"I tried to tell the truth about the war in South Ossetia, and I paid a price for that"
Interview with Polish journalist, Wiktor Bater
A year ago, Mikhail Saakashvili ordered the bombardment of Tskhinval and sent tanks into the city. The five-day Russian-Georgian war began. One of the most shocking experiences was the coverage of events by the Western media. As if someone made a secret decision to repeal freedom of speech for one particular "hot zone" and abandon such journalistic principles as objectivity, impartiality, and the need to speak for both sides of the conflict. One of the most popular Polish television journalists, Wiktor Bater, decided to share with Izvestia just how freedom of speech did not withstand the South Ossetia test. He was fired from the Polish government-sponsored television company TVP for his attempt to bring an alternative viewpoint to the audience. He spoke with Maksim Yusin.
Question: Why did you decide to share the full story now and not a year ago when you were still following the hot traces of the events?
Answer: For many reasons. First, I was not fired immediately. I was fired slowly and painfully. I was basically banned from being on air, but I was formally employed by the TVP until April 30. For this reason, I tried to follow corporate etiquette. One cannot publicize "in house" conflicts if the "house" is still technically theirs. Second, until the last moment, I wanted to believe that it was some sort of a misunderstanding, and that people, who swore that they weren't aware of any plots against me, told the truth, but alas… Recently I was in Warsaw and saw my case file. Any doubts I might have had melted away. Some of these people, who not only were aware of what was going on, but were personally compiling paperwork with requests for my dismissal also. So, there are no more reasons for me to be silent.
Q: So what was the terrible thing that you committed?
A: My main crime was my attempt to cover the South Ossetian events from a different point of view by not taking Mikhail Saakashvili's position (as did most of our media sources). As soon as the night bombing of Tskhinval became known, I went on air and said: to drop missiles on a sleeping city is a true crime. Many in Warsaw did not like this. Back there, the conflict was covered from an entirely different position. It's worth mentioning that the leadership of the TVP informational programs then directly answered to the Presidential Palace, and our president Lech Kaczynski is friends with Saakashvili.
Though, until the time when Russia entered the war, my commentary was permitted to go on air. But after Russian tanks moved in to help South Ossetian residents, no dissent was possible. Everyone was repeating, as if they were programmed: Russia has committed acts of aggression; it attacked the sovereign, democratic Georgia. However, I was able to once or twice ask questions regarding this issue live on air. I asked: why doesn't anyone recall who started the war, who attacked Tskhinval? After one such escapade, my boss called me from Warsaw and severely criticized me.
Q: How did she formulate her claims? After all, she couldn't have openly said that this was a political order to support Saakashvili and accuse Russia.
A: She said that I was to be balanced in my evaluations and not to give in to my emotions. She also said that the leadership made a decision not to send me to Tskhinval, that a second TVP Moscow correspondent is now on vacation and cannot return and that I was to cover the capital just in case something happened there.
Even when I worked at a different Polish TV company, TVN, similar situations arose a substitute was immediately sent from Warsaw. I went to "hot zones" in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine. I am considered a war correspondent and I cover all major conflicts. The viewers are accustomed to seeing, as soon as shots are fired somewhere, Bater on the frontlines. And here, they're shooting not somewhere in Afghanistan, but right here by my side. Moreover, by using my old connections, I got the Russian authorities to allow me to enter Tskhinval. That wasn't easy to do. After all, in the past, we often had some friction. But this time, everything went smoothly. And TVP could have become the only international channel to report from the city. But, I was being told: stay in Moscow. It was terribly upsetting!
Q: In other words, your channel covered the war from one side only the Georgian side?
A: Well, yes. Several filming crews flew into Tbilisi. I was only able to accomplish getting my operator, Ilya Dobrishevsky, to Tskhinval. He spent two days filming a story there. I made a voiceover for it and sent it to Warsaw. I was hoping it would get sent to air and this improper situation would be corrected, at least a little. I mean, you just can't cover a conflict from only one side. One cannot so blatantly demonstrate their double standard. This is blazing unprofessionalism. This is not journalism, but pure propaganda. We have never worked like this!
Q: But did that story air?
A: No! An hour after I sent the story, my friends from Warsaw began calling me and telling me that the management was enraged: "How could Bater send us such coverage? Does he really think that we'll allow saying such things about Georgia on air?!"
Q: And what were those terrible things that were said?
