BBG Watch Commentary
LINK to Radio Liberty in Exile Video.
Using Google Hangout live video technology, the same one used by President Obama for online interactions, Radio Liberty in Exile recorded a video discussion on Russian emigre literature known as “Tamizdat.”
Google Hangout, a feature of Google+, emerging as a potent alternative media platform for those who feel ignored by the mainstream media television, The Times of India recently reported in an article on new media trends.
In a show of solidarity with Radio Liberty journalists who were fired by the previous Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) management, the video discussion was led from his library in Prague by Radio Liberty broadcaster and literary critic Ivan Tolstoy who still works at RFE/RL.
Other participants in the Google Hangout video discussion were a journalist and poet Elena Fanailova (Moscow), who resigned in protest from Radio Liberty, Eugeny Gollerbakh (St. Petersburg), and Alexey Kuztesov (Moscow region), who was fired by the previous RFE/RL American management despite his physical disability.
The Google Hangout video discussion on Tamizdat was organized by former Radio Liberty regional correspondent network coordinator Vladimir Abarbanell. A former private radio station owner in Russia and former president of radio station owners association, Abarbanell was among those fired by RFE/RL. Abarbanell had produced earlier live Radio Liberty in Exile online video discussions using the USTREAM platform.
Google Hangout is a relatively new technology in Russia. The discussion was translated via YouTube and recorded there. To justify the firing of dozens of Radio Liberty journalists and the entire Internet team, the previous RFE/RL management claimed that the group lacked skills to do digital media. Several of the fired journalists and those who resigned have received prestigious journalism awards, some specifically for their online reporting.
Fired journalists and those who resigned in protest formed Radio Liberty in Exile and launched their own news website, Novaya Svoboda – SvobodaNew.com – and Facebook page. They also used YouTube video and other social media platforms to refute claims of RFE/RL managers who fired them and sent an appeal to the new acting RFE/RL president Kevin Klose. Many of current Radio Liberty journalists signed the appeal to get their fired colleagues and those who resigned in protest reinstated and their programs restored.
Radio Liberty in Exile U.S. Congress HELP Us Video
Феномен Тамиздата
Это пилотная программа в новом формате, которую группа “Радио Свобода в изгнании” записала с участием журналистов Радио Свобода, как уволенных, так и продолжающих работать на станции.
Программу из Праги ведет Иван Толстой. Его гости: Евгений Голлербах (Петербург), Елена Фанайлова (Москва) и Алексей Кузнецов (Юбилейный)