Last night I watched 8 o’clock (8 PM CT) news on Russian First channel for one reason only, to see if the channel would report about the protests. And they did. According to the First channel news program, there were, indeed, protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg on December 10, 2011. They even interviewed several protesters, one of whom mentioned that he came to see if anyone else would come to protest. There was a young man who wanted for elections to be a “people’s instrument” in choosing parliament officials. They also showed young guys wearing masks saying that they did this just for fun. No political posters were shown during the news report. The poster that did make the cut stated “Люди!!! Любите друг дгуга!!” (“People!!! Love one another!!”) At the end of the report, a person, who identified himself as an “observer,” congratulated Moscow police forces with such a wonderful event of organizing such a difficult public act. My heart cringed as the public mockery of the protests on national TV continued. A 30-minute news program, featuring a six-minute mockery of a report on the protests, ended with its viewers strolling down some of the most expensive Moscow boutiques, where Russian pop stars where shopping for Christmas and the New Years gifts. Do we really care what some pop singer is going to buy for his newborn child this holiday season?!

Furthermore, not a word about the protests in Russia was mentioned on one of the most popular TV shows called “ПрожекторПерисХилтон” (“ProjectorParisHilton”). Ironically, the premise of the show is reading newspapers and discussing current events in Russia and in the world. Tonight, the show started with the four hosts asking one another if they voted on December 4. They all joked around the question for a few minutes and moved on to more important news involving Russian soccer, which they discussed for the next 10 or so minutes. At the end, they mentioned that a new skating ring opened in Moscow where anyone could skate and rent ice-skates for free, of which 210 had already been stolen. They talked about a new planet that had been discovered, and they ended their news review by joking about Obama’s recent statement regarding gay rights being a criterion for US aid allocations. I don’t now what the four grown men felt or thought discussing the news above, but I felt shame and disgust.

It’s obvious that unless instructed from “above”, the puppet show on the First channel will continue.

The image above is located at cryptome.org.