“News is fun, television is freedom” – Kommersant

Eduard Sagalaev, 76-year-old president of the National Association of Broadcasters, was buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery in Moscow. At the farewell ceremony, leading Russian journalists and media managers, including the general director of Channel One Konstantin Ernst, the general director of the VGTRK Oleg Dobrodeev, the general director of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency Dmitry Kiselev, talked a lot about the freedom on television, which Mr. Sagalaev taught them.

One of the first to appear at the Troekurovsky cemetery was Vladimir Solovyov, chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia. He was clearly in a hurry to join the farewell ceremony with Eduard Sagalaev – already in line to enter the funeral hall, Mr. Solovyov admitted to his interlocutor that in ten minutes he had to leave for the airport. “A terrible blow to our entire industry, to our entire journalistic community,” Vladimir Solovyov replied to a request to assess the loss. “Eduard Mikhailovich will certainly go down in history, because it was at the time when he commanded on television that changes began. For the first time, not announcers, but presenters began to lead the news. There is a new unique team of television news service. I also worked on this team. And then he provided us with unique opportunities for creativity, self-expression, humor.”

Mr. Solovyov recalled how quite recently the Union of Journalists presented Eduard Sagalaev with a special award “Golden Shelf” for his book of memoirs “When Journalists Were Free”.

He admitted that he took part in many of the episodes described in the book, and advised everyone to read it, especially his television colleagues. “We were able to persuade Eduard Mikhailovich to come to the awards, although he was already walking with difficulty. They helped him up onto the stage, and the whole audience stood up and applauded. Of course, this is a unique person,” summed up Vladimir Solovyov and once again reminded that “this is a blow to our entire industry.”

Dmitry Kiselev, deputy general director of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, general director of the Rossiya Segodnya agency, author and host of the Vesti Nedeli program, spoke about freedom on television. Surrounded by cameras and journalists, with a small bouquet of red carnations in his hands, Mr. Kiselev recalled his first broadcast. “I suggested that we come up with a topic about chemical weapons. And then we were destroying chemical weapons,” he clarified. “And Eduard Mikhailovich said: “Please go to the studio. But remember that you will become free in the studio when you can straighten your hair there.” It was impossible to imagine that some kind of Soviet television announcer would straighten his hair in the frame! It was a completely different style. And such a statement of the problem meant the statement of the problem of being free. And it was not about hair, but about becoming free inside, to open up, to be naked, if you like. Mr. Kiselev has already lost his hair due to natural causes. “The Vremya program was the only news program on the only television channel in the country,” he continued. “Imagine, on the one hand, the level of monopoly, on the other, responsibility. All this had to be moved in the direction of publicity, plurality of opinions, personality. But the announcers of the central television were people’s artists of the USSR, and he threw out a galaxy of youths and gave them freedom. Can you imagine the scale of change? He was the banner of modern television, and he left a testament, on the one hand, to be free, and on the other, to be meaningful, educated, delicate, not vulgar.”

While Dmitry Kiselev talked a lot about freedom on television, the territory of the Troekurovsky cemetery was filled with journalists. Some came to say goodbye to Mr. Sagalaev, others to shed light on this farewell. It is noteworthy that the new generation of media workers almost did not know the faces of their senior outstanding colleagues (and for some, their bosses), who did not leave the screens in the 90s and 2000s. Thus, a member of the Union of Journalists of Russia Yevgeny Shirokov, when asked to introduce himself for the credits, said somewhat stung: “A man of television and radio, including five times the editor-in-chief, including in the youth team where the professional life of our dear friend began.”

“He did a good job, responded to all requests, helped everyone,” said a man, a typical television worker of the late 90s, to his interlocutors, perhaps in the same place and at the same time former presenters. “And then he contacted Berezovsky …”

It was about the time when Eduard Sagalaev worked on the TV6 channel, but already under the leadership of the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Mr. Sagalaev, in particular, recalled how, at the request of Mr. Berezovsky, he interrupted the broadcast and put on Elvis Presley’s song “Kiss Me Quick” – this is how Boris Berezovsky showed his friend that “it means something on television.”

At the coffin of Eduard Sagalaev, other stories were remembered. He stood in the center of the hall, surrounded by flowers and wreaths – including those from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Deputy Chief of Staff of the Government of the Russian Federation Leonid Levin and Deputy Minister of Digital Development Bella Cherkesova spoke. Mrs. Cherkesova noted that she envies those gathered in the hall, as they were friends with Eduard Sagalaev and studied with him. The head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Alexander Khinshtein, said that those present were seeing off a person-epoch, turning over the page, but expressed confidence that “the profession will survive and outlive all of us.” Vitaly Ignatenko, director general of the Public Television of Russia, admitted that it was hard for him to “see off a friend on his last journey.”

On behalf of the students, the general director of Channel One, Konstantin Ernst, spoke: “Everyone who is something of himself on television came from two alma maters – from the youth team and from the editorial office of news broadcasting. Eduard Mikhailovich headed them, and Channel One, and the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, was the creator of the first independent private channel (TV6.— “b”), created the National Association of Broadcasters. He was the TV Leonardo. Both he and Anatoly Grigoryevich Lysenko, and several other people who can be seen here, were the ones who transferred Soviet television to Russian. They were the conductors and created one of the best television in the world.”

Then Mr. Ernst turned to the deceased: “Forgive me if something was wrong!” What exactly could be wrong, Mr. Ernst did not specify.

Another student of Eduard Sagalaev, General Director of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Oleg Dobrodeev, recalled that the deceased “really treated everyone incredibly easily and fatherly”: “And not a single person who lived on television left behind such a warm, kind, not only professional, but also human footprint.

Aleksey Volin, CEO of FSUE Kosmicheskaya Svyaz, former Deputy Minister of Digital Development, explained that Mr. Sagalaev “defended the interests of regional television” and that many regional channels are still alive thanks to him. “Eduard Mikhailovich, of course, the father of regional television, he was both a friend and a mentor to us, but first of all he was a teacher for us,” confirmed the journalist from Tatarstan and media manager Ilshat Aminov (journalists from 30 regions came to say goodbye). Let us try to keep his covenants. And he always said: “News is fun, television is freedom.”

Dmitry Kiselev also spoke. At the coffin, he told the same thing that he told reporters before the ceremony – about the freedom to fix your hair on the air, equal to freedom on television in general.

Natalia Kostarnova