15:19 15.10.2008
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It is often said that the media is the fourth estate, and this seems to be true.
It is often said that the media is the fourth estate, and this seems to be true. Rather, however, in the sense that whoever owns a little of this power has the power to influence the consciousness (and therefore the decisions and actions) of millions of people who consider the TV to be just a harmless part of the interior. As the famous researcher of the interaction of the human psyche and society Terence McKenna wrote, television can be compared to a technical drug of a high order, which transports the consumer to some kind of alternative reality, acting directly on his senses without introducing chemicals into the nervous system.
Moreover, no epidemic, no fashion addiction, no religious hysteria has ever spread faster or created so many followers in such a short time. short period. The closest analogy to the power of television addiction and the transformation of values that occurs in the life of a severely addicted user would probably be heroin, McKenna said. In other words, the person in whose hands television is in directly depends, among other things, mental health nation.
No one will argue with the enormous influence television has on our society. Especially its First Channel, the signal of which is received on 99% of the territory of our vast country. It is all the more important what and, most importantly, who broadcasts to us from the blue screens. According to one recent survey, almost 60% of Russians believe that television has a negative influence on people. At the same time, only 26% noted the positive role of modern Russian television. Thus, all the talk about the fact that the “rating” really reflects the opinion of the people is nothing more than an attempt by the television bosses to defend their right to vulgarity and immorality.
Logically, those who make television should be responsible for this - those television channels that, as you know, are united in our country into the Academy of Russian Television. But for some reason it seems that as long as this organization is headed by its current leader, nothing in this very “box” will change. To put it mildly, Mr. Posner’s views are too peculiar.
So, our character today is Vladimir Vladimirovich Pozner. Born April 1, 1934 in Paris. Until December 1952, he lived with his parents in France, the USA, and the GDR. In October 1961, he joined the Novosti Press Agency (APN), then moved to the USSR Committee on Television and Radio Broadcasting as a commentator for the main editorial office of radio broadcasting in the USA and England. In 1986 - host of the Leningrad-Seattle and Leningrad-Boston TV bridges, political commentator for Central Television. Since 1993, he has hosted the programs “The Man in the Mask”, “We”, “If” and the radio program “Let’s Discuss This” on Russian television. In 1994 he became president of the Academy of Russian Television. In November 2001, Posner, as the host of the “Times” program on ORT, became the most popular TV presenter according to Gallup Media. What does he bring to the masses, what ideas does he preach?
"""1. The USA evokes "envy and admiration" in Posner"""
Let's start with the fact that it would probably be natural if the main Russian TV academician had at least Russian as his native language. After all, TV broadcasts primarily for its citizens. But no. This is what Posner himself said in an interview with the BBC: “Since my French mother did not speak Russian, they spoke only French at home - this was the law. They didn't speak English either, although... I still grew up in America. I don’t know if I’m a polyglot, but I picked up languages as we moved from one country to another: from France to America, from America to Germany, and then we lived in the Soviet Union and Russia. It was a gradual process. I learned Russian much later - already when we arrived in Russia.” For a second: the Posners came to Russia (USSR) in 1952, when our hero was no less than 18 years old! Of course, many of us foreign languages and at a later age we were taught, but this does not mean that anyone will trust us to broadcast a program, for example, on English TV. Posner, by the way, formulates very clearly in this interview: “English is my native language.”
After this, is it any wonder that our today’s character loves America so dearly? Here are his own words (Friendship of Peoples magazine, 2002, No. 9): “In all classes, any American school The first lesson begins with all students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag. Wake me up at night - I’ll repeat it without hesitation, because it’s been imprinted in my memory since childhood.” Or in another interview: “America (unlike the USSR. - Note KM.RU) represents a formation generally accepted in the civilized world, talks about the market, democracy, that is, about things that are understandable to many.... The USA evokes different feelings - envy and admiration." In general, they are civilized there, but here we don’t have bears walking around the streets.
Mr. Posner manages to demonstrate his dislike for our country everywhere. Even on the website of his School of Television Excellence (which will be discussed below) in the “Training” section we read: “As democracy began to strengthen in a traditionally undemocratic country, the people, who were accustomed to authoritarian governance, began to change.” And this man, by the way, prepares footage for our television.
"""2. “The Face of Russian Television” is a US citizen"""
Admiration for America is understandable: Mr. Posner is... a citizen of this country. In an interview with Radio Liberty on February 6, he says this himself, without any coercion. At his Internet conference on the Channel One website, however, he already says that he has dual citizenship. Nevertheless, he confirms the fact of having American citizenship. Moreover, he stated (both at the mentioned conference and in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio in early June) that he was going to participate in the November US presidential elections. And he has already decided who he will vote for. For Barack Obama.
Of course, someone can say that, thank God, it’s not for McCain. Obama is supposedly progressive, young, and all that. At first glance, this may be so. But let's try to figure out how things really are.
