Vladislav Listyev
| Vladislav Listyev | |
|---|---|
 Vlad Listyev reading Novy Vzglyad. |
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| Born | Vladislav Nikolayevich Listyev May 10, 1956 Moscow, USSR |
| Died | March 1, 1995 (aged 38) Moscow, Russia |
| Spouse(s) | Albina Nazimova |
Vladislav (Vlad) Nikolayevich Listyev (Russian: Владисла́в Никола́евич Листьев) (May 10, 1956 – March 1, 1995) was a Russian journalist and head of the ORT TV Channel (now government-owned Channel One).
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[edit] Career
Vlad Listyev was arguably the most popular journalist and TV anchor in Russia (and remains well-remembered years after his death), and was a key force in bringing the voice of democracy to the Russian television. Listyev first appeared on television as one of the hosts of a highly progressive and successful TV show Vzglyad ("The View") in late 1980s (which literally translates as The View or The Look), a kind of satirical television show watched weekly by as many as 100 million people.[1] The other anchors were Artyom Borovik, Evgeny Dodolev, Alexander Lyubimov, Alexander Politkovsky and Dmitry Zaharov.
He was also the first host of the Russian version of "Wheel of Fortune" which became very popular. Following the success of Vzglyad, Listyev and his colleagues founded a TV company VID (Vzglyad i Drugiye—The View and the Others) that would produce programming for the First Channel of Central Television, the main TV channel in the Soviet Union (later called Ostankino and ORT). In VID, Listyev started a number of new TV projects—Pole Chudes ("A Field of Wonders", the Russian version of the Wheel of Fortune), Ugadai melodiu ("Guess a melody", the Russian version of Name That Tune), Tema ("The Theme"), and Chas Pik ("The Rush Hour"). In 1995, Listyev moved from VID to ORT, where he was appointed the director of the channel. One of Listyev's very first moves as the director was to order a temporary stop to all advertising, in effect leaving all unauthorized middlemen out of the lucrative advertising business, and consolidating future ad sales in the hands of the channel.
[edit] Death
Shortly after his appointment, on the evening of March 1, 1995, when returning from the live broadcast of his evening show Chas Pik, Listyev was shot dead on the stairs of his apartment building. Valuables and a large sum in cash that Listyev had on him were left untouched, leading the investigators to conclude that the murder was either a political or business-related assassination. However, despite numerous claims made by investigators that the case was close to resolution, neither the gunmen, nor those who ordered the killing, were found.
The killing caused an enormous public outcry—in an unprecedented move, ORT and several other Russian TV Channels shut down for the whole day on March 2, displaying only the picture of Listyev and the words "Vlad Listyev Has Been Killed." Days later, the channel was reorganized and after a number of different incarnations, came back as the government-controlled Channel One that Russian viewers are now familiar with. Listyev's wake was visited by thousands of people, and even the ailing Boris Yeltsin was forced to make a statement.
There has been much speculation as to the reasons behind Listyev's murder, and two possible causes have been isolated as the most likely: financial and political. When Listyev put the middlemen advertising agencies out of business, he deprived many corrupt businessmen of a source for enormous profits. From the political standpoint, Listyev enjoyed an enormous popularity rating among Russian citizens and could potentially influence the political mood of the whole country.
A 1996 article in Forbes "Godfather of the Kremlin" by Paul Klebnikov accused Boris Berezovsky of ordering the murder. A few months after the article in Forbes was published, Berezovsky sued the magazine for libel (in February 1997) in British court. In 2003 the court ruled that Forbes remove one statement from the article, as it didn't have enough evidence to support the claim that Berezovsky arranged murder of famous anchorman and TV producer Vlad Listyev.[2] The court didn't order Forbes to remove the rest of the article from the website nor acknowledge that all data contained in it was false, nor forced Forbes to pay a compensation, that Berezovsky wanted when filing his claim. The article is still available online on the Forbes website (with exception of one above mentioned statement).[3] Some media sources controlled by Berezovsky though, such as Kommersant magazine, reported, that Forbes "lost the case" and "completely retracted their claims against Berezovsky" which actually never happened. Berezovsky never contested in court the book "Godfather of the Kremlin: Boris Berezovsky and the looting of Russia" that Klebnikov published in 2000, which was a very extended version of the article.
According to Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Pribylovsky, top KGB officers Alexander Korzhakov and Alexander Komelkov may have plotted Listyev's murder at the hands of Solntsevskaya bratva. The authors implied that the motive was to steal the TV advertisement revenue and sponsor Oleg Soskovets for Russia's presidency. The authors believed that Korzhakov also used the murder to blame Berezovsky and to prepare his arrest.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Clines, Rancis X. (1991-01-12). "Soviet Press Curbs Hint at a Retreat". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/12/world/soviet-press-curbs-hint-at-a-retreat.html. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
- ^ Caputo, Michael R. (13 July 2004). "Same Old Ruthless Russia". The Washington Post (The Washington Post Company): p. A15. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45364-2004Jul12.html. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
- ^ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedGodfather; see Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text - ^ Felshtinsky & Pribylovsky 2010, Chapter 1 Заговор Коржакова, section Четвёртый компонент - деньги
[edit] Bibliography
- Felshtinsky, Yuri; Pribylovsky, Vladimir (2010). "Корпорация. Россия и КГБ во времена Президента Путина" (in Russian). http://www.corporation-kgb.org/. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
[edit] External links
- Murder suspects arrested and charged - IFEX
- Time March 20, 1995 Article Dealing with the Death of Listyev
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