A recent documentary aired by the NTV television channel alleging protesters were paid to attend this winter’s anti-government protests has been defended by the head of the state-controlled media holding that runs the station.
“The programs that go out on prime-time are a forum for public discussion of the most topical themes for society,” Nikolai Senkevich, head of the state-controlled Gazprom-Media holding company that runs NTV, said in a statement.
He also said that calls for a boycott of the channel over the program were equal to an attack on “the free exchange of opinion.”
The Anatomy of a Protest documentary was aired by NTV on March 15 and March 18. The program suggested that protesters had been paid with “money and cookies” to attend the unprecedented mass demonstrations that rocked Russia in the wake of December’s disputed parliamentary polls.
The program also claimed the protests, which continued after Vladimir Putin secured a third presidential term at March 4 polls, were funded by the United States.
The 36-minute documentary triggered outrage among protest leaders and some 100 people were detained during a demonstration against the channel outside Moscow's Ostankino television tower on Sunday.
The channel’s website was also hacked and its logo NTV covered over with the words “violence, stupidity, lies", which in Russian start with the letters N, T and V.
The documentary even caused anger among NTV staff, with editor Alexander Urzhanov calling the program a “true disgrace” on his Facebook page.
The opposition had alleged protesters were paid to attend pro-Putin rallies that took place prior to the presidential elections.