The king, as the famous saying goes, is played by his retinue. Therefore, it is enough to look at Mr. Obama’s entourage to understand what policy he, if he becomes president of the United States, will pursue towards Russia. So, the adviser to US presidential candidate Barack Obama on geopolitics is none other than Mr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former adviser to President Carter. The same Brzezinski, on whose advice the United States began to arm the Afghan Mujahideen and thereby, by his own admission, provoked the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, now presented by the same Posner as nothing other than “aggression.”
In Brzezinski’s interview with the Nouvelle Observer magazine, given back in 1998, when asked directly, “You don’t regret that you contributed to Islamic fundamentalism, that you supplied weapons and advised future terrorists (one of the recipients of the help was the same bin Laden, whom US intelligence agencies have been searching for for seven years now without success. – Note KM.RU)?” he answers quite frankly: “What is more important from the point of view of the history of the world? Taliban or the fall of the Soviet empire? A few agitated Islamists or the liberation of central Europe and the end of the Cold War?
Now Obama’s adviser believes - and he writes about this in his book “Choice. World domination or global leadership,” that Russia should not play an independent role in world politics, because “if it wants to keep its territory intact, there is no other choice but to join the West as its junior partner.” To do this, in particular, it must provide for joint use no more or less natural resources Siberia. And besides, one of Mr. Brzezinski’s obsessions is the creation of a new “cordon sanitaire” around Russia.
Why, you may ask, would you cover the views of Mr. Brzezinski in such detail in an article dedicated to a famous television journalist? I repeat once again: Mr. Posner said that he would cast his vote in support of Barack Obama. Does this mean that Mr. Posner supports the openly Russophobic views of his adviser? It seems to me that Russian citizens have the right to know whose program they have the pleasure (very dubious, however) of seeing every Sunday evening on the country’s main television channel. You look, and the management of Channel One will think about whether it is worth trusting prime time to this gentleman. Better, as they say, late than never.
"""3. Posner is an enemy of the Russian Orthodox Church"""
After we have established Mr. Posner’s touching affection for America, it is completely unnecessary to be surprised at the gnashing of teeth to which the main Russian TV academician is driven by the slightest mention of patriotism (about patriotism, of course, Russian, he fully approves of American patriotism). Here, for example, is what he writes in his column in Esquire magazine: “...is there a patriotic program built into us? I doubt. Love for parents - yes, it exists at the genetic level, love for the country - hardly. Patriotism is what we are taught when we are subjected to (I can’t find any other word) patriotic education, using very powerful tools for this: school, books, television, cinema, sports, propaganda and, of course, the experience of war?”
And then he quotes the favorite saying of all Russophobes, belonging to the famous English writer, lexicographer and publisher of the 18th century Samuel Johnson: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” It would seem that who, if not Mr. Posner (for whom, let us remember, English is his native language!), would know what the author actually meant when he uttered this aphorism. In the Russian version, which Posner and his minions trumpet, everything is clear: “Patriot means a scoundrel,” or “Patriotism is the self-justification of a scoundrel.” Johnson meant the following: all is not lost even for the most inveterate scoundrel, if he has a lively sense of patriotism, obeying which, he can accomplish a good deed. That is, patriotism for such a person is the last chance to be morally reborn. But Posner, of course, is not satisfied with this interpretation.
And since he is not satisfied with Russian patriotism and patriotic education, then it is quite natural that he is not satisfied with the Russian Orthodox Church either. “The second problem is the destructive role of the Russian Orthodox Church. Orthodoxy was a brake on the country's development. Compare at least Orthodox Russia, Greece and Bulgaria in terms of welfare and development of democracy with the Protestant countries of Scandinavia, with Great Britain or Germany, even with Catholic France or Italy,” he said in his scandalous interview with the Kaluga Crossroads newspaper in June 2003. This, according to the TV academician, is Russia’s problem. Not in the streams of lies and depravity pouring day and night from television screens, but in Orthodoxy.
"""4. Posner - for the legalization of drugs"""
Posner loves to repeat: “Democracy is when the majority respects the minority!” Therefore, it is very strange that he has not yet raised his voice in defense of sexual minorities, who still cannot realize their “blue dream” and march victoriously along Tverskaya. However, maybe he will say something in the near future. He called in an interview “ Novaya Gazeta", published March 29, 2004, legalize drugs. Moreover, to legalize not, as in Holland, marijuana (“Marijuana, as many experts rightly note, does not cause any harm at all,” Posner said), but in general everything: they say, only in this way will we “knock the economic foundation out from under the feet of the drug mafia.” It’s not clear why sodomites are worse? However, Mr. Posner is inconsistent.
It is impossible not to mention that the chief TV academician was involved in last years in at least two scandals. The first of them is the story of the so-called Teletrust JSC. Nowadays, few people remember that in 2000, when Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed a policy of “equidistance” between oligarchs, the well-known Boris Abramovich Berezovsky decided to create this same joint-stock company. It was supposed, according to his plan, to manage 49% of the shares of ORT, which belonged to him and which he, they say, transferred to trust management to representatives of the “creative intelligentsia.”
