Vladimir Pozner, TV Reporter, Host of the “Pozner” show on Russia’s Channel One
The issue of what will happen after March 2012 has been worrying me for some time. I am not usually a fan of predictions as this is not my area of expertise, but one thing is clear to me: Russia cannot remain in its current state. I travel around the country a lot, and can therefore say from personal experience that I have never before — even during the Brezhnev years — seen the level of indifference, apathy and cynicism that can be observed today. Moreover, this attitude can be seen most prominently among active, educated people — businesspeople and students. This is the most capable and valuable part of our society, which today espouses, to some extent, a feeling of despair, of being lost, and of having a lack of priorities. This is a bad situation, and it must change.
Regardless of your opinion of [Vladimir] Putin or [Dmitry] Medvedev, you must admit that they are not foolish people, and they understand as well as we do that our situation is bad. It’s another matter that in public they say otherwise, but all politicians do that. More than anything, it alarms and even disturbs me that we are being kept in the dark. We are treated like immature schoolchildren. This is, broadly speaking, disgraceful. In the end, these people ostensibly represent our interests and are obligated to be accountable to us. I think that very serious events await us. I cannot say what events these will be or in which direction they will change things, but right now, I don’t have a good feeling about the future, even though I am, by nature, an optimist.
Vladimir Pozner was born in Paris in 1934. He attended schools in New York and Berlin. He received a degree in Biology, with a concentration in Human Physiology, from Moscow State University. After graduating from University, he did scientific and literary translations and worked as secretary for the renowned author Samuil Marshak. In 1961, Pozner was hired by the Novosti News Agency, where he was editor of the magazines USSR (subsequently renamed Soviet Life) and Sputnik. In 1970, he moved to the Soviet State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting, working as a Moscow radio commentator for the main broadcasts to the United States and Great Britain. He hosted his own radio program in English until 1985. Beginning in the late 1970s, Pozner became a frequent guest on Nightline, which aired on ABC. In 1985, he co-hosted the Leningrad-Seattle “spacebridge” with Phil Donahue, which made him famous in the Soviet Union. From 1991 to 1996, he co-hosted the program “Pozner/Donahue” on CNBC.
In 1994, Pozner was chosen as the first president of the Russian Television Academy, where he worked for 14 years. From 2000 to 2008, he hosted his own talk show, “Vremena”, on Russia’s Channel One. After its cancellation, a new show was launched called “Pozner.” In 2008, the series “Odno-etazhnaya Amerika” (One-floor America) was released on Russia’s Channel One. The series visually presented the travel notes of Vladimir Pozner and another popular TV personality, Ivan Urgant, during their travels around the U.S.
