Yevhen Marchuk Refutes Stereotype that Ukrainian Politicians
are Provincial
On January 22, Peoples' Deputy Yevhen Marchuk was the first (and so far
only) Ukrainian politician to conduct an Internet conference at the Online
Ukraine Computer Information Agency. Since I, like other invited journalists,
saw it with my own eyes and in the course of the conference was taking
notes, the genre of this article can be defined as the notes by an eyewitness.
Let us leave aside the inevitable political background which has relevance
to the fact that it was not just a politician who took part in the Internet
conference, but a major presidential candidate.
5:30 p.m. Marchuk took his place at the computer.
It seems strange that he is without aides. I had expected there would
be at least five, prompting, clarifying, and giving a quick word when needed
5:31 p.m. Ukraine Online personnel reports the statistics of the conference:
more than one question is received per second. I wonder whether their channels
will sustain the load. In any case, their faces betray no signs of panic.
The questions and answers can be seen on the monitor in the next room,
and they are also read out for those in attendance.
5:40 p.m. A question arrives: "Internet-interviews have one problem.
There are cases when an interviewee is substituted for by a totally different
person. I don't ask your confirmation, but many people still don't believe
it." Here it is: our native certainty developed over many years that Ukrainian
politicians fool the people without reason and are incapable of communicating
directly without a prepared text written on a piece of paper. And the skeptics
will not be convinced by the presence of the journalists here (which, incidentally,
calls forth an issue of people's trust in the mass media). The only thing
really convincing is a digital camera installed in the room, which every
20 seconds transmits Marchuk's image to all computers participating in
the conference.
6:10 p.m. In the forty minutes of his Internet-conference Boris Yeltsin
answered 14 questions, while Marchuk in the same time handled almost 40.
He is operating in a rather rigid question-answer mode, without breaks
and still having some time for brief comments. He looks as fresh as before
the conference.
6:25 p.m. Marchuk answers questions from the US in English and from
Germany in German. This makes me jealous, and right was my teacher of English
who used to hammer it into my empty head: "Learn English!"
6:29 p.m. Because of my eternal journalistic mistrust (what if the questions
are still being filtered somewhere or, for that matter, have been prepared
in advance?) I decided to check it personally. I typed and sent my question
from a computer in the next room. Later, returning to the general room,
I had a pleasure to see it appear on Marchuk's monitor, and Marchuk answering
it.
6:35 p.m. I am beginning to lose my reason from exhaustion. I am showing
all the signs: I drink one cup of coffee after another and have an irresistible
desire to smoke. According to the previously announced plan, Marchuk is
supposed to attend some event at the Teachers' House after the conference.
Keep away from me! May the Editor-In-Chief pardon me, but I am not going
there! After all, it's Friday, it's night, and the end of the week.
6:45 p.m. That's it! In an hour and 45 minutes Yevhen Marchuk has answered
90 questions. 22,000 people were directly following the conference, and
a total of 50,000 from the whole world looked on.
And I still have to manage to fulfill my editorial task: have a brief
interview with Marchuk. I have some vague suspicion: what if he sends me
(after more than an hour and a half of communing with the Internet citizens)
off to his web-page. The number of questions and answers there is enough
to write ten articles. Thank God, Marchuk agrees to a blitz-interview and,
judging by the lit up faces of my colleagues, I understand that I was not
the only one with such a task.
The Day: "Mr. Marchuk, in the very first answer at the
Internet conference you said that Internet is the most formidable enemy
not only to censorship, but to self-censorship as well. To what extent
do you think our society has managed to overcome censorship?"
Yevhen MARCHUK: "To my mind, it has still not been overcome.
All of us, I mean both politicians and the journalists (perhaps, to a somewhat
smaller degree) need some time to get rid of the inertia of the past. The
freedom of speech is a serious trial both for the politicians and the journalists."
By Dmytro SKRIABIN, The Day
PS: Yevhen Marchuk is reproached for appearing on television
too seldom. Probably, such reproaches are irrelevant, for none of the station
broadcast even a brief report on his Internet conference. This is a pity.
If you had seen him in a live telecast you would have probably agreed with
my main impression: Yevhen Marchuk has refuted the notion that Ukrainian
politicians are provincial. Incidentally, the journalists attending the
conference were given a copy of a floppy disk with the conference recorded.
The Day will later publish the most interesting passages of this
dialogue.