Fifteen people then put their signatures under the trust agreement, including the writer Vasily Aksenov, journalists Natalya Gevorkyan, Sergey Dorenko, Otto Latsis, as well as Yuri Lyubimov, Igor Shabdurasulov, Igor Golembiovsky, Vitaly Tretyakov, Egor Yakovlev and others. By a strange coincidence, absolutely all the journalists on this list worked for BAB publications. Vladimir Pozner was also on this list. Later, however, our hero withdrew his signature, emphasizing that this decision was allegedly made by him solely “for personal reasons.” Apparently, the experienced opportunist realized that nothing would come of this venture, the state could not be deceived by such “trust agreements” and it was better not to take risks.
The second story is connected with the so-called School of Television Excellence. In 1999, Moscow Mayor Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov allocated free of charge (for a period of 49 years with the right to purchase) to Vladimir Pozner land plot with an area of 0.2 hectares in the center of Moscow. Two years later, the mayor's order was amended. They provided for the “inclusion of house 22 on Malaya Dmitrovka Street into the ensemble of the school complex.” This house, which houses the studios of Moscow artists, received the status of an architectural monument in 1991. Yuri Luzhkov's decision outraged the artists who are members of the Kolorit housing construction cooperative. As the chairman of Kolorit, Alexander Yashchuk, said in an interview with Kommersant, “the inclusion of house 22 in the school ensemble essentially means its demolition.”
In December 2003, a group of residents of Malaya Dmitrovka appealed to the Moscow prosecutor's office demanding that the management be held criminally liable. construction company"Krost" and Moscow government officials for "deliberate destruction of an architectural monument." Thanks to the collective protest of the residents of the houses, construction was blocked for almost a year. It should be noted that according to the project, only 10% of the area of the building under construction was allocated to the school itself. Of its seven floors, only one and a half were supposed to be transferred to the television floor. On the rest, according to project documentation, should accommodate shops, offices and a restaurant.
In January 2004, the head of the Moscow Complex of Architecture, Construction, Development and Reconstruction, Vladimir Resin, ordered the suspension of construction “until the investor resolves issues with the owners of the privatized historical monument on the street. M. Dmitrovka, 22.” Residents of the house continued to send letters and telegrams to the mayor's office and the Presidential Administration, in which they asked not to allow a repeat of the Manege and Transvaal Park and complained that the construction was leading to cracks in the house. Nevertheless, already in May of the same year, a press conference was held at the Tverskoy district administration, at which representatives of the Krost concern announced that the construction of the School of Telemastery would resume in the near future, since everything permits the concern has already received. Apparently, the “issues with the owners” have been resolved. How? You can guess that for yourself, as they say. In general, Mr. Posner made his contribution to the destruction of the historical appearance of our capital. Well, he's a jack of all trades, what can I say.
So, what do we have in the bottom line? An American citizen whose native language is not Russian, who loves neither the history of Russia nor Orthodox Church, who calls for the legalization of drugs, heads the Academy of Russian Television, trains new personnel for Russian TV and has his own original program on the country’s main TV channel (by the way, are you aware that Channel One is buying the Vremena program?). We, of course, have democracy in our country, freedom of speech and the like, but maybe we’ll stop feeding the Russophobes? Let him go to the USA already. Obama probably just needs agitators.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Pozner. Born April 1, 1934 in Paris (France). Soviet and Russian television journalist and TV presenter, first president of the Academy of Russian Television (1994-2008).
Vladimir Pozner was born on April 1, 1934 in the family of Vladimir Aleksandrovich Pozner (1908-1975), who emigrated from Russia in 1922, and a Frenchwoman, Geraldine Lutten (1910-1985).
He was named Vladimir in honor of his father and baptized in the cathedral Notre Dame of Paris according to the Catholic rite.
Russian and French writer Vladimir Solomonovich Pozner is the cousin of Vladimir Pozner.
The parents were not officially married until Vladimir Pozner was five years old. The mother took three-month-old Vladimir to the USA. By that time, her mother and sister, as well as close friends, lived in America.
Soon Geraldine got a job as an editor in the French branch of the film company Paramount Pictures. After 5 years, in 1939, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Posner, who at that time worked in the European branch of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film company, took Geraldine and his son from the USA, and the family returned to France.
After the occupation of France by German troops in 1940, they fled again to the United States. Already in America, in 1945, Vladimir’s brother, Pavel Pozner, was born.
Father, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Pozner, was an ardent patriot of the Soviet Union. After Lithuania became part of the USSR in 1940, V.V. Pozner’s paternal grandfather, Alexander Vladimirovich Pozner (1875-?), became a citizen of the USSR.
In this regard, V.V. Pozner’s father, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Pozner, acquired the right to Soviet citizenship. In 1943, while working as head of the Russian section of the U.S. War Department's film department, he began collaborating with Soviet intelligence, initially as a "trainee" and "gunner."
