Russian media in America in the faces: Katerina Kotrikadze

Director of Information Service RTVi Katerina Kotrikadze. Photo provided Rtvi.com

The biography of Katerina Kotrikadze is impressive. The description from Gaidaev’s comedy suits her very well: “Student, Komsomol member, athlete. Finally, she is simply beautiful!” In her early 30s, she managed to receive a honors diploma from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University. Then she worked as a reporter in the “Danger Zone” project on the TVC channel, and later as a correspondent for RTVi and the radio station “Echo of Moscow”. In 2009, Katerina Kotrikadze headed the news on the PIK TV channel in Tbilisi. In 2011, she became deputy general director of PIK. In 2012, Katerina changed her place of residence again, arriving in the United States at the invitation of the new management of RTVi. Now he heads the information service of a television channel in New York. New city, new team, new topics...

Or did the topics remain the same? What has changed with the move?

Everything has changed, except for me. The feeling that already almost 4, I live on another planet. People, city, communication style, view from the window. And to be honest, still not on its own ... Not because I'm afraid of heights, but because there are too many walls around, too little space. I know that in America it turned out to be temporary, that this is a huge, very important stage, but I love my country too much - does it sound trite? I do not know how to say otherwise. In general, sooner or later I will definitely return to the “that-part-of-the-world”. And the themes - yes, they also changed, of course! Previously, I had to concentrate on the Caucasus, and this, by the way, is an invaluable experience. Of course, in Russia too - because Russia largely determines the distribution of forces in the region. And now we are making television for Russian-speaking viewers all over the world, and here, of course, you will not get by with one region. For example, thanks to RTVi, I began studying the Middle East. And the most difficult is the American political system. She is intricate, I must admit!

News on RTVi has changed. For the better.

Thank you, this is very important - I know from those who sometimes really need to hear praise (laughs - Auth.). To be honest, the information service team needed not only to rebuild, but also make people believe in a new approach. You can make a good news release only if you have a team, if you have an understanding of shared responsibility. So, the colleagues I work with are experienced, intelligent, principled - they are not yesterday's schoolchildren. And this, on the one hand, helps in achieving the result, but on the other - the habit of endless monotony inhibits the process. From television stereotypes 90-x got rid of with difficulty. We got rid, fortunately ... And the experience that I brought with me from Georgia helped me a lot. When we were doing the PIK channel, then the process was led by well-known journalists from the Air Force, Al Jazeera, Sky News ... They made me not just understand the technique of correct installation or the principles of a good interview. They forced to believe in the most important thing - in journalism, which does not tolerate boundaries, which is free and honest. This is journalism, about which Yasen Nikolaevich Zasursky told us about journalism, and many then laughed - they say, in fact, everything is bought and sold. But, you know, not all. Here I am proud of my profession, and this is a great happiness.

Katerina Kotrikadze and Yevgeny Maslov, correspondent for RTVi. Photo provided Rtvi.com

What is the situation with the notorious “information policy” on RTVi? Literally all viewers of the channel are interested in this question - from Tel Aviv to Riga, from New York to Canberra. They ask, “hasn’t the editors given a bias towards the Kremlin”?

I do not know how to roll. Otherwise, you can convince anyone of anything, but you will stop respecting yourself. This is what I'm terribly afraid of. Therefore, I prefer to follow the conscience. In this case, I can not stand the bravado and waving at every corner of his “special freedom”. We just make a decent product. As the editor-in-chief, I am fully responsible for it, and I believe that millions of RTVi viewers have the right to have complete information. Therefore, Putin and Abbas and Obama are on the air in general - in general, we are not inclined to conceal certain views from the public. That would be stupid ... Another thing is that a journalist always has an opinion - otherwise he is an idiot, agree! And here it is very important to convey to colleagues: the point of view of the journalist is extremely valuable, but not for the release of news. For the analytical program - please! But this is a different format, where the viewer is warned in advance: we go deep, and if you like, listen to the analysis.

What new projects are currently being prepared by the RTVi information service?

