Every Sunday night, his program broadcast across 11 time zones, is an untrammeled diatribe against President Yeltsin's major opponents. There is no attempt at balance and no right of reply. They've joined forces in Russia's parliamentary election campaign, the two veterans of the political struggle here, leading the fatherland, all-Russia coalition. In one recent broadcast alone, Dorenko accused Primakov of plotting to assassinate a foreign head of state, of traveling to Germany to have private medical treatment he could have received at home, and of using his contacts overseas to weaken Russian power during the war in Kosovo. Aum Shinrikyo Anchor man Dorenko is unrepentant about his role in the Kremlin-ordered destruction of Primakov and Luzhkov's credibility.
News is just news.
When a man kills, steals or commits other violations, we say here are the facts and here's the proof. If they'd read and remembered the words, thou shalt not kill and thou shalt not steal, the campaign would be clean. A clean campaign is a campaign where the participants are clean. The effects of the media campaign have been devastating, especially for Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Four months ago he was riding high in the polls, tipped by many to be Russia's next president.