Dmitry Fedechkin: “The pseudo-scandal around OTV is a good lesson from which we must draw the right conclusions

His appointment was unexpected but, obviously, predetermined by a childhood dream. At a time when all normal teenagers asked their parents to buy a bicycle and looked closely at motor scooters, the future head of the department of press and mass communications Chelyabinsk region dreamed of... a typewriter.

Dmitry FEDECHKIN looks confidently into the future, is ready to put effective technologies into practice and ask his subordinates to be strict. Meanwhile, he does not consider himself an official. Psychologically, the mood is different. New boss- manager. Moreover, despite his youth, he is experienced and seasoned by work in “hot” areas.

Selfish interest

The interest in the typewriter was selfish. Dmitry was actively involved in football and was seriously interested in statistics. IN Soviet times Reputable football reference books were published. And goalkeeper Fedechkin wanted to make the same reference book for his city Miass team. Nowadays information technology is everywhere, and then the typewriter was the only means of implementing this idea. Dmitry “terrorized” his father for a long time, and one day he bought out the enterprise and brought home a decommissioned “Ukraine” with a hefty carriage, if anyone remembers.

I printed with pleasure. I devoted a lot of time to this activity. But... the country's transition to market economy affected the choice of profession. The economic situation in the Fedechkin family was tense. Dmitry entered the electromechanical technical school in order to obtain a sought-after working specialty and be less financially dependent on his parents, since there was a stable scholarship there. He soon realized that technology was not his calling, although many things came easily. I felt more and more drawn to journalism. After graduating from college, I attempted to enter USU. But he scored only 13 failing points. And, of course, there was not a single printed work at that time.

I knew that in the fall they would be drafted into the army. The remaining months were not wasted. Dmitry was invited to work as a correspondent for the corporate newspaper of the Ural Automobile Plant “Ural Automobile”. I got hooked very quickly and liked it. There were, of course, difficulties, but there were many more opportunities. Wrote on factory topics ( technical education it turned out to be useful). He was given his favorite topic, “Sports,” and independently proposed topics were also accepted. While serving in the army, he continued to collaborate and sent sketches to the newspaper. I was preparing to work in the editorial office upon my return. But in 1998, UralAZ entered a systemic crisis. Bankruptcy followed. An interesting comparison: upon returning from the army, Dmitry received 600 demobilization rubles, while his father was paid only 200 in real money for eight months of work.

In general, the Fedechkin family was quite typical by Soviet standards. Dad, mom, daughter, son. Father and mother worked as engineers at defense enterprises in Miass. And the children, as Dmitry Nikolaevich jokes, took after their neighbor. Elder sister Graduated from the Chelyabinsk Pedagogical Institute with a gold medal. He also works in Chelyabinsk, deputy director of Lyceum No. 11. And Dmitry’s life led him to the humanitarian field, more precisely to philology, despite his first technical education. Graduated from the Pedagogical University. Bold theme thesis- “Computer argot” - made a lot of noise in its time. At the commission, Fedechkin’s diploma was in great demand. Philologists argued for a long time about the right of first reading.

Order beats class

When Valery Panov became the external manager of UralAZ, the situation at the enterprise began to improve and Dmitry decided to return to the editorial office. They were waiting for him there and immediately appointed him head of the industrial department. The career was rapid. Passed all stages up to acting. editor-in-chief. In 2004, he was offered to head the press service of UralAZ. He worked in this capacity until October 2009. Until I felt it: somehow it became a bit cramped. At that time, he no longer saw opportunities to grow upward. And I decided to grow in breadth. I began to explore new areas. At the suggestion of the city authorities, he headed the newspaper “Miasssky Rabochiy” (director and editor-in-chief). The newspaper was in a serious creative and economic crisis. The task was interesting. The unique management and economic technologies mastered at UralAZ were supposed to help “pull out” the newspaper. And they helped. Probably, it cannot be said that Fedechkin coped with the task perfectly, but within six months the editorial office stopped generating losses, broke even and began to work in profit.
And then an offer came from the new leadership of the Chelyabinsk region...