Due to the deterioration of relations between the USSR and the USA after the war, the advent of the McCarthy era and increasingly close attention from the FBI in 1948, the Posner family was forced to leave the USA.
Initially, the Posners wanted to return to France, but Posner Sr. was denied entry, considering him a subversive element on the basis of a denunciation. Then the Posners moved to Berlin (GDR), where Vladimir Alexandrovich received a position at Sovexportfilm.
In 1950, Vladimir Pozner received a Soviet passport.
In 1952, the family moved to the Soviet Union, to Moscow.
Vladimir Pozner graduated from New York primary school City and Country under the direction of Caroline Pratt. Later he studied at high school Stuyvesant.
At first, Vladimir attended a school for Soviet children in Berlin. But upon completion school year 1948-1949 the activities of similar educational institutions in Germany were curtailed (at the initiative of the USSR) and the teenager had just entered the eighth grade open school for children of German political emigrants who returned to East Germany from the USSR. There he studied for two years, and then, in order to receive a matriculation certificate, he entered a school at the field post office, where Soviet military personnel who did not receive a secondary education because of the war studied.
After the Pozner family moved to the USSR at the end of 1952, in 1953 Vladimir entered the Faculty of Biology and Soil Sciences of Moscow State University, majoring in human physiology.
According to Posner, despite the fact that he passed the competition, earning 24 points out of a possible 25 in the entrance exams, he was denied admission due to his Jewish origin and “dubious” biography. It was only thanks to his father’s connections that he was accepted into the university. According to Posner himself, he was expelled from the university. However, he then recovered and continued his studies at the Faculty of Biology.
For the first year after graduating from university, Vladimir made a living by scientific translations from English into Russian.
In 1959, Posner got a job as a literary secretary for the poet Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak and worked for him for two years. At this time, prose and poetic translations performed by Posner were published.
Posner made translations of four poems and, having received Marshak’s approval, submitted them to the magazine “ New world", while adding four poems by himself. All translations were rejected as unpromising, and Posner was advised to leave this path.
Posner did not deny himself the pleasure of informing the staff of Novy Mir that he was very flattered that his work was indistinguishable from the work of the living classic, Marshak, because half of the translations actually belonged to the pen of the latter. A scandal broke out, which Marshak became aware of; he scolded Posner, but did not hide the fact that the future presenter’s action amused him.
“Of course, I was a hooligan, but I had a lot of fun,” Posner said.
In October 1961, Posner began working at Press Agency "Novosti", worked as an editor in the magazine “USSR” (“USSR”), distributed abroad (mainly in the USA), later renamed Soviet Life (“ Soviet life"), and since 1967 - in the magazine "Sputnik".
In 1967 he joined the CPSU.
In 1968, together with his first wife V. N. Chemberdzhi, he translated and published in the USSR Woody Guthrie’s book “Bound for Glory”.
In 1970 he went to work at Committee on Television and Radio Broadcasting(later the State Television and Radio of the USSR) as a commentator for the main editorial office of radio broadcasting in the USA and England, where he was simultaneously the secretary of the party committee and until the end of 1985 he conducted his daily radio broadcast in English. American radio listeners could hear him on Ray Briem's talk show on Los Angeles radio station KABC (AM).
Since the late 1970s, usually via satellite communications, Posner has appeared on Western television. He was a frequent guest on the channel's Nightline program. American Broadcasting Company, as well as on The Phil Donahue Show. He presented in the best light the statements and decisions of the leadership of the Soviet Union regarding certain domestic and international issues, and, often, justified the most controversial of them. Among such decisions were decisions on the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan and the destruction of the South Korean Boeing.
He gained the greatest fame among Soviet television viewers as a presenter TV bridges between the USSR and the USA. In the book “Vlad Listyev. Biased Requiem” it is said that the teleconferences appeared “with the personal blessing” of Gorbachev. It also says that during this period his colleague wrote denunciations against Posner, accusing the presenter of “anti-Sovietism.”
Together with Phil Donahue, Posner was the host of the Leningrad-Seattle teleconference on December 29, 1985 (“A Citizens" Summit,” “Meeting at the Summit of Ordinary Citizens”), where issues such as the situation of Jews in the USSR and the downing of a South Korean plane in 1983 were discussed.
Teleconference Leningrad - Seattle: Summit of ordinary citizens
In 1986, he hosted the Leningrad-Boston teleconference (“Women Talk to Women”).
In 1986, Posner became a laureate of the USSR Union of Journalists.
On April 8, 1987, Posner was the host of a teleconference between groups of American and Soviet journalists. From the Soviet side, Yuri Shchekochikhin, Tengiz Sulkhanishvili, and Izvestia correspondent Alexander Shalnev took part in the teleconference.
After the success of the teleconferences, Posner receives the position of political commentator and goes to work for Central Television. In the late 1980s, he hosted the programs “Sunday Evening with Vladimir Pozner” (on the Moscow Channel), “Squaring the Circle,” and “Vladimir Posner’s America.”
