What Do Americans and Russians Have In Common? "Absolutely Nothing" Says Mikhail Taratuta
Meet Mikhail Taratuta. It's his 70th birthday today; that's a good number. His TV program America with Mikhail Taratuta also showed good numbers and had high ratings. Moreover, Mikhail helps other TV programs get higher ratings by being their guest. For example, he regularly participates in one of our channel's programs, 60 Minutes. One may agree or disagree with his views, but in the professional world, he has definitely made a name for himself. What kind of person was he and what's he like today?
Alexander Balitsky reporting.
For a new Russian audience, it was a totally new perspective. An America that people didn't know about and an America they wanted to get to know, with Mikhail Taratuta.
An American jazz theme song was the only part of the program that wasn't in conflict with people's perception of life overseas. Taratuta opened the door to America by coming here: the USSR Gosteleradio office on Pyatnitskaya.
Mikhail Taratuta: "It's just right up the stairs; the signs, of course, were different back then".
The legendary Central International Broadcasting Station, or Inoveshanie, was located here. The operator's rooms look different now. But we had a chance to visit some of the rooms where, having served as an interpreter within a group of military advisors in Bangladesh and Egypt (this is a picture of him in the desert), Mikhail Taratuta, an aspiring foreign correspondent, made his first steps towards a career as a reporter.
Mikhail Taratuta: “One word, another one, a third one... When working with text materials, we had to figure out exactly where each word would end”.
77 languages, 160 countries. But the American editorial staff was the media elite. Unfortunately, US radio sets were unable to detect the high-frequency waves that carried broadcasts from Moscow. The technology was as diverse as the views; something that Mikhail Taratuta had to get used to when he was sent to a California news office at the end of Perestroika and, as it turned out, the Soviet era.
Mikhail Taratuta, foreign correspondent: "I first visited America in 1979. I was very surprised to see that the country was full of bomb shelters. They were terrified of the possibility of a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. Gorbachev helped them overcome that fear".
It was a time of mutual interests and steps towards reconciliation. Even the state TV program Vremya changed its tone.
Mikhail Taratuta: "For the first time in several decades, the Soviet-American trade prospects can be described as promising".
Obviously, the US was pleased to see the collapse of the Soviet empire, but the seeming thaw didn't mean a complete change in the country's approach. They always kept an eye on Russian journalists and didn't even try to hide it.
Mikhail Taratuta: "One or usually two FBI vehicles were always around. My daughter thought it was funny. We would go to the park and sit down on the only bench that was available. Those guys, usually there were two of them, didn't really have much of a choice. They had to either squat down or stand next to us".
The "spies" didn't stop Mikhail from filming hundreds of video reports on what was totally new to the Russian audience in the early 90s, yet totally normal for an average American. Dog hotels, dog grooming salons, and paid parking; things that are very common in today's Russia. Mikhail also reported on "young women of low social responsibility", as we now call them.
Mikhail Taratuta: "This is probably the most famous brothel in America. Let's take a look".
His video clips on running a small business and government aid programs became a training course for those who started their business here in the 90s. After the 12-year-long immersion in the new culture, Mikhail became a regular guest at political talk shows, where the main questions remain the same: What about modern America? Has it changed since America with Mikhail Taratuta?
Mikhail Taratuta: "There haven't been any significant changes in relations with Russia. And I'm not just talking about politicians, whose position is generally extremely negative. They're definitely focused on a policy of containing Russia. I don't expect to see any kind of truce anytime soon".
The reason for this lies in differences in mentality. When asked what Russians and Americans have in common, Taratuta gives a short answer: nothing.
Mikhail Taratuta: Americans like to stereotype. Imagine a box of labels that say 'bad,' 'good,' 'this,' or 'that.' So as to not spend too much time thinking, Americans simply take those labels out of the boxes. This method significantly expedites the decision-making process. But, generally speaking, it is, of course, primitive.
— Do you think that this approach may have played a role in US-Russian relations?
— I'd say they were confused because at first they thought we were "evil communists", who had "bears wandering around the streets," etc. Then we had Glasnost and Perestroika, so they thought that maybe Russia and Russians weren't that bad. But then things changed for the worse again. So, talking about these labels, there are at least three of them on us."
Mikhail Taratuta is currently writing a book covering all of this. The working title is About Them and About Us, Who Are So Different.
Aleksandr Balitsky, Arina Tretyakova, and Azat Atagonov, Vesti Saturday News.