“Hopefully, there will be no politics behind the closed door anymore”

For ten years the well-known Ukrainian society journalist Kateryna Osadcha has been appearing on our TV screens. Everything started with “Women’s Tricks” on Tonis Channel and turned into “Society Life with Kateryna Osadcha” in 1+1. At the beginning of May the show marked its ninth anniversary. The journalist says that at first this show not only presented a cross-section of the society life in Ukraine, but also helped to form it, showing how celebrities live and recreate abroad. Some people associate the “Society Life with Kateryna Osadcha” with balls and masked shows, amazing parties and private celebrations, film festivals, and weeks of fashion, rallies, and horse races. But behind the scenes of the glamorous life the host always starts an open conversation with the rich and famous, in particular, politicians, and tries to find out their secrets by asking direct questions. This time Katia OSADCHA does not ask questions, but answers them.

At the beginning of May the Society Life Show marked its ninth anniversary. You have noted on your Facebook page that lately you have started to pay more attention to politics and change of elite. Has the Maidan caused a change of elites?

“Since the very beginning of Maidan we could see how new faces appeared. The fact that new people came into active social life of the country – the same sotnyks of Maidan – actually can be called a change. The Donetsk elite have gone to Moscow. Now we can see that people with different sentiments, as we hope, and with absolutely European way of thinking come to power. And the results of the elections are proof of this.”

But some of the politicians who are now coming to power began their activity back in the 1990s.

“Of course, there has not been full lustration, though Vitalii Klitschko stated that all demands of the Maidan have been fulfilled. Today we can see in politics 80 percent of people who really started their activity in the 1990s. We can only hope that these people have reconsidered their role over the years, when they were not taking executive posts, but still were present in politics. We all hope that politicians who have come to power now will never forget how this difficult victory was achieved.”

Will the show Society Life pay more attention to politicians?

“For all these nine years we have been a socially active program. We cannot be reproached of being apolitical and suddenly becoming political after the revolution. We started practically after the Orange Revolution, and for all this time, from Maidan to Maidan, we have been paying attention to people from politics. We don’t talk to them directly about politics, but we talk about their status, how they have earned their money and how much, where, and how they spend it. Namely because of this we can see the full portrait of a person. For all these nine years we have been showing to the audience the portraits of those whom they elect. Now people have learned to analyze. When a people’s deputy spends all of his monthly salary for a purse or a suit, it means this is not their last money. So, where did they get the rest of the money? We were trying to prove that the ones people elect sometimes turn out to be not the ones they expect them to be. We have always asked concrete questions and received different answers.”

Has their characters changed over these nine years?

“Right after the Orange Maidan we saw a cultural upheaval: attention was paid to exhibits, film festivals, society events were held, and there were receptions of ambassadors. All of this started to take place after Viktor Yushchenko came to power. Actually, the Society Life Show was created, because this society life started to take shape in Ukraine. Later, after Yanukovych came to power, there was some kind of decline. On the whole, less attention was paid to culture. Of course, we cannot complain, because the Odesa International Film Festival Emerged. But the fact is that the former power was absolutely closed. Only reliable journalists were accredited to the events. Politicians could refuse from an interview. This was happening, because all of them were absolutely sure of their impunity. When I asked Borys Kolesnikov where he took 10 million dollars to annually spend on his hockey club, he said, being a vice prime minister at that time, that he used to have a big business, and that he had earned this money. When I said that one day he would run out of this money, he said that he had earned enough. And this confidence in impunity makes them different from the politicians who have come today. Our second Maidan has given an incredible credit of trust to the new power, and I hope that there will be no politics behind the closed door anymore. People need transparency, openness, and they have such right.”

Last week you said that in your show you will not highlight Russian society events as a matter of principle. Was this stand caused by Russian aggression, or Ukrainian audience has lost interest in Russian get-togethers?

“This is a general mood of our audience. Of course, it is caused by the Russian aggression. What happened in the Crimea and still is going on in the east, where, though we can’t tell this for sure, Russia is involved, is frightening. So, it is improper and untimely, and for our audience it is not interesting to observe the society life of Russian workers of culture, especially those who write letters to Putin in support of the war.”

According to your observations, how Russian society scene differs from the Ukrainian one?

“In Russia much more money is spent on society life. Hence their parties can be more enchanting, but they still do not win in content. Our program is based on interesting personalities and reasons. Of course, whereas we have only one music award, which also very young, in Russia there are two big ones and many small ones. Because Russia and Moscow are larger than Ukraine and Kyiv, their society events are louder and more frequent.