We are currently working on a new TV season. There are a lot of plans, but I can’t reveal some details right now. I’ll just say that a new presenter recently joined us - former deputy editor-in-chief of the Dozhd TV channel Tikhon Dzyadko. He currently hosts news on RTVi, but in the near future he will launch a new author’s project. This is an important and significant event for us.

Tikhon Dzyadko is preparing an author's project on RTVi. Photo provided Rtvi.com

In addition, the program "Timecode", which went on a well-deserved vacation, 9 September will return with new formats, a new approach to covering the most important international events. On the air of RTVi there will be even more high-quality analytics, special reports, interesting stories, exclusive interviews. Our main trump card is a wide correspondent network. During the 3,5 year of work on the channel, I and my colleagues managed to find professional, honest journalists in most of the RTVi broadcasting countries. Our reporters believe in the profession - just as I believe. And the viewer believes them, the decision-makers give them interviews, because they know that the words and thoughts of the guests of RTVi will not be distorted. So there is a lot of work ahead. Social projects and news RTVi, of course, will develop its presence in social networks.

Now in the United States in the midst of a presidential campaign. What distinguishes the coverage of presidential races in the US and Georgia?

Listen, well, these are completely different planets. It is even difficult to compare. The fate of mankind depends on the outcome of elections in the United States, so every word of the candidates is followed by hundreds of thousands of journalists. There is no such attention to Georgia, of course. Although it is important to understand that the 2012 election of the year was proof of the existence of Georgian democracy. Then, for the first time in the country's history, a peaceful transition of power took place, and this is a matter of pride for the whole nation. It was then that these major changes for the country were incredibly interesting to cover. It is truly amazing: to sit in the post-Soviet republic and not to believe your eyes during the first exit poll. Such an outcome seemed unlikely, and then no one could believe that Saakashvili would shake hands with his opponent and say: ok, I congratulate you on your victory. But it happened, and it's cool.

Another thing is not cool at all: unlike America, Georgia is an extremely conservative country, where the church solves all questions. Its authority presses its gigantic burden on an unhappy society, which, on the one hand, seeks to Europe, and on the other hand, considers it a priority task in life to sign itself with the sign of the cross at the sight of the temple. In principle, the people chose the one who was pointedly approved by the patriarch. In the US, this is not possible.

Fox Business Screen Shot

How would you describe the situation with freedom of speech in Georgia in the time of Mikhail Saakashvili? What has changed after Bidzina Ivanishvili came to power?

In general, freedom of speech is protected in Georgia, it is not forbidden to abuse the government. But the fact is that in a country where society is split according to the principle of “your own” - “alien”, it is difficult to observe the standards of journalism. There are pro-government media, and there is opposition. And where is the objective reality? We reflected this reality on the PIK channel under the previous government. We have been taught a lot by the team of experienced Air Force reporters who managed the channel during the first year of broadcasting and were for us a concrete guarantee of absolute freedom of speech. We, as it should be for journalists, criticized all politicians who deserved it. They made special reports on topics extremely painful for Saakashvili and his government. I, as the news chief, for all of this more than consciously answered. But you know, in modern Georgia, the idea that you are not on someone’s side is completely unacceptable. In general, the channel was closed after those historic elections, depriving the multinational population of Georgia of high-quality content in Russian. On the other hand, Russian federal TV channels are actively broadcasting in the state, 20% of whose territory Moscow is occupying. Well, ok, this is the choice of the current government. You know, Georgia is full of stereotypes: one is a purely Soviet legacy. Others are associated with the Caucasian (and even hysterically Orthodox) mentality. But you can get rid of all this. I really believe in it.

Leader of the political party “Our Home is Israel”, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Katerina Kotrikadze. Photo provided Rtvi.com

For all the time of work as a correspondent you have become an eyewitness to many events. I am sure that RTVi viewers remember your reports on political crises, fashion shows, concerts, protest actions at Bolotnaya in Moscow, interviews with then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman . There are many of them, and not to list them all. I do not ask what material is the most "favorite". The question of the report, which for you has become the most personal. I think this is a Russian-Georgian 2008 war?

