Each person is different.
And yet, they all want the same: happiness, harmony and recognition...
as we'll show in seven lives, seven days, seven cities all over the world.
Seven times we ask questions about life's difficulties, and share wonderment.
The world in seven days
Day 2 - Media
We live in a world with more and more information and less and less meaning.
Moscow Russia
Each modern country provides its citizens with news...
...from free democracies to the strictest dictatorships.
In Russia, too, they make news, and provide it.
In recent years freedom of the press has virtually disappeared.
The media have evolved into a power broker guiding the people.
The media distort reality...
...or, worse still, the media create a fake reality...
...which replaces or wipes out the actual reality.
What has really happened? What and who is to be believed?
Hello. - Did you find a bank?
Yes, but it was a building without doors and windows.
Only a gap at the gate...
with a message. I'm on my way to the office with the photographs.
Did you succeed? - What?
Could you take pictures? - Yes, of course.
We'll look at them when you're here.
Okay, I'll be right there. - Great.
The craft of journalism was always about two things: objectivity and truth.
But to present those two in an attractive way one needs something like a story...
a creative construction to embed the cold facts in.
That's the area of tension: What or who determines the final form of the story?
What have you got for me, Denis? - I have the photographs of the bank.
Unfortunately there was a gate. And a message was put up there.
You call this a photograph? - What? You see the gate, don't you?
Someone tries to enter. - The pictures are bad, but oh well.
What else should I have... - There's nothing to see. I get it.
Cars, a wall.
Show me another series. I'm too busy for this.
That was it. What would you like from the Duma tomorrow?
Nice pictures, a bit more abstract.
Something with deputies. Insignias and other nonsense.
And the stairs in the Duma.
How they walk up and down the stairs. I'd like a new photograph of that.
Is it only the Duma for you tomorrow?
Tomorrow's my day off. - Really?
You'd better not screw up your photographs. Excuse my French.
Don't screw up your pictures.
That's the worst service you can do to your newspaper.
Bye everybody. - Good luck. Don't forget the door.
When I don't need to start work early...
I always begin my day with the newspaper, when I'm at home.
To my amazement this always takes an hour and a half...
no matter how thin the paper is.
I follow the news frequently.
All the time, actually. You could almost call it a news addiction.
What happened where? How are certain countries governed?
Why do certain things happen in some countries?
I virtually always watch the TV news. That very important to me.
If you're ill-informed, it feels like you've dropped behind.
Los Angeles United States
In the US, freedom of the press is an essential part of democracy.
But the media are commercial.
They use the craft of journalism to make money.
News as a vehicle for selling things.
Advertisements and fake information give the reader commercial guidance.
A journalist's individual quality doesn't come out in the information industry.
Each image or report ends up in a overfull universe...
in hyperreality, a make-believe world. We consume and produce this reality.
And the journalist looks for a way out of the inflation of meaning.
News that really matters gets buried.
We must be prepared.
When you save roubles, you'll lose your money.
When you have a savings account in roubles...
you'll also lose money, because of inflation. Inflation will only increase.
I also have pockets.
Two of them.
Just a little bit longer.
Will you go to the Duma today? - Yes, Ulyukayev will speak today.
There are new delegates. - They're all the same, aren't they?
Their ties are different.
The stripes go from right to left or the other way around.
Denis is an introverted man, complex and withdrawn.
His reactions to everyday things can be very surprising...
you never know in advance...
and so original that you don't know how to respond.
Occasionally...
you need to plough through the first thirty pages of a book...
before it gets interesting.
It's the same with Denis. When you try to understand him, give him time...
and know him a bit longer, he's a very interesting person.
I grew up during perestroika, right before the fall of the Soviet Union.
Obviously, you could go everywhere and say everything.
I don't know but I have the idea that there's more censorship now...
than in the final years of the Soviet Union.
But it's not so bad, I think.
We live in the XXIst century and we have internet.
And we have mobile phones, so information will spread regardless.
Censorship is not really the problem.
But do people actually want to be informed?
If they want information, they can get it.
If not, they don't get it. But censorship is not the problem.
Today the Duma discussed the fifth column in the press.
A bill is being proposed...
to introduce a registration system for part of the press.
A medium that supports the interests of our geopolitical enemies...
should be registered as foreign.
Does Russia have a fifth column? Yes, and it's powerful.
Echo of Moscow, Gusinsky's News.ru.com...
Snob and RBK, which belong to Prokhorov, who owns an NBA team.
The owners of the media are controlled by the aggressors.
Media that receive support from abroad should be registered as foreign.
If an owner is from a foreign country...
then the medium is also foreign.
I don't watch TV, and on the internet I select my favourite websites.
Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer independent websites.
We also have radio. That's it.
We used to subscribe to a newspaper, but not anymore.
They have nothing interesting. There's nothing left.
No newspapers or other sources that provide normal information.
In the morning I listen to the radio, for news about the economy.
At CBN you only hear the general news.
I can really look forward to the sports news at 18.45 and the news at 20.00.
That was beaten into me, I think.
I can't always watch, but it's nice.
We watch NTV and CNN Türk...
because we want to follow the international news more extensively.
Turkish channels also have it...
but international news is mainly found at certain specific channels.
I get the news from many different sources.
For example from Kuhu, WeChat, Weibo...
and the TV news at seven o'clock.
I particularly like background articles.
I find it important to see and read the highlights.
But my main interest are the backgrounds of the news.
The Duma has adopted a bill...
that will radically change our newspaper.
The outcome is hard to predict, against the background of these developments.
So everything is uncertain.
I need to prepare for a situation in which there's no longer any work.
