President Vladimir Putin on Monday appointed a controversial news anchor to head a restructured state news agency, a move signaling the Kremlin's intention to tighten control over the media and use it increasingly for propaganda of ultraconservative views.
Dmitry Kiselyov, who spent much of his weekly news program on state Rossiya television maligning homosexuality and speculating about Western-led conspiracies, was put in charge of all the resources of the former RIA Novosti, which was renamed Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today).
The agency has been known for news coverage that at times appeared too comprehensive for the government's comfort, including active reportage on the anti-Putin protest movement.
The appointment makes Kiselyov the chief executive in a company of 2,300 employees, removable only by Putin himself. That promotion has come as a shock to many who previously derided the pro-Kremlin pundit -- who controversially suggested that the internal organs of homosexuals should be burned and buried rather than donated -- as an irrelevant lackey.
Kiselyov's conspiratorial, almost coquettish grin and over enthusiastic hand gestures have made him a recognizable staple of Russian television. But it's his toxic cocktail of punditry and sensationalism that has gained him his reputation as one of Russia's most famous --and reviled-- news anchors.
Kiselyov has often led the attack in taking down the opposition movement, the West, homosexuals, and other groups that top the Kremlin agenda. His pugnacious punditry contrasts with that of some other anchors on state-owned channels, who often are more eager to censor issues out of the limelight than attack them head-on.
When Ukrainians flooded the streets last week to protest their president's shelving of a treaty with the European Union, Kiselyov lambasted Sweden and Poland, accusing them of encouraging massive protests in Kiev to take revenge for military defeats by czarist Russia centuries ago.
Kiselyov, who earned his degree in Scandinavian literature, rolled a clip of a Swedish children's program called "Poop and Pee," designed to teach children about their bodily functions. After the clip finished rolling,
Kiselyov turned to the camera to suggest that this was the kind of European decadence awaiting Ukraine, if it signed a deal with the EU.
Read more: Putin's state media shakeup aims to tighten his control over Russian news - San Jose Mercury News
The agency has been known for news coverage that at times appeared too comprehensive for the government's comfort, including active reportage on the anti-Putin protest movement.
The appointment makes Kiselyov the chief executive in a company of 2,300 employees, removable only by Putin himself. That promotion has come as a shock to many who previously derided the pro-Kremlin pundit -- who controversially suggested that the internal organs of homosexuals should be burned and buried rather than donated -- as an irrelevant lackey.
Kiselyov's conspiratorial, almost coquettish grin and over enthusiastic hand gestures have made him a recognizable staple of Russian television. But it's his toxic cocktail of punditry and sensationalism that has gained him his reputation as one of Russia's most famous --and reviled-- news anchors.
Kiselyov has often led the attack in taking down the opposition movement, the West, homosexuals, and other groups that top the Kremlin agenda. His pugnacious punditry contrasts with that of some other anchors on state-owned channels, who often are more eager to censor issues out of the limelight than attack them head-on.
When Ukrainians flooded the streets last week to protest their president's shelving of a treaty with the European Union, Kiselyov lambasted Sweden and Poland, accusing them of encouraging massive protests in Kiev to take revenge for military defeats by czarist Russia centuries ago.
Kiselyov, who earned his degree in Scandinavian literature, rolled a clip of a Swedish children's program called "Poop and Pee," designed to teach children about their bodily functions. After the clip finished rolling,
Kiselyov turned to the camera to suggest that this was the kind of European decadence awaiting Ukraine, if it signed a deal with the EU.
Read more: Putin's state media shakeup aims to tighten his control over Russian news - San Jose Mercury News
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