“Previously we had practically one common show business space, and now we can see a clear separation of the Russian show business from the Ukrainian one. This happened momentarily. Everything that is taking place in Russia has become strange for Ukrainians. But Russians will appear in our shows. Recently we met Grigory Leps at a music award ceremony in Monaco and talked to him about the Crimea, the situation in Ukraine, and relations of Ukraine and Russia.

“Recently show business and politics have become very close. No matter how often the artistes say that they are apolitical, when war is at your threshold, you should express your position distinctively. And we ask both Russian and Ukrainian artists about this.”

Your latest program was dedicated to presidential candidates, their milieu, in particular, wives who often remain in shadow.

“Not so often. If Yanukovych’s wife stayed in shadow, it does not mean others have the same situation (smiling). Many politicians come to society events with their wives. We can recall Yushchenko. On the whole, when he was in power, everyone came with wives to culture events. Family, family values were demonstratively cultivated. This is reviving today, with Petro Poroshenko’s coming to power. He has a big family, and his wife is always near him. On the whole, wives have a certain influence on their men. We can only guess the extent of this influence. Male politicians often admit that they consult with their wives in the questions of style.”

Today the phrase “information war” has become habitual in media environment. How can one fight the Russian propaganda?

“With truth. I think that Ukrainian channels today have taken the right stand in highlighting the events. Whereas during the Maidan, there was different information on TV channels, now there is almost absolute solidarity. At least in the tonality. If the audience watches 1+1 and Inter, they must receive the same facts, and one, state-building, interpretation. Not like in Russia. Our main struggle against the propaganda is the objective highlighting of events, in particular, in the east. Unfortunately, few people use the Internet. But there is too much disinformation on the Internet. Besides, when there is too much information, it is hard to understand what is going on in the country. Today even the official sources give incorrect information. Arsen Avakov wrote on Facebook that hackers broke the voting system. In the morning the information was disproved, but it went into the world. Modern world brings its own correctives and technologies. Today the war is often waged not with weapons, but with the help of Facebook. Now the media space resembles a bomb, which can explode. This is a result of the information war and oversaturation with facts.”

Experts note that the fact that Ukrainians do not know their real history is one of the factors that make the propaganda efficient.

“I absolutely agree. I love and learn history, both of the country and of my family. I know the history of my family till the fourth generation. I tell it to my son. We, Ukrainians, today must urgently pass exams on history, in particular, the new one. For referring to the past, we can avoid a number of mistakes. It is important to know what was going on after the revolution of 1917, after the revolution of 2004. Who are our real heroes, and who are our enemies.”

Your show ceased to be simply entertaining long ago. By the direct way of asking critical questions, the choice of speakers you outclass the “stars” of political journalism. Would you like to try your hand in political journalism, in particular, become a host of a talk-show?

“God forbid. We have Shuster-LIVE, Kiselev-LIVE, and Kulikov-LIVE. Osadcha-LIVE is just what we are lacking. No, I would not host a political talk-show. I don’t see myself in this role. You see, namely the format of the program allows us to ask direct questions, without any political correctness. Our audience wait for the truth namely in this format. There are many hosts on TV who consider themselves the stars of political journalism, host various talk-shows. But except for us, there is no society show with political tint. People trust us, and we can see that over the past three months, since we started to pay attention to what is going on in the country, the program’s ratings doubled. We don’t leave the audience without society events. Recently we have returned from Monaco, where at a music festival we recorded interviews with Ricky Martin and Pamela Anderson. We won’t leave the audience without glamorous events. We will keep the balance between the political and glamorous topics.”

Can you define the media menu of Ukrainian political elite?

“It is hard to define during a conversation what channel the person watches or what newspaper s/he reads. A perfect politician must watch all channels and read all the press. But often it is done for them.”

In a nutshell, how would you describe the society portrait of the new president?

“Our camera has caught Petro Poroshenko many times over the past nine years. At balls, receptions, festivals, or film premieres. He is a society man to a certain extent. Of course, Poroshenko knows what manners and society etiquette are. He will choose correctly a bow-tie and a smoking to the Viennese Ball. As well as Maryna Poroshenko. It is too early to say so far what kind of president Poroshenko will make, but without a doubt the country has gotten a wonderful first lady.”

Thank you for the conversation. We have discussed the importance of history knowledge. Den/The Day presents you with a book series “Subversive Literature,” which is a collection of the best publicist works, as well as our glossy supplement Route no. 1.

“Thank you. It is very interesting. I will read your books with pleasure. And I have already read the glossy Route no. 1. I especially liked the issue about fashion.”