Abbreviations on the culture channel. Massive layoffs of employees on the Culture TV channel

Ejecting ballast from a modern airship

Is there no more culture in my fatherland? Of course I have. So she's not on TV? There is also. Then what is the problem?

On the channel "Culture". 114 people have already been laid off, approximately a fifth of all employees. We are told that it was mainly technical and administrative positions that went under the knife. Not positions, no, people, living people. But when has anyone ever cared?

Reduction is a common thing, where it has not already been carried out. Moreover, if we talk about the media, then literally before our eyes entire TV channels, newspapers, and magazines disappeared into oblivion. The teams changed (completely!) because the company was bought over by new owners. Which ground in a new way, naturally. So what's surprising?

But this is “Culture”, gentlemen! This channel is actually very rare. We don’t love our state, right? We constantly make claims to him, very fair ones, I must say. But that’s not about that now. In the case of “Culture”, the state was the educator and the main sponsor at the same time. That is, it fulfilled its sacred duty to sow the reasonable, the good, the eternal, and not to dumb down its electorate, as often happens.

Culture on TV is a unique phenomenon in the world in general, except that the Franco-German channel Arte can compare with this Russian know-how of ours. Then what's the question? In the content.

How to show culture and talk about it? Make it relevant and modern. In fact, our “Culture,” according to editor-in-chief Sergei Shumakov, is entertainment (in the best sense of the word) for the post-Soviet intelligentsia. That is, all the best that was done in the USSR (in the spiritual sense) is taken and shown to all of us. And we all don’t pay a penny for it. But who are we all?

We are shown the best performances, classical concerts, the Vienna Opera, Anna Netrebko (endlessly!), films of all times and peoples, intellectual talk shows about the fate of the homeland and art in it - there is no answer. Almost no one is watching. Or rather, it watches, but it is a very specific audience. For example, I am the one and only, my mother-in-law, my friend Lilya from our machine bureau. And it's all. Well, almost everything.

Attention, question: then is it possible to modernize “Culture” and show it in a different way? After all, there was once talk that as many as Leonid Parfyonov would come to the channel. But for some reason he didn’t come. And if he came, what would we see then? Maybe all his stylish style, uniqueness, talent, which would turn into a high rating?

It is unlikely. No matter what you invent or pretend to do, nothing will work. The people are ready for debauchery (like Shukshin in “Kalina Krasnaya”), not for culture.

But what about the endless queues for Aivazovsky and Serov? I really don't know. Maybe TV is not trendy at all?

Therefore, cut it, don’t cut it, you’ll still get it... It’s just a pity for people, they were there, and now they’re not there, figuratively speaking.

But there is no need to be surprised once again: the culture has remained in the fold, as it was. I personally, as almost the only TV viewer of this channel, was happy with everything there. The rest are not. Watching “Culture,” I had a blast, painfully exploiting my own nostalgia for the USSR. So, the others weren't enjoying themselves.

But how happy they were when they moved to a large building on Malaya Nikitskaya. How proud they were that they now had their own home, their own studios, even their own symphony orchestra. And now Malaya Nikitskaya has turned into Malaya Arnautskaya, the house no longer exists. Yes, stretch your legs over your clothes. That is, they did the math - they shed tears, there is no money, but you hang in there! They hold on, throwing out ballast (you can now call them fired people) from the airship of our time. But will “Culture” take off in this way? I don't think so.

Several Kultura employees immediately reported massive layoffs at the channel. In particular, three employees of the TV channel reported the dismissal of 200 people to Republic. Information about the cuts was confirmed by RBC and one of the editors of Culture.

“The employees were notified three months in advance that their employment contract would end on June 8,” said RBC’s interlocutor.

One of Republic’s interlocutors said that in total about 800 people work at Kultura. Another clarified that 40% of the team (more than 300 employees) were laid off.

A former producer of the channel, who wished to remain anonymous, clarified to the publication that the dismissed employees receive all the required payments. The interlocutor points out “staff optimization” as one of the stated reasons for the reduction. The second reason, according to him, was the move from the building on Malaya Nikitskaya to the television center on Shabolovka, where there would not have been room for 800 employees.

RBC sent a request to VGTRK. The day before the layoff of 200 people at Kultura on your Facebook page wrote channel employee Natalya Repina.

“Farewell, TV channel “Culture”! Good bye, Culture,” wrote TV channel photojournalist Vadim Shultz on his Facebook page.

The TV channel "Culture" is part of the VGTRK holding. The TV channel was established by decree of the Russian President in August 1997 of the year. It began broadcasting on November 1, 1997.
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again for the anniversary, note!!! THEY always do this - either demolish it, or close it, or ruin it, or ruin it. To do something more painful on a holiday or on a touching date is the chic of today's managers.

from comments on fb

Ekaterina Bryzgalova. Hello! I am a journalist for Vedomosti. Please tell me how the managers explained to you the need for such massive layoffs?

Valentina Proskurina But they didn’t explain ANYTHING! Not at all! There were rumors that there would be a reduction almost immediately after what happened in Crimea. But no one even in a nightmare could have imagined that it would look SO disgusting and in SUCH quantities. They kept everything secret until the end of May and beginning of June. Although for three months everyone, except for the Culture News and Accounting Department with the HR department, was issued notices of job reduction from 06/09/2017. At the same time, in violation of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, they were not allowed to familiarize themselves with the order of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, which was referred to in the text of the notification. We demanded, but could not achieve it - they fed us everything with breakfast. And according to the law, they were obliged to familiarize everyone with it against signature. A lot of other things have been broken. People were insulted and humiliated by the abomination with which all this was done. How obscenely cynical those who quietly decided our destinies behaved. How the head of the HR department fought in hysterics, threatening to call security just because she was politely asked to present the article to which she allegedly referred. You can’t count everything! Yesterday was the most disgusting and smelly day of my life...

Gala Razumkina Do you really want to convince me that the problem is with the head of the HR department? You must have (sort of) understood everything for several/many years already... You just liked getting paid and being called something... well, don’t deceive yourself, at least

Valentina Proskurina Gala Razumkina I am not at all trying to convince you or anyone else of anything. For several/many years they understood what was happening both with the state and with the television company, which had become a branch of VGTRK from a federal state unitary enterprise. And they did what they should do, and the way they should do it - with high quality and conscientiousness. To this day I still like to call myself and am not ashamed to call myself by my name, and not by a nickname (I hope you noticed?). And the salary is meager in comparison with other TV channels, and, moreover, has not been increased by a single penny for six years, we still EARNED by honest labor, and did not receive, as you deigned to put it. I would not wish you, my dear, a fate similar to ours.

Since June 8, the raging flames of the scandal with mass layoffs on the Kultura TV channel have not subsided. It’s not for nothing that I started so banally: despite the blatant injustice, this situation is quite typical for our country.

All major media outlets have already managed to write about this incident, and the essence of each article can be retold in one sentence: a third of the channel was dispersed, the editor-in-chief and director of “Culture” Sergei Shumakov said that not a third at all, but much less, and in general, everyone is moving to a new building, the channel is switching to a new format, so there is no place for unqualified personnel, and everything will be fine for all of us.

I'm surprised why no one quotes insiders in these articles? And if they quote, it’s somehow sparingly. Don't we have anything to say, friends? I have. I worked at the TV channel for almost six years. It was my favorite job, which gave me a lot - yes, yes, again I’m writing banalities. But this is reminiscent of parting with an old friend, and parting due to betrayal.

I worked as an editor for one wonderful program. We had a comfortable schedule, and all my direct responsibilities were extremely interesting to complete. But there were also problems: at some point, our assistant director’s salary was cut, and I, a person with an education completely unrelated to this field, began to do his work. Nobody asked me to do this, I just realized that in our small editorial office I am the lowest echelon, and no one but me will take on this work. I'm not complaining, it wasn't that difficult, and sometimes even fun. But the very fact that higher officials did not come to the rescue immediately raised alarm bells. Looking ahead: when I already left the channel, it turned out that my bosses didn’t even know where we had everything, who was responsible for what, or how to find the necessary files.

A couple of times, when my senior colleagues (who, of course, worked part-time somewhere else, because you can’t really live on government salaries) could not come to work, I had to edit together with the director, and design the tapes - in general, do what which was not part of my duties at all. When I went on vacation, no one took over my responsibilities, and my affairs remained untouched.

The channel’s funds have always been distributed strangely: crazy amounts of money were spent on such ambitious projects as, for example, “Big Opera”. Meanwhile, the employees’ computers were not so hot. I worked on a machine with a single-core (!) processor - can you imagine, such things still exist! And my iron horse slowed down shamelessly. For a year I wrote memos to the top, but no one lifted a finger. As a result, I did half of the work from home, because practically nothing was loaded on my work computer.

At one time the canal apparently flourished. People who worked before me said that Kultura even paid for their training and advanced training. Having learned about this, I happily went to the Institute of Further Education, which collaborated with the channel, but no one began to pay for my studies. It doesn’t matter, I paid for it myself, but it’s still a shame: why have times changed so much?

There were also some very funny cases: the person who distributed the stationery to us once said that an employee was entitled to one pen per month. Although, of course, this rule was not followed (I hope no one got hurt due to the fact that I kept losing my pens).

Despite all these oddities, work at Kultura was good. Tolerant bosses (you could always ask for time off if you were sick - work from home without sick leave), interesting colleagues and tasks, periodic filming trips to theaters and museums: without exaggeration, for me personally this was a dream job.

In the first working days of 2017, rumors began to spread about large-scale layoffs. A specific figure was announced: 30 percent of employees would leave. At first no one paid attention to this, because such rumors had arisen from time to time before. But then they started talking about the fact that in the summer the channel was moving to a building on Shabolovka, where our sports colleagues were sitting at that time.

We worked in a building on Malaya Nikitskaya: not exactly luxurious, but pleasant, modern, clean, seven floors. The building on Shabolovka is a ruin without repair and with toilets from horror films. That's when we realized that something was really coming. After all, they won’t push us all in there!

But the authorities were silent. I, being a paranoid lady, hastily began to look for a job on the side, realizing: if they mow down, then first of all - us, the little ones. And in March, my immediate boss called me back to talk. “Don’t be upset, don’t think it’s all about you,” all these cheap psychotherapeutic truths didn’t really help. On the way home I burst into tears and then drank alone all night. It's funny: I was really ready for this, I understood that six years was a long time, and it was time to move on... But I was in a lot of pain. The eternal question “why?” gave no rest.

To the credit of my superiors, I want to say that they offered me an alternative: move to another service. However, the work there was dusty, not according to the profile and low-paid, so I refused - not out of pride, but only because I already had another wonderful option on the side.

In the end, it turned out that I was one of the first to find out. Despite the fact that the management had seen the reduction lists a long time ago, all senior levels continued to remain silent. They talked to me so early only because another place opened up and they didn’t want to leave me in trouble. Otherwise, perhaps I, too, would have found out at the last moment. This happened to my colleague: almost everyone knew in advance that she was being laid off. But since this lady has a strong character and is a fighter, no one dared to say anything. Our boss tried to shift his direct responsibility for informing the employee about the layoff to another person, but the girl did not listen to the other person. Probably right, because it is not in his competence to report such things. On June 7, the penultimate day, the girl was called to the personnel department and told the news. Can you imagine? ON THE PENULTIMATE DAY! She, of course, did not sign any papers and is now suing the channel. But she is strong and well done, and in her place I would hardly be able to do the same.

Regarding payment of compensation. As you know, when laying off an employee, they must be paid three months’ salary in advance. We got paid for one. To get the remaining money, we must join the labor exchange. After August 8, we will be paid severance pay for another month, but on the condition that we have a gaping void in our work record. For the third month, accordingly, they will be paid in September under the same conditions. I'm not particularly versed in legal intricacies. Tell me, is this normal? Do all employers do this?

Finally, I would like to comment on the words of Mr. Shumakov. He said that in fact 114 people had been laid off, and no further layoffs were expected. Of course, I didn’t see the lists, but initially, I repeat, we were told: 30 percent would be fired. You don’t have to look far for statistics: in the room where I worked, three out of seven people were fired. There are already persistent rumors about a second wave of layoffs among my remaining colleagues.

This quote from Shumakov is also interesting: “In the new office on Shabolovka, where we are going to move in the near future, thanks to our colleagues from VGTRK, a new technical complex is being created. It is equipped with the most modern equipment, which will allow us to solve any creative and technological problems in the long term.”

Can you imagine what investments will be required to re-equip the dilapidated building that I already mentioned? Today it still presents a sad picture: Ksenia Larina wrote about it (and even showed photographs) in your article.

This phrase also implies that unnecessary links in the technological chain were fired. But the cuts equally affected editors, writing journalists, and newsmen! They cannot be replaced by technical bells and whistles. There were a certain number of people in the editorial office of our program, each fulfilling his own duties that were unique to him (well, ideally). Now the responsibilities of those laid off will simply be added to someone else's, and the remaining person will have twice as much work. Maybe their salary will be increased? Ha.

And the icing on the cake is the phrase: “Among those fired are people who, due to age or professional qualities, do not meet the requirements that are currently required of channel employees.” It was very unpleasant for me to read this, but I can’t even imagine how my colleague, who worked at the channel for 17 years (this was her first and only job, so don’t think it’s a matter of age), felt, giving He gets all his time and love. She and I immediately thought about our colleagues remaining at Kultura who “meet the requirements,” but I won’t go into details: I’m ashamed of the channel and those who fire people without realizing who is really working and who just present.

At Kultura there was a lot of age-related ballast: sound engineers who could no longer hear almost anything, operators whose hands were shaking... But along with them, many young, hard-working, promising employees who loved their job were mowed down. Moreover, some of them were given precisely the same ballast in their positions so as not to be fired. You see how interesting it turned out: some positions were cut, and people from them were transferred to positions that were stupidly fired, thrown overboard.

I left the sinking ship before June 8, but I came to celebrate the era with my colleagues. And yes, during our day off, we actually saw how they carried away a man with a heart attack, which Larina writes about, and he really grabbed him because he stood up for his colleagues and expressed a lot of unpleasant, but honest things to his superiors. We saw women sobbing in the toilet, and confused young people who clearly did not understand why they were being treated like this or what they should do next. Who we did not see was the head of our service, who, by a happy coincidence, went on vacation.

What I saw and heard does not at all correlate with Shumakov’s words about modernization, the transition to a qualitatively new format. It looks more like “Kultura” was simply “squeezed out” of a good building in the center of Moscow, sacrificing the channel itself for the sake of the premises, and the leader was ordered to put a good face on a bad game. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m wrong to be so pessimistic, and my dear, beloved channel will still emerge. Let's see what happens next: who will move into the building on Malaya Nikitskaya, what kind of new format "Culture" will have, will those few who refused to sign the redundancy papers be able to achieve justice...

In an interview with Kommersant about the massive reduction of employees - reports about this appeared last week.

Shumakov said that 114 people out of 700 who worked at the TV channel were fired. Before that, anonymous interlocutors told journalists that 200-300 people had been fired. “300 people is almost 50%. Such a reduction would mean a complete stop of broadcasting. In addition, we managed to place some of our employees in other positions,” Shumakov explained.

According to the director of the channel, such a massive reduction in employees is explained by the fact that over the 20 years of the existence of “Culture”, “a lot of problems of a structural, technological and substantive nature have accumulated.” Firstly, this is outdated equipment. Secondly, the management of the TV channel decided to transfer production and broadcasting to HD format. For this purpose, the editorial office will move to a new office on Shabolovka, where a new technical complex has been installed. “Unfortunately, this means that we will have to get rid of many duplicative functions. Modernization involves reducing the number of employees,” Shumakov explained.

Office of the TV channel "Culture" on Malaya Nikitskaya

The director of “Culture” said that all those fired “due to age or professional qualities do not meet the requirements that are currently imposed on the channel’s employees.” Shumakov did not specify what age requirements are imposed on the channel’s employees. According to him, the administrative and technical staff, who, for example, carried out the release of the entire canal from the old building on Malaya Nikitskaya, have been reduced. Also, the head of “Culture” noted that the channel “has not been updated at all over the last ten years.”

The TV channel "Culture" is part of the VGTRK holding. The channel began broadcasting on November 1, 1997. The large-scale reduction in the channel became known on June 8. TV channel employee Natalya Repina wrote on Facebook that “Kultura has lost a third of its employees. About 200 people."

One of Republic’s interlocutors said that in total about 800 people work at Kultura. Another clarified that 40% of the team (more than 300 employees) were laid off. One of the editors of “Culture” explained to RBC that employees were notified three months in advance of the termination of their employment contract. A former producer of the channel, who wished to remain anonymous, clarified to the publication that the dismissed employees receive all the required payments. Among the reasons for the reduction were “staff optimization” and the move from the building on Malaya Nikitskaya to the telecentre on Shabolovka, where there is simply no room for 800 employees.

Let us note that the reduction on the “Culture” channel is not the only major event in the “cultural” segment of Russian television broadcasting. From July 1, on the frequency of the world documentary TV channel 24_DOC, the Digital Television company (VGTRK/Rostelecom) will launch a new channel about medicine, “Doctor”. This is reported, in particular, by Colta.ru. The Doctor channel will air series of documentaries and special reports, interviews with leaders of the medical industry, talk shows and discussions. The production of the main part of the content will be entrusted to TV Channel 360°. It is not known whether the “24_DOC” channel will continue to operate.