Dmitry Nikolaevich, tell us how you got into Yurevich’s team. Your resume is posted on the Internet, very convincing, by the way. Is it really a matter of chance?
- To be honest, I didn’t directly investigate this issue, I wasn’t interested in how they found me. I think certain connections played a role. The fact is that during my work as the head of the press service, contacts were established with almost all editors and specialized journalists in the media. I always tried to work at a high professional level. There were probably reviews. But my contacts with the current leadership of the region, with those people who directly proposed to head the department, were minimal. If we think empirically, perhaps I liked that I had not only experience working in the press service, but also an understanding of modern communication movements and the principles of operation of city and regional newspapers. Television also did not remain untouched. I worked in parallel for several years as a correspondent for a local television company, where there was a share of factory shares. As head of the press service, he was a member of the board. And this television company has two radio stations...

The offer was truly unexpected. I posted my resume at the suggestion of a friend. He is convinced: even if you are satisfied with your current job, your resume should definitely “hang” somewhere just in case. In principle, this is a constant reconciliation of one’s value on the labor market. If offers come in, you are in demand. This was not an end in itself. Simply stagnation, trampling in one place is always degradation. Being content with what has been achieved and resting on your laurels is always the way back.

You have experience organizing a structure from scratch. What is your feeling and mood now? “To the ground, and then...” or will you honor traditions?
- We'll probably be compatible. Remember, Grebenshchikov sang: “In order to stand, I must hold on to the roots”? There are indeed very good traditions in management. They will become a support for us, but we will stick to our line. It has already been clearly discussed with the team that new niches, new types and forms of work will appear. There is a key task - we must work the way the media work today: from the wheels, quickly. We must comply, otherwise we will find ourselves an unclaimed structure.

Formation of internal corporate culture... There is a lot of debate about this. Some people think that this should be done, others are convinced that it shouldn’t be done. What is your opinion?
- In all the companies where I have worked, it was thanks to the corporate culture that a certain result was achieved. It may not be measurable in numbers, but there are tangible advantages in the process of work. It is necessary to unite the team to accomplish a single task. In our profession, everyone is an individual, everyone has their own vision of situations, their own views on life. But being able to step on your own song in the name of achieving a common goal is important. This needs to be done. To be honest, I simply cannot imagine the work of the team structured any differently. A cohesive team is, in principle, a guarantee of success. In football, by the way, there is a very good saying: “Order beats class.” If you gather stellar individuals who play the piano but don’t carry it, of course there will be results. True, different. But it is precisely the formation of an orderly, serious team working towards a common goal that brings results. And here you can’t do without corporate culture.

Who will be washed away by the wave?

- You don’t look like a strict leader... Or is the first impression deceptive?
- I’m not one of those bosses who constantly yell, but I’m also a person of mood. There are different situations, so I try to use them in my work different styles manuals. But in any case, I think controlling shouting is unproductive. By the way, in the Japanese system lean manufacturing There is also a very good saying. The first time a boss raised his voice to a subordinate was the last time he received objective information. Why shout? There are many management techniques that can achieve results without this. As for severity... Probably, the first impression is deceiving. I am a fairly systematic person. I can ask you in full.

- Let's scare the media now...
- You know, at a press conference with city and regional media, Mikhail Valerievich said a very good phrase that can be easily adapted to our block of work. In his opinion, city heads should not create a nightmare for local business... The governor would like to hear from businessmen: “Oh, how the head helps us!..” In principle, we set the same goal with regard to the media. Not to be a nightmare, but to help. Eat common problems, in the solution of which we could help. The main thing is that there is a professional team. For example, my first deputy Natalia Soroka is from the “real sector of the economy.” Long time worked as editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Forward”, one of the best newspapers in Troitsk (and in Chelyabinsk it could create competition). Other members of our team also have solid experience.

- So you look confidently into the future?
- Well, what was the point of taking it otherwise? The task is to raise the level of city and regional media. Today the information space is changing rapidly. Multimedia is off the charts. Most likely this is the future. If the media do not somehow restructure themselves in accordance with the dictates of the times, they will find themselves on the margins of the information field. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to catch up. The wave will wash them away from the market and they will become irrelevant. You need to look for your own forms of survival. But they exist. I repeat: in our work we cannot rest on our laurels. Achieved success - great! Put an end to a certain stage, record the result - move on.