I very vaguely remember my own reports about the war. I was very young. In this case, anger and resentment were many. Very scary when bombed. And people are dying ... Somehow in the fog I took it all off, mounted it ... The most personal report, of course, is connected with the 2008 war. He is about Giga Chikhladze, a friend, journalist. He was killed then at the entrance to Tskhinvali. For the fact that he greeted at the checkpoint in Georgian. His body could not be taken out for a long time, and then there was a funeral in Tbilisi, we all filmed ... You know, I couldn’t read the off-screen text then, I cried everything. But the option to "hide in a corner and sob" does not work in such cases. I had to get together and make stuff. You have to tell people everything about everything - they are watching TV, waiting for information. And if you don’t get together, they won’t find out how it really was and will believe other “sources”.

Is it difficult, after working in the most real hot spot, to move into the chair of the information service director?

Firstly, the director’s chair does not interfere with work in the field at all. If you don’t film, don’t travel, don’t ask questions, don’t do interviews, you lose the feeling of prompt information, you lose the excitement of the profession. And then you become someone else, not yourself. This is what I categorically do not want to allow.

Katerina Kotrikadze, on the right is RTVi correspondent in Israel and host of the Time Code program Vladimir Lensky. Photo courtesy Rtvi.com

It turns out that television is a constant adrenaline rush. Doesn't it tire you? Don’t you sometimes want to “drop everything and go to Gagra” or, say, Miami?

To Gagra? I really want to, but with my last name it’s not worth meddling there. Abkhazia has long been a dream for the rest of Georgia. And for me – I’ve never been there, I didn’t have time. The war began when I was still a child, and I learned about what Sukhumi and the same Gagra were from refugees - there are hundreds of thousands of them in Georgia, and they all want to go home... In a word, the topic is difficult. Returning to your question: sometimes you want to give up everything and even succeed. But after 2-3 days of rest, I begin to study the news hysterically. A week later I’m howling with boredom. And I go to work with great pleasure. Otherwise - “withdrawal”.

Leave work for a while. Question on a domestic topic. Is your first purchase in New York?

If you do not count shoes? Television.

How would you describe New York in one sentence?

For me, this is a city of absolute freedom.

What places in the city inspire?

You know, I lived in Battery Park, in lower Manhattan, the first year after arriving in the United States. And this is the best place in town for me. Because at the same time there is a picturesque view of the Statue of Liberty, the Hudson River Quay with benches, and parks with many children. Honestly, there are streets that remind me of Tbilisi. All together - a collective image of happiness.

Now, after 3,5, in the USA, you are almost an American. Feel like that?

No, I don’t feel like an American at all. Although I admire this country completely sincerely. But my son, who was born here, is definitely an American one hundred percent!

And for whom or what do you miss most in the Big City?

Grandma and Grandpa - they are in Tbilisi.

Do you have new habits in the US? Well, for example, drink a glass of orange juice for breakfast, like all Americans in Hollywood movies?

Do Americans drink orange juice? I had a habit of buying coffee in disposable cups every morning, before work. This is pure America, and sometimes it is even ridiculous for me to look at myself. But it is very convenient!

How do you manage to combine work and personal life?

Very hard. My son is only 2 years old, and as it turns out, the biggest challenge in life is to be a mother every day, to spend more time with him. Well, at the same time I want to work a lot. So far it’s working.

Do you cook at home or your husband? Who makes your favorite Georgian dishes?

NO ONE!!! And this is a tragedy! I do not cook at all, and my husband cooks incredibly talented, but rarely. And here's another American habit - we order takeaway. Almost every day. And we suffer ... Georgian dishes are waiting for us at home - on our return.

See also:

Lead of RTVi Lisa Kaymin - about the craziness of the news editorial and about her beloved New York

Russians who changed America

RTVi presenter Vladimir Lensky: News is dragging like a whirlpool

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