Zurab Alasania. How to kill a central television channel?

Zurab Alasania

On August 10, the First National Television Channel held a press conference to discuss the future of "public television" in Ukraine. It was striking that the press conference was moderated by Daria Yurovskaya, First Deputy Director General of Zurab Alasania. Zurab Alasania himself did not appear at the press conference, although he loves to talk about public television. He's posted about it on his Facebook page so often that many of his friends unsubscribed from his account. Furthermore, for the past two years, he's been pitching his concept for public television to almost every publication. And yet, he didn't attend the press conference. Why? Perhaps because he's changed his values ​​and decided to become a humble person? Or perhaps because the channel is in such a dire state and its ratings have plummeted so much that any normal person would be embarrassed to even mention it, and journalists wouldn't hesitate to take the opportunity to put their "colleague" down with their questions.

The beginning of a long way

And how beautifully it all began? Riding the wave of the Revolution of Dignity, the channel acquired a general director unlike any UT-1 had ever seen in its entire long history. A handsome man, a Georgian, covered in tattoos, an unconventional type. Many succumbed to his charm. Although serious media experts were already perplexed at the time why such a complex conglomerate as the National Television Company had been appointed to manage a man with no experience whatsoever. Well, yes, he had been a journalist in Kharkiv, and even served briefly when Avakov was in charge of the city.Read more about it: Arsen Avakov: The criminal past of the Minister of Internal Affairs), managed a regional television company. This experience, to put it mildly, is insufficient for taking the helm of a central television channel. Well, it's understandable that Avakov and Yatsenyuk installed their man. But somehow, this person of theirs had to have at least some understanding of television... In short, the right experts were initially skeptical of the effectiveness of such an appointment.

First steps

And they were right on target. Having declared war on corruption and sworn his love for Ukraine, Zurab appointed as his first deputy Oleksandr Liyev, the former Crimean Minister of Tourism, who had been caught taking bribes and, during the occupation, had made anti-Ukrainian statements. Having declared his European values, he abandoned the Eurovision contest, which was also foolish, as it was the highest-rated project of the National Television Company in its history. Furthermore, he terminated the contract with Euronews signed under the "criminal ownership." He also abandoned the FIFA World Cup. And in the first six months, he canceled about 30 of the channel's projects.

Alexander Liev
"Just move the crown to the side
So that it doesn’t hang on your ears"

For the first time in UT-1's history, its employees were sent on unpaid leave, and they were forced to submit written statements about it. The channel's cafeteria was closed, despite the fact that the channel is located in a location where there aren't even a single cafe in the area, and people simply have nowhere to get a coffee. His Crimean colleagues always said that Liev was incapable of anything other than self-promotion and viewed him as some kind of clown for the authorities. And now, Liev spends 99% of his time on self-promotion.

A little about freedom of speech

The director of UT-1's love of freedom of speech is well illustrated by his conflict with Savik Shuster. Shuster is considered completely "uncontrollable" among television professionals. In the sense that no one has the right to interfere with his editorial policy or dictate his topics. Alasania tried to interfere, and when that failed, he pulled Shuster's program from the air. Savik was unharmed, and soon his project was airing on Channel 112.

Savik Shuster
"Zurab, go there!"

Meanwhile, the First National Channel suffered a significant decline in viewing figures, while Shuster's program was a ratings-driving force. Another example is the conflict with the former editor-in-chief of news broadcasting, Svetlana Kolyada. In a conversation with MediaNyanya, she revealed that the channel had begun to feature "ordered" stories, so-called "jeans"—stories commissioned and placed for money. Moreover, these "ordered" stories were both commercial and political. These are the standards of freedom of speech as Zurab Alasania understands them.

Money, money

But earning money from "denim" isn't Zurab Grigorievich's only source of income. The fact is that the National Television Company owns a huge television center building at 42 Melnikova Street in Kyiv. Its premises had previously been rented out, but to specialized television companies. For example, the building housed the television company "1+1," and it currently houses the television companies "Era" and "ESG," as well as various production companies and representative offices of foreign television companies. But it was under Alasania, and, according to employees, at Liyev's instigation, that NTU employees began to be evicted and the premises rented out to anyone—people with no connection to television production.

Furthermore, the television company commissioned a TV audience study for 1,77 million hryvnias. This shocked the entire media community, as such studies typically cost several orders of magnitude less. And the general director's salary is hefty, namely 83.000 hryvnias per month. One employee accidentally discovered a payroll slip in the elevator, and it showed exactly that amount. For reference, the average salary of a First National employee is 2.300 hryvnias. Meanwhile, their salaries are constantly being cut, bonuses are being eliminated, and company phones are being disconnected. In short, every condition is being created for people to leave "of their own accord," and those who don't comply are fired for the slightest offense and subject to layoffs.

Conclusion

What's happening at First National Channel today? People are leaving the channel; journalist Irina Romaliyskaya recently resigned. Editor Svetlana Kolyada and producer Larisa Drozdova also left before them. Moreover, the best are leaving—those who have other options. Besides the staff, all the high-rated projects have either been removed or quit. Meanwhile, the channel's technical infrastructure has remained virtually unchanged since Benckendorff's tenure, and no content has been purchased. And all this is happening on the eve of the new season, when all other channels will be surprising viewers with premium projects. As a result of all of the above, the channel is rapidly losing ground. While during Yanukovych's tenure, the channel never fell below seventh place in the Ukrainian channel rankings, and was often in the top five, it now ranks fifteenth or seventeenth, and periodically even drops out of the top twenty. And this despite the channel having almost 100% coverage across Ukraine. So, while the channel previously competed with Inter, 1+1, STB, and Novy, its competitors now include OTV, K2, Enter Film, Plus Plus, and other small niche channels. So the idea of ​​Public Television died in its infancy. If you're watched by less than one million viewers out of Ukraine's nearly forty million audience, what kind of public influence can you possibly have? And judging by Zurab Grigorievich's demeanor, he feels quite confident despite the channel's dire situation. Employees say that at every meeting, Alasania's favorite thing to do is sling mud at... the president, Petro Poroshenko. He calls him a "fat broiler" and other terms that seem odd to hear from the channel's general director, or even from any intelligent person. But apparently, he thinks Avakov is his reliable protector and will cover for him no matter what.

Well, what can you say? The idea of ​​Public Television itself was a very good one. But, as sad as it is to report, greed and unprofessionalism won out. In other words, Zurab Alasania and his team won.

Denis Ivanov, for SKELET-info

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