MEDIA WATCH: Better side of Russian media emerges

Everyone is saying that the world has changed. This is true. It seems hard to believe now that at the beginning of the week, the biggest piece of news in the media world was TV6 top political commentator Yevgeny KiselyovТs beard. It seems hard to believe by growing this beard, Kiselyov got his Itogi program an unprecedented 25 percent of the audience.

It all seems so trivial compared to what happened on Tuesday in the United States. From five in the evening on Sept. 11, Russians not only followed the horrific events in America, but also realized that they had at least four national TV channels willing to sacrifice huge sums of money to keep viewers informed of what was happening.

The directors of ORT, RTR, NTV and TV6 all took what for Russia was an unprecedented decision: to give the events in the United States non-stop coverage, picking up CNN accompanied by simultaneous translation into Russian. These stations cancelled their planned programs and, more importantly, cancelled all advertising, feeling that jolly advertising jingles werenТt appropriate when such a tragedy was unfolding.

NTV incurred the biggest financial loss when it cancelled its live broadcast of the soccer match between MoscowТs Lokomotiv team and Dutch team Anderlecht. NTV had paid a large sum for broadcasting rights for the match. NTV employees said they were most worried by how the Media Ministry would react, but the Media Ministry did nothing and the biggest trouble came from irate fans calling to ask why the soccer was off. One can only hope that these viewers were in the minority.

Most Russian viewers sat glued to their screens, following the events in the United States. This unprecedented coverage created a big load for TV anchors, with other journalists also stepping in to help. ORT news reporter Andrei Baturin, for example, anchored several broadcasts. Former RTR London correspondent Sergei Brilyov hosted RTRТs evening news, though heТd never done it before.

"Beginning at 5 p.m., we worked non-stop, taking turns," said Anna Titova, anchor for RTRТs Vesti news program. "The hardest thing was that we could hear our correspondents in America, but they couldnТt hear us. They counted down with their fingers and on the count of one we put them on air. Later, we put on Euronews translated into Russian. ItТs the first time Russian TV has worked this way. I think this decision was taken because what happened isnТt a national tragedy, itТs a tragedy for the whole world."

The Russian media world forgot old grudges that evening. Dmitry Rogozin, chairman of the Duma international affairs committee and long-time opponent of Yevgeny Kiselyov, participated in KiselyovТs special Itogi program. For part of the program, political commentator Vladimir Pozner, who spent many years working in the United States, joined Kiselyov as co-host Ц also not very typical for RussiaТs endlessly squabbling media.

The four national channels all tried hard to give viewers as much information as possible and arouse sympathy in them for the Americans. All the channels showed how ordinary Muscovites came to lay flowers outside the American embassy. But the state channels also had another mission before them Ц a state mission.

ORT was particularly zealous in this respect, following President Vladimir PutinТs address with the jubilant comment that, "Now the West will finally support our policy in Chechnya. Now they will see that Putin was right when he started the war against Chechen terrorism." ORT dug up old statements by Putin condemning terrorism and repeated them over and over.

On Wednesday, speaking on a daytime show for housewives called "Prosto Marina," politician Konstantin Borovoi tried to say that the only way to make sure the tragedy in the United States wasnТt repeated in Russia was to end the war in Chechnya.

But the showТs presenter cut him off abruptly. "WeТre not here to send messages to our leadership," she said. "WeТre here to express our support for the American people."

ThereТs no doubt that the state channels will continue to use the attacks in America to justify PutinТs policies in Chechnya, but this doesnТt detract from the efforts they made in their work during that terrible day.

Compared to ORT, RTR, NTV and TV6, one channel with national broadcasting rights looked like a real exception Ц TV Center, which belongs to Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov. TV Center didnТt pull either its planned programs or its advertising. The channelТs commentator, Pavel Gorelov, talked about local problems. Later, when RTR was showing Euronews and NTVТs Alexander Gordon was discussing the tragedy in America, LuzhkovТs TV Center was discussing fashion.

But this was the exception. On that evening of Sept. 11, I received a visit from Arkady Mayofis, president of regional TV company TV2 in the Siberian city of Tomsk.

"I got a call from my company in Tomsk," he said. "TheyТve taken advertising off the air and also the MTV programs we usually show."

Not only were RussiaТs national channels with the American people throughout that evening, many regional companies were there, too.