Rain, Rain, Go Away

Last opposition-friendly TV channel faces closure

The television channel Dozhd (“Rain”), a privately owned outlet that broadcasts via the internet and satellite, found itself in hot water in January.

During commemorative events for the seventieth anniversary of the 1944 lifting of the Siege of Leningrad, Dozhd asked its viewers to participate in a phone-in poll on the question, “Should we have given up Leningrad [to Fascist Germany] to save thousands of lives?” The question was also posted on the channel's website and social networking pages.

More than 630,000 civilians are estimated to have died during the Siege of Leningrad, which began in late 1941. The poll of the channel's viewers — mostly middle-class Muscovites who have little love for the Kremlin — came while St. Petersburg was in the midst of a multi-day event marking the anniversary of the blockade's end on January 27, 1944.

The question provoked an uproar. Top pro-Kremlin talking heads accused Dozhd of sympathizing with the Nazis and a chorus of like-minded voices drowned out the channel's apology. The poll was withdrawn the day it was posted.

Then what many initially thought to be a minor controversy spiraled quickly towards the channel's closure. One by one, the cable and satellite providers that transmitted Dozhd to viewers refused to continue carrying it. Some issued no explanation, only telling media (off the record) that they had received a phone call from the Kremlin demanding in no uncertain terms that Dozhd be cut off. Others said the poll so insulted viewers that they were left with no choice but to drop the network. After NTV+, one of the larger providers, posted such an announcement on its official forum, it was flooded with comments from viewers asking that the channel be restored. Many of the comments were deleted by the moderator.

The opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta ran several interviews with survivors of the Leningrad Siege who said that in fact they were insulted — not by the poll, but by the reaction of the authorities, who were using their “opinion” to shut down a critical channel.

“We can and must talk about it,” said survivor Lyudmila Elyashova, “and the fact that people can talk out loud is wonderful. They shouldn't be gagged.”

Even Dozhd's desperate attempt to rectify the situation – holding an hours-long “TV marathon” on patriotism – did not help. The next day the channel was dropped by yet another provider, Trikolor TV. In a final bid to regain the 80 percent of its viewers now unable to tune in, the channel even offered providers its programming free of charge for a year.

“The shutdown of Dozhd by the last large operator de facto means the closure of the channel,” tweeted Dozhd owner Alexander Vinokurov.

At press time, Dozhd's future was unclear. The station was launched in 2010 and gained notoriety during the opposition protests of 2011 and 2012. Its audience was comprised of Russians disaffected with state-run news channels. What the channel lacked in slick professionalism (the channel relied heavily on reports submitted via Skype) was made up for by it being the only station to cover many topics in an independent manner. Many observers said they felt the reason for Dozhd's closure was its coverage of the protests in Ukraine. The truth, as always in cases of indirect, rumored Kremlin pressures, remains hidden.