WIDE ANGLE: THE RUSSIAN NEWSPAPER MURDERS (TV)
Summary
Mishal Husain hosts this documentary series that investigates contemporary global, political, and social issues. This episode explores the murders of two Russian newspaper editors and the larger themes of censorship and criminal conspiracy within the country.
Though former president Mikhail Gorbachev formally introduced a policy of Glasnost – "free speech" – in 1986, Russia now has few independent journalists, and those that speak out about crime, corruption and government censorship often find themselves in mortal danger. In April 2002, Valery Ivanov, editor of the Togliatti Observer, a small-town paper established in 1996, was murdered in his car, and his widow Elena Ivanova discusses his longtime commitment to publishing stories exposing crime, even exposing the mayor of Togliatti as a conspirator. Ivanov's friend Alexei Sidorov took over the editor's job, only to be fatally stabbed outside of his home 18 months later, sparking international outrage.
In Moscow, the Novaya Gazeta also publishes many pieces criticizing the authoritarian government and its "strange form of free speech," with deputy editor Sergei Sokolov explaining that, as most television stations are under government control, print media is the only way to expose corruption, though distribution numbers remain low. In a sit-down interview, Gorbachev states that restrictive new rules will cause fewer journalists to write about political topics, thus denying potential voters important information about candidates. Sokolov compares the government's interference to a "KGB revival." Back in Togliatti, a local man named Yevgeny Maininger is swiftly arrested for Sidorov's murder, though few are convinced by the claim that the incident was a random street killing and not a targeted assassination. Karen Nersisyan, a lawyer for the Glasnost Defense Foundation, conducts his own investigation into Maininger's possibly false confession and hunts for "clues" about the real killer, guessing that Sidorov was targeted by one of the criminals about whom he wrote in one of his stories.
Nersisyan represents Sidorov's father in court, arguing that he has the right to detailed information about his son's death, though his appeal is shot down and postponed, likely because of the judge's own corruption. In Moscow, journalist Mikhail Komarov is beaten up after reporting on a criminal court case, and the corrupt businessman about whom Komarov has written reveals a remarkable amount of knowledge about Komarov's medical condition, heavily suggesting that he ordered the attack. Nersisyan grows frustrated as he is denied access to important contacts, and when he visits a café close to the scene of the crime, he finds several witnesses swearing that they saw Maininger in the shop at the time of Sidorov's murder. Nersisyan and Sidorov's father confront the prosecutor, who eventually admits that he himself never talked to the witnesses, but the case remains officially "solved"; Nersisyan returns to Moscow in defeat.
Five weeks after Sidorov's death, the Observer office is reopened and deputy editor Rimma Mikhareva explains that the journalists wish to continue their work, though new editor Igor Izotov seems inclined to tone down the paper's pointed approach to exposing crime. As Russian religious tradition dictates that a deceased person's soul moves on to the next world on the fortieth day after the death, Sidorov's friends visit his grave and then hold a wake to honor him, distressed that neither his nor Ivanov's true killers have been brought to justice.
In the final segment, Husain talks to Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, who discusses the meanings behind Sidorov and Ivanov's deaths. She explains that Russia seemed "on the road" to true free speech when Glasnost was introduced, only to slide back under the control of the Kremlin, with current president Vladimir Putin arguing that the country does not have the appropriate "conditions" to handle free press and speech. Cooper adds that many Russians are disinterested in fighting the censorship, as the economy has more or less stabilized under Putin, despite the fact that the country is considered one of the "ten worst places for journalists" in the world.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: November 30, 1999 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:40
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:87230
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/Documentaries; Russia; Journalists; Murder; Conspiracies
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 2002-2009
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Promos - "Wide Angle"
CREDITS
- Leslie Woodhead … Executive Producer
- Nicholas Fraser … Executive Producer
- Sylvie Jézéquel … Executive Producer
- Stephen Segaller … Executive Producer
- Micah Fink … Coordinating Producer
- Pamela Friedman … Coordinating Producer
- Andy Halper … Senior Producer
- Christine Camdessus … Producer
- Nina Chaudry … Associate Producer
- Amy Rubin … Associate Producer
- Daria Plakhova … Assistant Producer
- Marina Erastova … Line Producer
- Fiona O'Doherty … Line Producer
- Pamela Hogan … Series Producer
- Mara Posner … Graphic Producer
- Paul Jenkins … Director
- Aviv Geffen … Music by
- Douglas J. Cuomo … Music by
- Mishal Husain … Host
- Jay O. Sanders … Narrator
- Elena Ivanova … Interviewee
- Rimma Mikhareva … Interviewee
- Sergei Sokolov … Interviewee
- Mikhail Gorbachev … Interviewee
- Karen Nersisyan … Interviewee
- Mikhail Komarov … Interviewee
- Ann Cooper … Interviewee
- Valery Ivanov
- Igor Izotov
- Yevgeny Maininger
- Vladimir Putin
- Alexei Sidorov