Following an extensive sociological research for 1989, “Political observers and commentators on Central Television news programs in the assessments of the Moscow audience,” Vladimir Pozner was recognized as TV journalist No. 1.
However, despite his popularity, he left CT in 1991.
In 1991, he received an offer to work in the USA, where until 1996, together with Phil Donahue, he hosted a weekly program Pozner & Donahue on CNBC. Along with this, he flew to Moscow every month to record the programs “We”, “If ...”, “Time and We” and “The Man in the Mask”.
In 1990-1991, two books by Posner were published in the USA: the autobiographical “Parting with Illusions” and “Eyewitness: A Personal Account of the Unraveling of the Soviet Union” - about the collapse of the USSR.
In 1994, he was elected president of the Academy of Russian Television and headed it until October 26, 2008. On an emergency general meeting members of the Academy withdrew his candidacy from voting for the position of president.
In 1997 he settled in Moscow again.
In 1997 he opened the “School of Television Excellence” in Moscow for young journalists from the regions. Ekaterina Orlova, the second wife of Vladimir Pozner, became the director of the school.
From 1997 to 2006, he hosted the radio program “Let’s Discuss This” on Radio 7 on Seven Hills.
From October 29, 2000 to June 28, 2008, Posner hosted the weekly socio-political talk show “Times” on Channel One. In September 2008, he announced the closure of this program, saying that he had lost interest in it.
On December 1, 2004, the first episode of the telethon “Time to Live!” was released on TV. - television project dedicated to the problem of HIV/AIDS. The host and one of the initiators of the talk show was Vladimir Pozner.
He was the host of the show “King of the Ring” on Channel One: Season 1 - 2007, Season 2 - 2008.
From February 11 to May 26, 2008, a series of programs “One-Storey America” was broadcast weekly on Channel One with the participation of Posner and. After this, the book “One-Storey America” was published.
On November 17, 2008, the premiere of the author’s program by Vladimir Pozner took place on Channel One.
In September 2010, Channel One launched (after a pilot episode in July) a project about France, the Tour de France.
From November to December 2011, he hosted the Bolero program on Channel One.
On April 8, 2012, the premiere of the program “Parfyonov and Pozner” took place on the Dozhd TV channel, where two journalists discuss, in their opinion, the most striking events in the world over the past week. On June 24 of the same year, the transfer was closed.
In June 2012, another serial film about the journey, “Their Italy,” was aired.
At the end of 2012, filming of the new tourist and educational multi-part television film “The German Puzzle” was completed.
In September 2013, production began on a new television film, this time about England. It is called "England in General and in Particular". The television film was broadcast on Channel One from January 4 to January 15, 2015 (10 episodes).
In May 2015, he was elected to the new composition of the public board for complaints against the press.
In May 2015, speaking at a joint conference of the Presidential Human Rights Council and the public board on complaints against the press, Vladimir Pozner announced the absence of truly independent media and journalism as a profession in Russia. According to him, independent Russian media today you can count on the fingers of one hand, and if the state wants to close them, it will do so. At the same time, state-controlled media create public opinion that pleases the authorities.
Uses a computer minimally, and fundamentally does not trust Wikipedia (“just in general”).
He collects souvenir cars, souvenir turtles and mugs with the names of cities he visited (about 300 pieces collected).
He plays tennis two or three times a week. Jogs and exercises regularly (both at home and in the gym). He loves baseball very much. Moreover, he assembled an amateur team in Moscow "Moscow teapots" and took her to San Francisco, where the Dummies played against the famous American team “Wild Hares” (“Moscow Dummies” honorably lost 7:5), and then to Australia, where the team took 3rd place among baseball veterans.
Has three citizenships - Russia, France and the USA.
In addition to his native French, he is fluent in Russian and English.
Convinced atheist: “I’m an atheist and I don’t hide it, although it’s unpopular now.”
He advocates the right to euthanasia, is an opponent of homophobia and a supporter of the legalization of same-sex marriage, supports the idea of fighting drug trafficking and crime among drug addicts by legalizing the sale of drugs.
Supporter of anarchism.
In 2004, Vladimir Pozner, together with his brother Pavel (1945-2016), opened a French restaurant in Moscow "Geraldine", named after the mother of the Posner brothers. The restaurant belongs to the type of brasserie establishments (French brasserie), popular in France. Located on Ostozhenka.
Vladimir Pozner. Farewell to illusions
Personal life of Vladimir Pozner:
Was married three times.
First wife (from 1957 to 1967) - Valentina Chemberdzhi. The marriage produced a daughter, Ekaterina Vladimirovna Chemberdzhi (b. 1960), married to a German, living in Berlin since 1990, composer and pianist. Grandchildren - Maria (1984) and Nikolai (1995).
Second wife (1969-2005) - Ekaterina Mikhailovna Orlova (director of the Posner School). Foster-son Pyotr Orlov (1961). Grandson - George (1999).