A: Well, what do you think the people who were caught in artillery bombardment and lived through the invasion of a foreign army were going to say?We did not add anything personal; we let the residents of Tskhinval speak for themselves. They spoke about the genocide of the Ossetian people; about them never being able to live in the same state as Georgians, that Saakashvili is a war criminal. I'm sure that if some Georgian in Gori or Kutaisi called Putin or Medvedev a war criminal, TVP would allow that phrase to go on air without any problems.
Q: Did the management explain to you why the story wasn't aired?
A: No one explained anything to me. Actually, they practically stopped talking to me altogether. Among the TVP staff members, however, the story became a hit. The film was copied several times and given to friends. Everyone wanted to know what the reason for such a scandal was, why Bater was not allowed to go on air. Then, passions subsided and the story was put on a shelf just as during the communist times.
Q: But you continued to work for TVP?
A: Formally, yes. But I was removed from the latest stories. The second Moscow correspondent returned. And from Warsaw's point of view, she worked flawlessly. And as for me, my bewildered colleagues called me to let me know what the management was saying about me. Bater, as it turns out, is the "fifth column". He sold out to Russians and works for the special services. And, of course, only a lazy person did not recall my "special interest" in the Caucasus.
Q: What is this "special interest"?
A: I have a wife - she's Abkhazian. We have been married for 13 years. We met here, in Moscow, in a café. So, now these same people that came to visit us and sat at our table are now telling us that due to family and personal connections I cannot objectively cover the conflict in Caucasus.
Q: So the Caucasus stories were off-limits for you since that time?
A: I remember I was once called to go on air as a "hot zones" expert. This was in November when a peculiar incident occurred during President Kaczynski's visit to Georgia. Together with Saakashvili, he went to a frontline zone, where their cortege was allegedly fired at from a Russian checkpoint. Then I said that I did not believe this version. I carefully reviewed the film and followed Saakashvili's guards. They were surprisingly calm. Bodyguards simply do not behave this way when there is an emergency situation and the head of state is facing real danger. There was a feeling that they were expecting the shots. And then, remember how Saakashvili fled in panic from Russian aircraft in Gori, hiding behind his bodyguards. How is it that he so cold-bloodily survived the shooting?
That is what I reported on air and once again departed from the general line. The line was to celebrate Kaczynski's heroism. "Pan President was fearless and did not cringe in fear of the Russian bullets," said various reports.
Q: What a nasty, soviet pathos. Is all Polish press the same?
A: Fortunately, not all. There are newspapers and TV channels that do not stoop down to such blatant flattery. But in TVP, the situation with freedom of speech is not good. And I'm not only talking about the war in Caucasus, but about how the recent European Parliament elections were covered. All news stories began with pre-election meetings of the Libertas Party, who are extreme right with a nationalistic slant. It ultimately failed in the elections by winning slightly over 1% of the vote. But the chief government-sponsored television (TVP in Poland, it is your first and second button in one) was fully pushing the nationalists forward. All because it is now headed by a man who sympathizes with Libertas.
When I hear about how these people teach others how to live, and criticize them for suppressing freedom of speech, I cannot suppress my laughter. Who are they to talk?
Q: So, it turns out that you are currently unemployed?
A: Yes, DHL sent me the official notice of termination of contract. Of course, no one says anything about the hidden political motives. The official version is economizing. I am too costly for the company. It's ironic that two years ago, when I came to work for TVP, all Polish cities were covered with giant posters where I stood on the foreground on St. Basil's Cathedral. They read: "Wiktor Bater: here the information is born". In other words, they lured the "star" away from the competitors, and now Bater will be reporting on Russia and "hot zones" to our viewers. That advertising campaign cost millions of zloty. And for some reason, at that time, no one mentioned economizing…
Q: Will you really remain like this, out of work?
A: No, I hope not. And, I definitely don't regret anything. There are some very interesting offers. But, I don't want to talk about them now. I'm afraid I'll jinx them.
A sad story. I wonder how many other reporters in the Western media could tell a similar one.
Posted by: Patrick Armstrong | August 05, 2009 at 03:51 PM
http://www.gmbooks.com/product/MediaGM.html
Posted by: Righteous Advocate | August 07, 2009 at 06:46 PM
What Russia Profile chooses to highlight on the coverage of last year's war:
http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=Politics&articleid=a1250617976
I'm curious to know if there's more to what the above linked article says?
Over the course of time, I've found RP to run some inaccurate and biased pieces, which have pretty much gotten teflon treatment.
Posted by: Michael Averko | August 19, 2009 at 10:26 AM