Irena Lesnevskaya. Source: personal archive of Irena Lesnevskaya and The New Times archive ©
...When new television companies were being created in 1991 — REN, ATV, VID, — they all emerged from the same Ostankino overcoat, from the same corridors, and they all emerged very differently.
The Beginning
There were people who felt freedom, enterprising, energetic, who always felt cramped in the corridors of CT and in the Gosteleradio system. Apparently, that freedom, the released energy, and the opportunity to start their own business played a role in their gaining strength, being successful, knowing how to fight for advertising, and sensing the public's mood.
Some went towards talk public-political programs, large director's shows, some created bright entertainment programs. Irena retained her ideas about talk television: she had cycles by Eldar Ryazanov, “To Remember” by Leonid Filatov, and at the same time — intellectual entertainment like the “White Parrot” Club.
In the projects they launched then, there was character, there were bright people. And this was combined with elements of enlightenment and some kind of soulfulness, bright emotionality. In fact, this was what Irena was used to — such a channel for everyone, universal. And she wanted to make it, on the one hand, homely, on the other — smart, on the third — still profitable, on the fourth — news-oriented. Therefore, it was universal.
Male Game
From that large company, only Irena emerged with an independent channel. She managed to survive in a male-dominated, very tough game, not change herself, and achieve what she wanted. Maybe it's also because her son, Mitya, was next to her: it was a family business, and it supported her. Maybe because even in that tough game, men understood who they were dealing with: she somehow knew how to present herself and knew how to approach them.
This ability and, probably, understanding of what she wants and why she does it, an inner sense of truth, and of course, the people who were around and whom she did not lose, kept her afloat even in difficult moments of life. After all, the TV channel she created still lives, and some programs live.
I think all this, of course, comes from her youth, from the 1960s, from an inner desire to be as free as possible herself and to give others a chance to breathe
There were several events that established such a liberal spirit for the REN channel that even now, having changed owners, it retains something from that time associated with Irena. The story is known when Ryazanov recorded an interview with Yeltsin — this is a unique interview where he talks about his mistake, about Chechnya, and generally admits many of his own shortcomings, although it was 1996.
There was the story of the hostage-taking at Dubrovka when Dmitry Lesnevsky talked to the captors who demanded that Leonid Roshal and Anna Politkovskaya come. And it was the Lesnevskys who organized the urgent return of Politkovskaya from the USA, who went into the building of the captured theater at Dubrovka.
Connecting Link
When Anya was killed, it was one of the motives for creating the magazine The New Times — I know this for sure. By the way, they also said about the magazine that it would not survive, but it lives. Everything is connected by such a counterpoint: all links of a single chain, a common trajectory — both life path and business.
I think all this, of course, comes from her youth, from the 1960s, from an inner desire to be as free as possible herself and to give others a chance to breathe. This is what accompanied her business and dictated many actions.
And now it is not for nothing that she is sometimes called the “grandmother of Russian television.” This is not because of age, although she takes it with humor. It's just that there was no other woman who, over twenty years, achieved such success in this field and did not lose in this male game. I think this is why both those who love her and her adversaries treat her with respect.
In general, her ability to start a business, bring it to bloom, and, if circumstances so dictate, end the story with dignity and not regret it, not sprinkle ashes on her head — is a very important quality of a person who knows how to take risks and is always ready for changes.