Well from banker to Turner. Cheers, Ken Hanly NTV Journalists Keep Vigil, Turner Faces Storm April 5, 2001 By Peter Graff MOSCOW (Reuters) - Journalists kept up a vigil on Thursday to block a hostile takeover of Russia's only nationwide independent television station, while Ted Turner rode to their rescue -- and into a full-blown Moscow political storm. Early on Thursday morning, NTV television showed pictures of police vans it said had gathered outside its studio, saying it feared they were there to keep its morning news off the air. Police could not be reached for comment. Turner, the founder of CNN, confirmed on Wednesday that he had agreed with NTV founder Vladimir Gusinsky to buy a stake in the channel, by far Russia's most influential source of information that does not answer to the Kremlin. But the U.S. media magnate made clear he could ensure the station's continued independence only if he persuades the state-dominated natural gas monopoly Gazprom, which now says it controls the station, to sell him shares as well. Gazprom, which acquired a large stake by guaranteeing Gusinsky's debts, announced on Tuesday it had sacked NTV's management and placed a 34-year-old American banker in charge, with the head of a state news agency as editor-in-chief. The station's journalists say the gas monopoly is doing the Kremlin's bidding to muzzle criticism of President Vladimir Putin. In protest they canceled all entertainment programming to show only news reports -- mostly about themselves -- making an exception late on Wednesday for a soccer match. Turner said he stands by NTVs reporters and expressed disappointment at the turmoil surrounding the station. "I am committed to the promotion of free and open media around the world, and highly value the journalistic staff that drives NTV and consider them to be highly professional and dependable," he said in the statement announcing his bid. "While we are disappointed with the recent disruptive developments regarding NTV, we look forward with enthusiasm to finalizing an agreement with Gazprom and Gazprom-Media that will ensure the ongoing independence of NTV," Turner said. His statement did not make clear whether he would go through with the deal to buy shares from Gusinsky if Gazprom does not also sell him shares. TURNER RIDES INTO A STORM Turner's bid for a stake in NTV would be remarkable under any circumstances, representing by far the most important foreign investment in the media in a country that has known a free press for only a decade. But the timing puts him in the ring at the climax of the fight for control of the station -- a flat-out political brawl that has kept Russia's leading politicians, its courts and a few of its rifle-toting police busy for more than a year. Gusinsky is now in Spain awaiting a decision on extradition to face Russian fraud charges he says are part of the Kremlin's campaign to silence him. His companies were raided some 30 times by police this year. By all accounts, Russia's media are heavily politicized. Putin says he supports free speech in Russia, but has also castigated the owners of the commercial press for working "against the state." In recent election campaigns, the state media have been drafted to lionize the president and smear his opponents. NTV has also got into its share of political dogfights, especially in the mid 1990s when it noisily backed then-President Boris Yeltsin's re-election, and later vilified Gusinsky's rivals in privatization auctions. But the station has also earned a reputation for groundbreaking journalism, especially during Russia's first Chechen war in 1994-96. It was alone in reporting major corruption scandals in the late Yeltsin years. Turner has known Putin for years: the Russian president was deputy mayor of St. Petersburg in charge of foreign relations in Russia's second city when Turner staged the Goodwill Games there in 1994. Putin hosted Turner again in Moscow last year. ********
