Vladislav Listyev

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Vlad Listyev on Chas Pik ("The Rush Hour") in 1995.

Vlad(islav) Nikolayevich Listyev (Russian: Влад(исла́в) Никола́евич Листьев) (May 10, 1956–March 1, 1995) was a Russian journalist and head of the ORT TV Channel (now government-controlled Channel One).

[edit] Career

Vlad Listyev was arguably the most popular journalist and TV anchor in Russia (and remains well-remembered years after his death), and was a key force in bringing the voice of democracy to the Russian television. Listyev first appeared on television as one of the hosts of a highly progressive and successful TV show Vzglyad ("The View") in late 1980s. He was also the first host of the Russian version of "Pole Chudes" which became very popular. Following the success of Vzglyad, Listyev and his colleagues founded a TV company VID (Vzglyad i Drugiye—The View and the Others) that would produce programming for the First Channel of Central Television, the main TV channel in the Soviet Union (later called Ostankino and ORT). In VID, Listyev started a number of new TV projects—Pole Chudes ("A Field of Wonders", the Russian version of the Wheel of Fortune), Tema ("The Theme"), and Chas Pik ("The Rush Hour"). In 1995, Listyev moved from VID to ORT, where he was appointed the director of the channel. One of Listyev's very first moves as the director was removing all the middlemen in the lucrative advertising business and consolidating the advertising sales in the hands of the channel, thereby boosting the profits.

[edit] Death

Shortly after his appointment, on the evening of March 1, 1995, Listyev was shot and killed on the stairs of his apartment building. Despite numerous promises, neither the gunmen, nor those who ordered the killing, were found, leading to suspicions that the murder was in actuality a political assassination.

The killing caused an enormous public outcry—in an unprecedented move, the ORT TV Channel shut down for the whole day on March 2, displaying only the picture of Listyev and the words "Vlad Listyev Has Been Killed." A few days later, the channel ceased to exist and after many different incarnations came back as the alternate ORT modern Russian viewers are now familiar with. Listyev's coffin was followed by thousands of people, and even the ailing Boris Yeltsin was forced to make a statement.

There has been much speculation as to the reasons behind Listyev's murder, and two possible causes have been isolated as the most likely: financial and political. When Listyev put the middlemen advertising agencies out of business, he deprived many corrupt businessmen of a source for enormous profits. From the political standpoint, Listyev enjoyed an enormous popularity rating among Russian citizens and could potentially influence the political mood of the whole country.