In Russia, Time magazine leaves them breathless
Posted: Thursday, December 20, 2007 10:58 AM
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Moscow, Russia
By Yonatan Pomrenze, NBC News Producer
MOSCOW – The phone rang. It was a frantic call from a colleague who works at NTV, one of Russia’s major television stations.
"Is there any way we can watch the ‘Today’ show here in Moscow?" she asked me. "We heard they will be announcing Time magazine’s Person of the Year, and we want to be watching in case they choose President Putin."
I couldn’t help her with the ‘Today’ show, but otherwise she wasn’t disappointed. Time did chose President Vladimir Putin as their Person of the Year, citing as a major factor his efforts to bring Russia "roaring back to the table of world power."
Along with the two other largest television networks in Russia (all three are run by the Kremlin or Kremlin-friendly companies), NTV had a story which would earn Putin even more airtime than the ample amount he usually gets: an American magazine chooses Russia’s president at its Person of the Year, at a time when tensions between the countries are on the rise over disputes about the political direction that Russia is taking.
'For better or worse'
The United States and much of Europe have criticized what they see as a democratic backslide in Russia, even calling parliamentary elections held earlier this month neither free nor fair. Putin, on the other hand, made a central theme of the election the need to protect Russia from the outside influence of other countries that wish to destabilize her – a not-so-veiled swipe at the West.
Time’s choice of Putin was played out on the major networks here as a nod of support for Putin’s style of leadership. All the networks dedicated between 5 and 10 minutes of their evening newscast to the story, showing long clips of Putin answering Time reporters’ questions. This morning, the "Tvoi Den" tabloid headline declared that "Americans Chose Putin: Bush no longer rates with the Americans."
Time stresses that their choice for Person of the Year is not an endorsement of that person’s views or policies, but simply the person who "for better or for worse has most influenced world events" (previous choices include Hitler, Stalin, Pope John Paul II and Bill Gates).
Bloggers beg to differ…
But that still didn’t sit well with some of Russia’s blog community, who tend to be younger and more critical of the government. They point to the comments of Richard Stengel, Time’s managing editor, who said Putin was chosen for the "extraordinary feat of leadership in taking a country that was in chaos and bringing it stability."
One LiveJournal blog poster wrote: "I don't think that Russian government actually paid you for this. But it does look like this year you had a really hard time selecting worthy candidates."
For Putin himself, the choice is just another confirmation of what he already believes. After the chaos of the ’90s, Russia is back on its feet and back on the map.