Third wife (since 2008) - Nadezhda Yuryevna Solovyova (born 1955) - theater, film and television producer, founder of the promotion and concert company “Sav Entertainment”.
Bibliography of Vladimir Pozner:
“The West is Close” (as one of the translators, Progress Publishing House, 1982); 1990 - “Parting With Illusions” (Farewell to illusions);
1990 - “Remembering War: Soviet-American Dialogue.” Co-authored with H. Keyssar;
1991 - “Eyewitness: A Personal Account of the Unraveling of the Soviet Union” (Witness);
1992 - “The Communist Manifesto.” (June 1992);
2008 - “One-story America” (co-authored with Kan B., Urgant I.);
2011 - “Tour de France. Traveling around France with Ivan Urgant";
2012 - “Farewell to illusions”;
2013 - “Their Italy”;
2014 - “Posner about Posner”;
2015 - “Confrontation”.
– You once gave an interview and said that there were a lot of young people around at the meetings. I have a question: why are so many young people in Russia interested in you? What is this, what do you think about this?
– Well, I don’t think only young people.
– About two months ago you came here from the Tver region and you said then that you were amazed that there were so many young people. I came from the Krasnodar region, 1200 kilometers, and I would like to ask your permission to hug you. (Everyone laughs.)
- Let's do it later, I don't mind at all. I want to answer you.
You see, look, I’m not being coquetry, believe me. In general, I know my worth. That is, I know that I am an educated person, knowledgeable enough clever man. A decent person. I’m not lying, I try to think about others - I know all this. But I don’t understand, I was talking about meeting Elton John. Anton Krasovsky said - do you know how many people watched your speech on Dozhd about AIDS? Four million! Nobody even came close to this. Four million! I say - I didn’t say anything like that. Well, he says, that’s it – he said it, he didn’t say it. Chubais was there, and many others, but for me – four million in a week. This is a lot, you will agree.
I speak publicly, and indeed, in a hall where there are 1000 people, 1200 people, a huge number of young people. I'm happy! I'm trying to understand why? I'm not a young man at all. I don’t have that language, I don’t like the music that young people love - I definitely don’t like it. These are some strange groups that don’t interest me at all. This is what it means to sit on the phone forever - no. “Check in” – no. Selfies - well, only at the request of the workers - that is, not at all the same. Why, what, what do they see? I'm really curious about this. You see, I am terribly happy, it is a great joy that the future is coming. And I'm actually interested in this.
I'll take it to a completely different direction. I don’t know if you saw, some time ago on Channel One, of course, they showed late a film made by a young American. It's called the "Red Army". Well, of course you don’t watch such things... This is a film about our hockey players of that time, and the main character is Fetisov. Well, there’s a lot of things, but at some point they talk about that Detroit Red Wings team, where our five were, they won the Stanley Cup in a row, and the coach was Scotty Bowman, a very famous Canadian coach, who said that show how they play... well, in general, if anyone loves sports, it’s ice ballet! Moreover, they know each other exactly - where who will be, how and so on. Beauty! And he tells them - guys, I don’t know how you play, but nothing needs to be changed. So maybe this is it - I'll do what I do. How it turns out is how it turns out.
– I have a question about nationalities, do you think that nationality leaves an imprint on a person? Do you feel Jewish?
– I must start by saying that I do not believe that being a Jew is a nationality. Unlike what was in Soviet time, and in particular under Stalin. I understand what an Israeli is. In general, what is nationality? In the whole world, well, not in all of them, in the one I know well, it doesn’t exist. Yes – citizenship. I am an American - I have an American passport. Ethnic origin in this sense is secondary, tertiary, and so on.
Are there national traits? Of course there is. The British, the Swedes, the Russians. Of course have. They are very difficult to describe. Because as soon as you say it, the British have a sense of humor. And others - what, they don’t have it? Georgians, you know, are very hospitable. But others - no? That is, it is very difficult to isolate. There are some things, well, for example, the ability to move from delight to depression - I believe that this is a Russian trait. But the Irish have it too. The Irish certainly do. I think that Russians and Irish are similar in this sense. They both love to drink. Get drunk - both. Fight - both of them. They have a colossal literary gift. After all, the best English literature was written by the Irish. Well, yes, apparently yes. There is, but it is very difficult to determine.
At the same time, is there a concept of “Russian people”? Of course have. Is there a concept of “French”? Of course have. But what a “Jew” is is already difficult to understand. Because a Jew who was born and raised in Israel is not at all the same Jew who was born and raised in Russia. Or somewhere else. This is different. He behaves differently, his character is different, he is a warrior - unlike those, you know? You have to be very careful here. But returning to the question - yes, of course, belonging to some ethnic group imposes certain traits.
