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Sergei Yelistratov: Situation in broadcasting company “Express” is tearful

17:34 | 03.04.2015 | Society

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Penza, 3 April 2015. PenzaNews. Sergei Yelistratov, employee of the broadcasting company “Express” in Penza since 1997 and program director from 1999 to March 2015, commented for PenzaNews agency on the reasons for his dismissal, as well as the situation in the broadcasting company as a whole.

Sergei Yelistratov: Situation in broadcasting company “Express” is tearful

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“In fact, the situation that has set in the company is, let me just say, extremely oppressive,” the agency interlocutor said.

He explained that some programs, including “Sobytiya nedeli” [Weekly events], are closed, and others had their air time cut down to 10-15 minutes.

In addition, Sergei Yelistratov reported about the violation of rights of “Express” employees: some of them are not allowed to their work places without any actual reasons, and some have not been paid for several months. In particular, he himself has not received the owed salary and the severance pay, although he was fired nearly a month ago, on March 6.

Answering the question about the cause of financial problems and tension within the team, the former program director in an interview to PenzaNews agency pointed at possible connection between this situation and the management policy.

Analyzing the reasons, Sergei Yelistratov suggested that the appointment of Oleg Sinenkov as director general of the broadcasting company in 2011 may have been a point of no return for “Express.”

“But even with Sinenkov, the company continued to develop. But the appointment of [Alexander] Orgin became the true point of no return,” he added.

According to him, Alexander Orgin was primarily interested in profits and had no intentions to understand the inner workings of the media holding.

“I think he had absolutely no care what was on air,” the agency interlocutor noted.

According to him, Stepan Parfenov, who came in Penza from Saratov and would supposedly head “Express” in the near future, also played an important role in the development of the situation.

Sergei Yelistratov said that one of the major losses caused by the new company policy, in addition to the program closure and the expected air cuts of regional programs to fit STS Channel broadcasting schedule, is the mass leave of several company professionals.

In particular, according to him, the decision to fire Vladimir Tingaev and Natalia Stetsenko, the two news hosts, is already a fact.

He added that currently the leaders of the creative team who participated in the channel establishment are trying to save the situation and “somehow normalize it.”

Discussing the possible means to improve the situation, Sergei Yelistratov suggested that the only way out would be a complete change of top management staff and the return of all fired employees.

“But this will not be the step anyone is ready to take, I believe. It’s a shame seeing what happens after 18 years of work, creating everything from scratch… It is tearful,” he concluded.

As PenzaNews agency reported earlier, the broadcasting company “Express” was headed by Oleg Sinenko in August 2011. He replaced Sergei Vasyanin, who had occupied the position since March 2003.

In May 2013, Alexander Orgin was appointed deputy CEO of “Express,” who later took over as general director when Oleg Sinenkov left for another job.

In September 2013, Alexander Orgin commenting his appointment to PenzaNews agency, said he intended to focus on the economic development of the media structure.

On March 28, 2015, the weekly current affairs program “Weekly events” on “Express” channel was closed. Creative team — author and presenter Dmitry Inyushkin, operator Alexander Zherebtsov and editor Mikhail Struev, bid farewell to the audience on the air at the end of the program. The reason was funding cuts.

In addition, in late March there appeared information about the conflict between some “Express” employees and the leadership of the media holding.

So, a copy of the order of March 27, 2015 signed by the “Express” CEO Alexander Orgin “On admission to the company property” became available on the Internet. According to the document, the security were instructed to not let in the building a number of employees, such as program director Sergei Elistratov, or chief-editor of TV programs Natalia Ilyina. On March 29, the latter compiled an act of workplace admission denial, signed by six employees of “Express,” including journalists Elvira Petrova, Nikita Zherebtsov, and Vladimir Tingaev, editors Alexander Pivovarov and Andrei Galkin, and cameraman Alexander Zherebtsov.

On April 1, Denis Simonov, chief-editor of the radio station “Svoe radio” within the “Express” media holding, announced the cease of broadcasting in the Penza region. A few hours later, he explained that “Svoe radio” suspended broadcasting for 3 months.

On the same day, “Weekly events” Twitter followers learned that TV presenter Natalia Stetsenko left the channel.

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