Stroganova Tatyana,especially for Lentachel.ru

His appointment was unexpected but, obviously, predetermined by a childhood dream. At that time, when all normal teenagers asked their parents to buy a bicycle and looked closely at motor scooters, the future head of the department for press and mass communications of the Chelyabinsk region dreamed of... a typewriter.

Dmitry FEDECHKIN looks confidently into the future, is ready to put effective technologies into practice and ask his subordinates to be strict. Meanwhile, he does not consider himself an official. Psychologically, the mood is different. The new boss is a manager. Moreover, despite his youth, he is experienced and seasoned by work in “hot” areas.

Selfish interest

The interest in the typewriter was selfish. Dmitry was actively involved in football and was seriously interested in statistics. In Soviet times, reputable football reference books were published. And goalkeeper Fedechkin wanted to make the same reference book for his city Miass team. Nowadays information technology is everywhere, and then the typewriter was the only means of implementing this idea. Dmitry “terrorized” his father for a long time, and one day he bought out the enterprise and brought home a decommissioned “Ukraine” with a hefty carriage, if anyone remembers.

I printed with pleasure. I devoted a lot of time to this activity. But... the country's transition to a market economy also affected the choice of profession. The economic situation in the Fedechkin family was tense. Dmitry entered the electromechanical technical school in order to obtain a sought-after working specialty and be less financially dependent on his parents, since there was a stable scholarship there. He soon realized that technology was not his calling, although many things came easily. I felt more and more drawn to journalism. After graduating from college, I attempted to enter USU. But he scored only 13 failing points. And, of course, there was not a single printed work at that time.

I knew that in the fall they would be drafted into the army. The remaining months were not wasted. Dmitry was invited to work as a correspondent for the corporate newspaper of the Ural Automobile Plant “Ural Automobile”. I got hooked very quickly and liked it. There were, of course, difficulties, but there were many more opportunities. I wrote about factory topics (technical education came in handy). He was given his favorite topic, “Sports,” and independently proposed topics were also accepted. While serving in the army, he continued to collaborate and sent sketches to the newspaper. I was preparing to work in the editorial office upon my return. But in 1998, UralAZ entered a systemic crisis. Bankruptcy followed. An interesting comparison: upon returning from the army, Dmitry received 600 demobilization rubles, while his father was paid only 200 in real money for eight months of work.

In general, the Fedechkin family was quite typical by Soviet standards. Dad, mom, daughter, son. Father and mother worked as engineers at defense enterprises in Miass. And the children, as Dmitry Nikolaevich jokes, took after their neighbor. The elder sister graduated from the Chelyabinsk Pedagogical Institute with a gold medal. He also works in Chelyabinsk, deputy director of Lyceum No. 11. And Dmitry’s life led him to the humanitarian field, more precisely to philology, despite his first technical education. Graduated from the Pedagogical University. The bold topic of the thesis - “Computer argot” - at one time caused a lot of noise. At the commission, Fedechkin’s diploma was in great demand. Philologists argued for a long time about the right of first reading.

Order beats class

Who will be washed away by the wave?

- You don’t look like a strict leader... Or is the first impression deceptive?
- I’m not one of those bosses who constantly yell, but I’m also a person of mood. There are different situations, so I try to use different leadership styles in my work. But in any case, I think controlling shouting is unproductive. By the way, there is also a very good saying in the Japanese lean production system. The first time a boss raised his voice to a subordinate was the last time he received objective information. Why shout? There are many management techniques that can achieve results without this. As for severity... Probably, the first impression is deceiving. I am a fairly systematic person. I can ask you in full.

- Let's scare the media now...
- You know, at a press conference with city and regional media, Mikhail Valerievich said a very good phrase that can be easily adapted to our block of work. In his opinion, city heads should not create a nightmare for local business... The governor would like to hear from businessmen: “Oh, how the head helps us!..” In principle, we set the same goal with regard to the media. Not to be a nightmare, but to help. There are common problems that we could help solve. The main thing is that there is a professional team. For example, my first deputy Natalia Soroka is from the “real sector of the economy.” For a long time she worked as editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Forward”, one of the best newspapers in Troitsk (and in Chelyabinsk she could create competition). Other members of our team also have solid experience.

Stroganova Tatyana,especially for Lentachel.ru

The Chelyabinsk region was included in the federal information agenda with a topic that was far from positive. One of the federal channels suggested that media censorship is in effect in the region.

The story arose after the REN television company aired a story by journalists from the local OTV television channel about children's toys thrown into the trash, which, based on the results of a competition, were supposed to end up on the New Year trees of Chelyabinsk. The story became surrounded by numerous rumors, and statements began to appear that after this story, OTV journalists were in danger of being fired.

On this occasion, the Grand Jury of the regional branch of the Union of Journalists of Russia met yesterday. After the debriefing, the professional community came to the conclusion that there was not an infringement of freedom of speech, but an industrial conflict. Nevertheless, the Union of Journalists called for protecting the rights of OTV employees, who, according to colleagues, have become hostages of the situation.

With a request to comment on the situation, we turned to Dmitry Fedechkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Governor and Government of the Chelyabinsk Region.

- The scandal with toys and OTV tangentially affected the regional government. It is known that the problem has grown in the sphere of municipal government. Nevertheless, some federal media in their comments castigate the regional authorities. In your opinion, is this a misunderstanding of local specifics or a targeted attack?

I think this is a consequence of the deformation of professional criteria, a decrease in demands on the quality of materials that go into print, broadcast, or are posted on online resources. And this is a question not only and not so much for the federal media, but for journalism in general, including consumers of its products. The scandal has become more important than the truth, the cry is more noticeable than thoughtful analysis, the race and details are more important than the meanings. Objectivity is in a coma, fact-checking is dead. There is no need to complain about this, you need to learn to live with it. Realizing that any scandal that arises in the media is, in the vast majority of cases, a husk without an onion.

The problem really arose at the level of the institution, which is under the jurisdiction of the municipal authorities of Chelyabinsk. And in principle, it should have been resolved at the same level; all the necessary opportunities for this were available. But what is alarming is the persistence with which the situation has become hypertrophied, overgrown with fables, and it is the regional authorities who are constantly attached to it. Two requests received by the governor’s press service from the REN TV channel (to which, by the way, we responded in a timely manner) contained not only erroneous, but also completely unreliable statements. This indicates the TV channel’s bias when approaching the topic. A huge number of factual errors, unreliable statements, words taken out of context and evaluative statements based on something unclear - is this unprofessionalism? For a moment: the journalist who prepared and continues to prepare a series of reports on this topic is a graduate of Moscow State University, the main university in the country. And I am far from thinking that all this is just a coincidence. Especially against the backdrop of the fact that at the same time the same TV channel is pinching regional authorities on another topic, “forgetting” to ask for the position of the region for the sake of objectivity - a mandatory component of journalistic ethics. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but as the famous TV presenter says, “Coincidence? Don't think".

- The conflict at OTV is on the federal agenda. Some people talk about censorship, others about industrial conflicts. As far as I know, you have studied the situation quite thoroughly. What conclusions did you come to?

It was initially obvious to me that this was a violation of internal editorial principles and regulations. Therefore, the results of the consideration of the situation in the Grand Jury of the regional Union of Journalists turned out to be absolutely predictable for me, I assess them as correct and fair. Of course, I still have a question: why did the employees of the TV channel, who found themselves at the epicenter of the scandal, need to involve the supposedly oppressed freedom of speech in this story? The TV company's management's complaints are primarily directed at the producer. The producer is phone calls, agreements, wires and methods of transferring gigabytes of content to partners. A producer and freedom of speech are like a barbell and a bow tie: things are beautiful, but by default incompatible.

I fully admit that the employees’ instinct of self-preservation was triggered falsely. But I do not rule out the possibility that they were “incited” by representatives of the federal channel. Because the development of this conflict, which it eventually received and continues to receive, is not beneficial either for the employees, or for the TV channel, or for the entire media community of the Chelyabinsk region. Only the federal TV channel received advantages, and absolutely undeserved ones. In any case, for all participants in this pseudo-scandal, this is a good lesson from which the right conclusions must be drawn.

- If we remove the journalistic component from this mess, but leave the news story itself, do you think that the officials, because of whose negligence or indifference this whole story arose, should not only draw conclusions, but also be punished?

Of course, they should and, I’m sure, they will.