As for me, I’m a mongrel. I'm not purebred, I'm a mix. My dad is Pozner, this is a Jewish surname, he is a Jew from the city of Poznan in Poland. Very often Jewish surnames are associated with a place. But my dad said that he was not a Jew, that he was a Russian intellectual. He was an absolute atheist, and yes, he was a Russian intellectual. My dad, or rather his family, was friends with the family of Korney Chukovsky. Absolutely Russian environment - Akhmatova and others. But at the same time, he is still a Jew. The surname Posner is a no-brainer. How did this affect him? Don't know. But I have it in me, and it’s normal. And my mother is French, and I have it too. But I grew up in America, and this is also there. You see, so this is a complicated thing. The answer is yes, and then a lot of additions.
As an 18-year-old young man, he first came to the Soviet Union, and before that he spent most of his youthful life in the United States. He was lucky enough to work as a literary secretary for S. Ya. Marshak and host new programs for the Soviet audience based on the technical capabilities - teleconferences. He is fluent in 3 languages and has the same number of citizenships. At 82 years old, this man continues to amaze with his appearance. All of the above are facts that the biography of Vladimir Vladimirovich Posner includes.
Paris, childhood, parents
A Frenchwoman, Geraldine (Lutten), from a family with a baronial title, and a Russian guy with Jewish roots, Vladimir, met in the thirties of the last century. The couple was brought together by a common profession related to film production. As a result of the established relationship, the future fighter for “freedom of speech” Vladimir Pozner was born in Paris in 1934. The biography of the TV presenter began its opus with the date April 1 - the birthday of Geraldine, Vladimir's mother.
The child was christened Vladimir Gerald Dmitry Pozner in the Catholic faith. All names were given in honor of relatives and friends - father, mother and father's basketball friend.
When the baby was three months old, the mother moved with the child to the United States, leaving the father to enjoy a trouble-free youth. At that time, Vladimir’s grandmother and aunt lived in America. So, in the USA the biography of Posner V.V. continued.
Family reunification and relocations
Having moved to live in America, Vladimir’s mother got a job at a famous film studio as an editing director. For five years she raised her son alone, trying to feed not only the two of them, but also her sick mother. In 1939, the boy’s father came to the United States, and he and Geraldine officially married.
In the spring of 1939, a full-fledged family moved to live in France, and in the fall the government of this country declared war on Germany. Posner Sr. volunteered for French army, and when the northern part of the country was occupied by the Germans, the Gestapo became interested in my father’s biography. The family moved to the French Free Zone, from where they returned to America.
Studies
Vladimir Pozner, whose biography has been noted in several countries since childhood, received his primary education in the USA. From 1941 to 1946, he studied at a private school, where children of wealthy parents lived. "City and Country" - that's what it was called educational institution. Vladimir Vladimirovich described in his book the years spent at this school as the happiest, and the way of transferring knowledge to children as harmonious. The guy, who was ahead of his classmates in development, was not averse to settling disputes with his fists. This issue was diplomatically resolved by the school director. She transferred Vladimir from the eighth grade to the tenth, where the children were physically larger. After this, the boy’s aggressiveness decreased.
Stuyvesant High School became the next institution where Vladimir Pozner studied. Biography, these years were filled with events for the young man. In 1945, brother Pavel was born. The father, working in a film corporation, received 25 thousand dollars a year, which allowed the family to live in a luxurious house. Vladimir had his own bedroom, games room and even a personal bathroom. And when the guy turned fourteen, the first feeling of love overtook him.
New York: first love and first job
Posner's biography at the time of his residence in New York reflects those great feelings that a person remembers for the rest of his life. Vladimir had an experience with a woman much older than himself: he was fourteen, she was well over thirty. Her name was Mary, and she was Irish-American. Their relationship developed at a fully adult level: they went to the cinema, restaurants together, and met at her home. These meetings remained in Vladimir’s memory with tender feelings and memories.
Newspaper delivery was the first job for which Vladimir Pozner received pocket money. The biography and personal life of the young man in the city of contrasts was independent. In general, in America, parents do not just give money to their children for their own needs. You have to earn them. Vladimir received 5 cents from his father weekly for cleaning the shoes of the whole family on Saturdays and for setting the table and then cleaning up after the meal. But his appetite grows while eating, so the young man got a job as a newspaper delivery boy to supplement his personal budget.
Departure from the USA
When the policy of McCarthyism began in America (the exacerbation of anti-communist sentiments), Posner Sr. was summoned by his boss and invited him to renounce Soviet citizenship, and promised to give him a one-time annual salary as a reward. But Vladimir Alexandrovich, with a communist worldview, refused this deal. He began to earn less, and then was completely left without work. In 1948, the family left America, going to live in a busy Soviet troops Germany.
There Vladimir was reinstated in a German-Russian school. In 1951 he went to the Soviet evening school for sergeants and officers in order to obtain a matriculation certificate. He was a ticket to the USSR - the country that Posner Sr. raved about so much.
Vladimir Pozner, whose biography is marked by constant moves, came to the Soviet Union for the first time at the end of 1952. Due to their foreign background and Jewish roots, the family had a hard time at first: the parents did not work, they lived in a hotel using their father’s savings, which were rapidly melting. After Stalin’s death, Vladimir Alexandrovich managed to get a job at Mosfilm, and later the family was given an apartment.
