario felt too sure of their own resources and never expected
things to turn out like they did.

These two channels could find themselves in even deeper waters if those
analysts prove correct, who suggested that the municipal elections actually
followed a much more complicated scenario than met the eye - namely that
electing the mayor was more than just testing Ukrainian society's moral
soundness or ability to offer any resistance to the media's biased, totally
nihilistic pressure. Apart from the overwhelming public rejection of the
candidate Oligarch, the municipal elections showed a "hero-making" effect,
raising to the level of winner a civil servant considered only the "best
of the worst" just a month earlier. This and the fact that Mr. Omelchenko
has retained his full administrative potential, considering that the man
was only recently, almost unanimously, regarded as one of Leonid Kuchma's
men, including STB political analyst Vasyl Haran during that channel's
marathon. Was this a chance to rehearse a scenario other than the Kuchma-or-the
Reds one? One that would make the much criticized Kuchma victim and simultaneously
help the hero slay the defiant oligarch? Finding the latter will not be
difficult to find among the current presidential candidates, for Mr. Surkis
has created the right prototype. Or take the government-controlled UT-1
channel's blitz response to Oleksandr Tkachenko's nomination. Even the
notorious "Dossier" ad contained assurances that competent authorities
would dig deeper into the files of the Land and People Association, Ukrinterahro
and other companies connected with Ukraine's collective-farmer-in-chief
(and we all know the Speaker's reaction). Or the fact that UT-1 advertised
Omelchenko on the election date (which is strictly against the law). This
could be regarded as the regime's attempt to present Mr. Omelchenko's victory
as legally dubious or as a sequel to the "hero-making" series, using provocations
supposedly aimed against the hero... Without doubt, under this scenario,
Inter, 1+1, and the rest of Mr. Surkis's image-makers (Leonid Kravchuk
included) have been used in the street sense of the word. Yes, it is hard
to believe that there are people on the President's team capable of such
dirty tricks, the more so that the presidentially controlled media has
claimed the contrary. But it is equally hard to believe that, say, UT-1
will suddenly abort its current dull apologetic practice and switch to
other diversified topics. Also, one must remember that the Chief Executive
has strong ties with Moscow image-makers to whom the motto "Win for the
President or Lose Everything" is history and who know only too well that
the next parliamentary and presidential campaigns call a for fresh proving
ground and progressive canvassing technologies. In this context, the appearance
of new television programs like Pikhovshek's "Epicenter" (1+1) and "News
from All Over" (Gravis, commissioned by ICTV), using "micropressure" on
those currently in high executive office (often commissioned by the latter)
is very characteristic. Or maybe the ignominious "7 Days" (UT-1) or "News
in Detail" (Inter) should be regarded as the backdrop against which new,
more penetrating President-promoting projects will appear? Of course, referring
to the municipal elections, one is inclined to believe Mykola Kniazhytsky
hosting the mayoral marathon, saying that Oleksandr Omelchenko could not
help but change during the campaign, that he is bound to take into consideration
all those forces and their impact, including those opposed to the current
President, that were at play in his municipal campaign. In other words,
Mr. Omelchenko should not back Leonid Kuchma, thus acting contrary to the
incumbent's image-making scenario, taking many prominent politicians by
surprise.

For the time being STB is the only channel to save the much dampened
(professionally as well as ethically) image of Ukrainian television. It
showed an example of a truly political, professional approach: live coverage,
interviewing a lot of people with their own views, with cameras always
present in the dead center of events making real news. In addition, STB
showed how a professional channel can frankly promote its candidate while
offering a broad range of opinions to the contrary, keeping a sensitive
finger on the pulse of daily events. Of course, under the circumstances
STB could afford such a liberal and daring approach, because Oleksandr
Omelchenko was, after all, one of those in authority, yet this can make
one formulate the question addressed to other media outlets: What about
you guys, what were you so afraid of?

Indeed, why not remain professional? Why forget the generally known
fact that professionalism in the media is a guarantee of self-respect and
respect by the audience? Alas, paraphrasing Anatoly Matviyenko's recent
adage about a politician, "Don't be afraid of being honest television.
It's not hard in our country, for there is practically no competition."

Trying a mass media onslaught, "mass psychosis" as some analysts call
it, is no longer effective, not in Ukraine anyway. People here have reached
the point where most can determine their fates by thinking for themselves,
by analyzing the facts. This ability is perhaps the major summary of last
week's promotional program on "Our Mayor." There is, however, great doubt
that those on high are aware that all those way below them have this understanding
and ability, primarily because running a thinking nation would be far beyond
their capabilities.

 

Rubric: