Paul Goble
Staunton, Dec. 10 – The World Cup has done what no one else has been able to do: it has caused Russians to stop watching the political talk shows on Russian state television which the Kremlin uses to promote its political positions. Instead, most Russian TV viewers like many others around the world are watching soccer.
Before the World Cup began, Kremlin talk shows were among the most widely viewed programs on Russian TV, with the five most prominent all well up among the top 100. But now, only one of them – “60 Minutes” – remains there, and it has fallen from 15th place to a dismal 62nd place (newizv.ru/article/general/09-12-2022/futbol-interesnee-politicheskie-tok-shou-ischezli-iz-spiska-reytingovyh-peredach).
Some observers suggest this is part of a general decline in interest in such talk shows among Russians, but most say that this development reflects less that than the power of soccer to pull in an audience. It will be worth seeing whether Russians return to watching the talk shows after the World Cup or whether they will find something else to spend time on.
If Russians don’t resume their pre-Cup viewing habits, the Kremlin will have lost a major lever on the population; and some historians in the future may conclude that this year’s World Cup represented a turning point in Russian history much as the US victory in ice hockey at the Olympics in 1980 marked a change in American attitudes toward the Soviet Union.
No comments:
Post a Comment