Alexei Venediktov
Alexei Venediktov | |
|---|---|
Алексей Алексеевич Венедиктов | |
 | |
| Born | 18 December 1955 |
| Alma mater | Moscow State Pedagogical University |
| Career | |
| Station | Echo of Moscow |
| Country | Russia |
Alexei Alexeyevich Venediktov (Template:Lang-ru; born 18 December 1955) is a Russian journalist, editor-in-chief, host and co-owner[1] of the Echo of Moscow radio station, as well as the president of Echo TV Russia.
Biography
Venediktov was born in Moscow. His paternal grandfather Nikolai Andrianovich Venediktov served in NKVD and was awarded an Order of the Red Star for taking part in court-martials and creating barrier troops during the Great Patriotic War.[2] His father Alexei Nikolaevich Venediktov was a navy submarine officer killed in a storm shortly before Alexei's birth. His mother Eleonora Abramovna Dykhovichnaya was a doctor of Jewish origin; she came from a generation of prominent engineers. In 1983 she along with Alexei's sister emigrated to America.[3] One of her cousins was a film director Ivan Dykhovichny. A popular musician Andrey Makarevich also happens to be Alexei's distant relative.[4]
Venediktov graduated from the evening division of Moscow State Pedagogical University in 1978. After graduation, he worked as a postman for some time, then as a history teacher for 20 years straight, 19 of them — at the Moscow school №875.[5]
Since 1990 he has been working for Echo of Moscow.[5] He started as a newspaper observer and reporter, then headed the news division. Since 1998 he has been working as the editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow. Since 2002 Venedictov has been also serving as the president of Echo TV Russia.
In 2006 he co-hosted a short-living TV show In the Light Circle with Svetlana Sorokina at the Domashny TV channel. It was shut down in just two weeks, supposedly for its harsh critics of the Judiciary of Russia, although the producer Alexander Rodnyansky denied it had anything to do with politics.[6]
On February, 2012 Venediktov resigned from the board of directors in protest against the Gazprom-Media announcement to change the board.[7] He later said that it was Vladimir Putin who personally saved him and his station from closer by Mikhail Lesin. According to Venediktov, this happened at least twice during the Dmitry Medvedev's presidency.[8]
By 2015, 33.02% of all Echo of Moscow's shares used to be owned by the American company EM-Holding, with 1/3 of them belonging to Venediktov and Yuri Fedutinov (currently a chief executive at the station) and others — to the Israeli media mogul Vladimir Gusinsky and his partners. But in 2015 the Russian State Duma passed a new law forbidding foreign citizens to own more than 20% of all shares in a national media company. In order to bypass it, a Russian-based company named Echo of Moscow Holding Company was registered. As of 2016, it owns 13.10% of total shares (with 49.5% of them belonging to Venediktov alone), while the American company controls 19.92% of shares.[1]
Venediktov described his political views as conservative and himself — as a reactionary, with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher representing his «ideals in politics».[9]
He is a member of the Public Board of the Russian Ministry of Defence[10] and the Civic Chamber of Moscow since 2016.[11]
Honours
- II class Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (1999)[12]
- Legion of Honour (France, 2006)[13]
- Gold Cross of Merit (Poland, 2014)[14]
- Award «Golden Pen of Russia» (1996)
- Award of Artyom Borovik (New York, 2008)[15]
- Medal of Security Council of Russia (1998)
References
- ^ a b Alexei Venediktov at Echo of Moscow, January 1, 2016 (in Russian)
- ^ Award list scans
- ^ Alexei Venediktov: "I'm very fast" interview at Radio "Liberty", March 19, 2016 (in Russian)
- ^ Interview with Alexei Venediktov by Dmitry Gordon, June 6, 2014 (in Russian)
- ^ a b Staff radio show at Echo of Moscow, December 16, 2000 (in Russian)
- ^ Arina Borodina. Svetlana Sorokina and Alexei Venediktov Are Out of Circle by Kommersant, September 15, 2006 (in Russian)
- ^ Russia Radio Shake-up Follows Putin Criticism
- ^ Ilya Azar. I'm a Big Boy interview at Meduza, November 28, 2014 (in Russian)
- ^ Natalia Kochetkova. Alexei Venediktov, the Chief Editor of Echo of Moscow: I'm a Double-Dyed Reactionary interview by Izvestia, February 27, 2008 (in Russian)
- ^ Famous media executives, such as Alexei Venedictov, the main editor at Echo of Moscow, were invited at the official Ministry of Defence website (in Russian)
- ^ Alexei Venediktov: The Composition of the Civic Chamber of Moscow Has Been Fully Shaped by RIA Novosti, April 11, 2016 (in Russian)
- ^ Order of the President of Russian Federation No 1594 from December 3, 1999 at the official Presidential Administration of Russia website (in Russian)
- ^ French ambassador awarded the editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow with a Legion of Honour at NEWSru.com, September 28, 2006 (in Russian)
- ^ A grand awarding ceremony was held in the Embassy of Poland at the Embassy of Poland in Moscow official website, July 31, 2014 (in Russian)
- ^ About receiving the Award of Artyom Borovik in New York interview at Echo of Moscow, April 29, 2008 (in Russian)
External links
- Confessions of Moscow’s Last Independent Radio Newsman interview at The Daily Beast (June 15, 2015)
- Echo in the Dark article at The New Yorker (September 22, 2008)
- Alexei Venediktov's personal page at the Echo of Moscow website (in Russian)
- Alexei Venediktov at the Russian Academy of Radio (RAR) website (in Russian)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
  | This article about a Russian journalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |