After two and a half years at ICTV, Russian TV journalist Dmitry Kiselyov has made its news/current affairs programs among the most popular
g his two and a half years at ICTV, Kiselyov has been dividing his time between two capitals. In Kyiv, he is the channel’s chief news editor and hosts the daily program In Detail, which generally includes an eight-minute question and answer session in which Kiselyov grills a studio guest.
On Sundays, Kiselyov is in Moscow to host the discussion program Morning Conversation on Russia’s second state TV channel. He also presents the analytical program Direct Speech on the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
In both countries, his guests include top politicians, business people, cultural figures and athletes – anyone whom Kiselyov judges to be of interest to his viewers.
In Ukraine, his programs are seen as following ICTV’s generally pro-government line. Of President Leonid Kuchma, Kiselyov says that he supports his line in general, but not in all its details.
Kiselyov says he teaches his subordinates to follow two rules in everything they do: “Don’t lie and don’t sell out.”
Kiselyov tells the story of how a man came into his office in Kyiv with a suitcase full of dollars. “He said, ‘All work has to be paid for.’ And I replied, ‘I have an excellent salary.’”
Kiselyov clearly believes that he has a reputation to maintain.
“The only capital a journalist possesses is reputation – if you lose it once, then you can change your profession,” Kiselyov said.
Though Kiselyov does not disclose exactly how much he earns, he says he has accounts in two Ukrainian banks, and in banks in Russia, Switzerland, Norway and Germany. His property includes a house near Moscow built on a plot of land belonging to his parents.
As well as driving a Mini Cooper and a Land Rover Defender, he owns four horses.
Information professional
Born in Moscow in 1954, Kiselyov graduated from Leningrad University with a linguistics degree. He spent most of the 1980s working in the English, Norwegian and Polish language radio services of the State TV and Radio Company.
From 1989 to 1991, Kiselyov was a correspondent and news anchor on the Vremya program.
At the time of the hard-line Communist coup in August 1991, Kiselyov was in Norway. He returned immediately to the Soviet Union, where he built barricades in Leningrad. By the time the coup collapsed on August 21, Kiselyov was back in Moscow hosting Vremya.
In 1991 he worked on documentaries for German television devoted to such figures as Andrey Sakharov, Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. He subsequently headed the Ostankino TV’s bureau for Northern Europe and the Benelux countries. Between 1994 and 2001, he produced and presented programs for various Russian TV companies.
Kiselyov recalls that some of his Ukrainian colleagues were skeptical when he became chief news editor at ICTV in 2000.
“I’ve been here two and a half years now, and I have a more or less good idea of the flow of information. But when I came, everyone was asking: ‘How is he going to work without knowing the context?’” he said.
However, he insists that this has never been a problem for him.
“I work professionally with information, and the issue is not context but the actual direction the country is moving in,” Kiselyov said.
He says that when he first arrived he met with Viktor Pinchuk, one of the leaders of the Labor Ukraine party and the owner of ICTV, to agree in person on the core values supported by the channel and its news programs. These values include Ukrainian statehood, independence and clean business.
Since then, Kiselyov says nobody has interfered in his job. “We agreed on the main thing, and once that is agreed on it is not necessary to discuss every word I pronounce,” he said.
Pinchuk is apparently happy with the job Kiselyov is doing. He says he regards ICTV as a business, and therefore its news has to be as interesting and as objective as possible.
Kiselyov says he doesn’t know exactly why Pinchuk chose him for the job.
“Probably due to the force of globalization, and also because I’ve never been linked to any particular political force. Besides I’ve worked abroad and speak various languages,” he said.
In particular, Kiselyov speaks English, French, Swedish and Norwegian well and is conversational in German and Danish. He has translated books from Icelandic.
Kiselyov denies suggestions that he is a representative of Russian interests in Ukraine.
“I detach myself from that great country and represent only myself here,” he said.
Questionable objectivity
According to Kiselyov, the main difference between Western journalism and journalism as practiced in Russia and Ukraine is that while the former is concerned with the reproduction of existing values the latter is concerned with the creation of those values. The old values have been discredited, and new values have not yet been formulated.
There are also differences between Russian and Ukrainian journalism. “In Russia there is the feeling that the country is answerable to nothing except itself. In Ukraine, people are always thinking about which direction the country should lean in – toward Russia, or Europe or the United States.”
Although he believes that Ukrainian journalists still have something to learn from their Russian colleagues, he says that the ICTV team is already producing quality programs. “In general, the level suits me, because it suits Ukraine. It’s bad to run ahead of oneself.”
Some of Kiselyov’s Ukrainian colleagues, like 1+1 presenter Yury Makarov, speak highly of his professional qualities.
“Kiselyov is probably one of the aces of contemporary post-Soviet TV,” Makarov says, adding that Kiselyov’s skills are not fully utilized. “He is an excellent presenter of big talk shows. He’s good at working with an audience; he’s a fine conductor with a sense of timing. Having him here, it would be nice to use him in this capacity.”
Not everyone in the media is so complimentary, however.
Natalia Lihacheva, editor of the Telekritika Internet site, regards Kiselyov as biased.
“He is an example of how, under the force of circumstance, the former leading lights of democratic journalism become politically biased. They know the laws according to which the professional media and propaganda work, and this allows them to be convincing in what they do,” she said.
“Kiselyov often uses unscrupulous debating techniques in interviews, the standard manipulatory methods: directly attacking some interviewees while giving others an easy ride, asking rhetorical questions,” he said.
However, Lihacheva acknowledges that Kiselyov has taught Ukrainian journalists a lot. “He’s a professional. I hope Ukrainian journalists can learn his positive lessons.”
Kiselyov’s contract expires at the end of 2004, and he says he has already received an invitation to extend it. But he hasn’t made up his mind yet.
“Society has to adopt European values, that is my goal here,” Kiselyov said. And though this goal has not yet been achieved, he is not sure that ICTV needs his services any longer.
“To a certain extent it is already operating on auto-pilot: I have deputies who can do the work. I don’t think I’m much needed in Ukraine any more.”
This article was originally published in Russian in Korrespondent magazine on June 10 as part of its series devoted to the Top 100 most influential individuals in Ukraine.