Throughout the spring and summer of 1952, the biography of Posner Jr. was marked by constant cramming. Vladimir was preparing to study biology and soil science at Moscow State University. Most of all, the guy was worried about the lack of perfect knowledge of the Russian language. During the entrance exams, after scoring 24 points out of 25, he was initially denied admission as a student. Confidentially explaining that the Jewish surname “Posner”, biography, family of the young man do not meet the hidden requirements for applicants to Moscow State University. But my father, having learned about such injustice, went straight to the CPSU Central Committee. As a result, Vladimir was enrolled in the university.
After graduating from Moscow State University, the young man began to make a living by scientific and literary translations. S. Ya. Marshak noticed his talented work and invited the young man to work as his literary secretary.
TV journalist and presenter
Work on television was preceded by editorial work in a magazine distributed in the USA. In 1970, Vladimir served as a commentator in the USSR Radio Broadcasting Committee. For fifteen years his programs were broadcast in England and America. At the same time, he flew to the set of an American talk show where he justified the actions of the Soviet government.
Vladimir Vladimirovich gained popularity among viewers of the USSR after the teleconferences he hosted appeared on blue screens. These were online meetings with American presenters, where they discussed political issues. A successful debut in group telecommunications brought V.V. Pozner to Central Television as a political observer. Then again America and television work abroad. In 1997, he returned to Moscow and became a TV presenter on the talk show “Times.” Since 2008, Vladimir Vladimirovich has been hosting his own program on Channel One. To this day, he makes tourist and educational films. The latest of these works is “Jewish Happiness.”
Posner: biography, wife
Vladimir Vladimirovich’s first wife was Russian philologist Valentina Chemberdzhi. The marriage lasted 10 years, and during family relations daughter Ekaterina was born. She now lives in Berlin. On this line, V.V. Pozner has two grandchildren: Maria and Nikolai.
The second wife (from 1969 to 2005) was the director of the School of Television Excellence, which was founded by the master of television Posner, Ekaterina Orlova. In their life together, the couple raised Catherine’s son Peter. Along this line, Vladimir Vladimirovich has a non-blood grandson, Georgy.
Since 2008, Posner has been in an official relationship with Nadezhda Solovyova, who is the founder of the famous company Sav Entertainment.
V.V. Pozner (biography, photos presented in our article) is the author of the book “Farewell to Illusions,” which includes interesting life stories creative personality. It was originally written in English (in 1990), and in 2012 Vladimir Vladimirovich presented it to the Russian reader.
We will not retell Posner’s entire biography in detail - it is in the public domain, those who wish can read it themselves. In this video, we will reveal only the main points characterizing the views and values that Posner adheres to, and then demonstrate specific examples how he communicates his way of thinking to a mass audience.
“The only thing that keeps me in Russia is my work. I am not a Russian person, this is not my homeland, I did not grow up here, I do not feel completely at home here - and I suffer greatly from this. I feel like a stranger in Russia. And if I don't have a job, I'll go where I feel at home. Most likely, I will go to France.”
This is how openly a man who does not consider himself Russian in spirit and does not even like Russia has been working for almost 20 years on the main TV channel of the country. By the way, Posner expresses his dislike for our Motherland not only in words, but also in deeds.
As Izvestia reports, because a single-screen Yakut cinema refused to show Viking 5 times a day, it was banned from renting other films. But this is just one fact that surfaced in the media; it is obvious that the same pressure was put on all cinemas. Naturally, without much choice, people went to see Viking during the January holidays, and then came home and wrote the following reviews:
The second version of why such a violent negative reaction to the film came from was given by Maksimov himself: time interval 07:30 – 07:45
We, of course, are accustomed to the fact that the TV box justifies any vulgarity and baseness with love. But to name the irritation and protest of the audience against the fact that history is being denigrated for public money own people, a kind of “form of love” – this is something new, from a series of Orwellian newspeak. Posner also liked this version.
In this passage the situation reaches the point of ridiculousness. At first, Posner stated that there was no reliable historical information about that period, except for the Tale of Bygone Years, and then he began to assert that in those days everyone in Rus' walked around dirty and did not wash. On what grounds did he decide this, if there are no historical documents, and on what grounds did the filmmakers portray our ancestors this way, in addition mixing dirt with rivers of blood and explicit sex scenes surrounded by corpses? But we will not take on the role of professional historians, and let us give the floor to the author of the unified history textbook Evgeniy Spitsyn.
Those interested can watch the remaining half hour of Posner's program on their own. Posner and Maksimov demonstrate many more similar examples of lies and manipulations and, in the end, agree that criticism of the film is due to the inferiority complex of the Russian people, who allegedly saw their own terrible reflection in the film. That is, all the lies, dirt, vulgarity and smut that they themselves put into the picture, shot with public money, they now call a reflection of the Russian people, which you just need to get used to. The height of cynicism and arrogance!