Not that I should start saving, but I should look for different work.
That doesn't mean that I should go to a different newspaper.
I'll have to change everything.
State Duma
As a human being you can't lie on the couch all day.
You need to create something...
to build or plant something.
That's why I love to work.
Most of the time work is fun.
But my visits to the Duma...
are something I'd rather do without.
How can the journalist still be meaningful...
really give meaning to the news?
He's not the only one in the news factory, he's just a cog in the machine.
The consumer wants to be informed...
and follows the current affairs agenda without dwelling on its content.
Readers don't really worry about censorship...
especially since so much news is available.
But information becomes more and more uniform and lacks depth.
Everything looks similar. The news is no longer discussed. It's being recycled.
It confirms itself in its repetition, until it becomes its own world view.
I consider myself an illustrator rather than a photographer.
I use photography to get my illustrations.
If something happens somewhere...
you need to go there and capture its positive and negative aspects...
so that the editors can use those images...
to illustrate the event.
Sometimes it's very interesting.
Taking photographs of a grey building in grey weather...
is far from easy. First you need to love the building.
You also need to love grey weather, grey asphalt and this grey gate.
Otherwise you might as well put a bullet through your head.
Certain rules of thumb apply.
The journalist's story must be relevant, its usefulness evident.
It must also have a certain beauty.
That's how it works: cutting, refining and polishing text and image.
You should evoke enough recognition to fit in with the public's general taste...
and make it interesting by deviating from it.
Singular, but not too singular.
Meaningful, but within the limits of the censor.
I need the media to give me input.
I find it very important to have access to independent media.
Otherwise I'd think I might be manipulated or deceived...
or get a biased view of something.
I make an assessment myself. Some reports I do believe...
and others I don't, in which case I ignore them.
If the press helps disseminate views which you reject...
You make photographs, hand them in, they're printed, you go to bed...
wake up in the morning.
Millions of people form an opinion about matters of politics.
You know that the article, with your photograph, is all lies.
Do you leave it like that, because you're part of the system?
Well, I think that... No, of course not.
I once worked for a newspaper for only three and a half days.
In no way did it live up...
to the standards of journalism.
That's why I had to leave after just three days.
It was absolutely impossible. It was nothing but nonsense.
When you start to see what power really means...
what it consists of, because you're dealing with it all the time...
making many photographs and looking for suitable images...
then everything becomes really clear.
A newspaper's policy impedes you...
when it deviates from your own views, doesn't it?
The newspaper I work for...
is a regular, neoliberal daily.
There's a very open culture, which makes me feel very free.
Are they good enough for the Pulitzerprijs?
Of course they are. - Really?
I feared I'd get even angrier.
That's number eight. Look how beautiful it is.
This one's beautiful.
This one's important for our housing issue.
Very beautiful, as I said, Pulitzer-worthy.
It's a joke, you see? As if you'd really get a Pulitzer prize.
It's good to keep on dreaming.
I've worked for the mass media for a very long time...
and I'm very dedicated.
So I know, even though I can't prove it, unfortunately...
that the media have been invented...
to spread certain ideas about human behaviour...
which are very far removed from what I see as the ideal world...
from my ideas about society: how we should live on this planet...
in concert with other living creatures. That makes me feel very sad.
News is made on the basis of your own background, culture and convictions.
So you're a bit blind for people with different views.
The only thing you hear is...
what you already think is going on within your own culture.
If I couldn't even trust the news...
what else should I have doubts about?
You should filter the news and stay true to your convictions.
You should make your own judgements, not let yourself be carried away.
This is the hyperreality in which the daily life of consumers takes place.
Many of them adapt their needs, their desires...
to what the media present as valuable.
They're meaning-givers, value-determiners...
and especially influence youngsters and even guide the masses:
An electoral dream of politicians, a financial dream of entrepreneurs.
Twenty years ago women still wore clothes from a Soviet factory.
Now they can choose: the store over there, Adidas, Zara.
They compete. Some have special offers and deals.
Everyone goes there as everything's cheaper or more attractive.
When it's sale at Zara, they all go there.
That's typical consumer behaviour.
There's a marketing expert in this tower who guides all those crowds.
How can you become happy or unhappy...
by buying something? I really don't understand.
A person's happiness lies in totally different things.
If you look at the Russian term for happiness...
it's made up of two words:
'Part' and 'of'.
So to be part of something or someone.
What marketing experts and companies do with people...
on the basis of this principle really worries me. It's just not right.
People, and children in particular, deserve...
to be handled with more care.
You can't round them up and subjugate them with some sort of bait.
That's cruel.
Ultimately, this is about human liberty.
Whether we're dealing with the US or Russia, a capitalist or a socialist past...
the media do their work, extensively covering what's popular...
drowning out individual stories.
What the journalist really wants to tell is hardly ever published.
How do you know if you make the right choices in life?
You can compare yourself with others. The media give you that opportunity.
Regarding identity, status, desire, even personal happiness...
one can follow the media's prescriptions...
or, after a timely withdrawal, put things in perspective...
make thorough inquiries...
trust oneself, as an individual with a personal taste...
and an opinionated view of the world.
I have astigmatism.
That's a congenital eye condition.
In all my life I've never known...
what it is to see well. I've never been able to see normally.
But what I like...
about the combination of bad eyesight and working as a photographer...
is that I rely on my intuition...
meaning that sometimes I don't see things, but I do feel them.
And these photographs may turn out well.
When that happens, I'm really over the moon.
It only happens occasionally. And then I'm very happy and content.
Beautiful.
You see nothing with those eyes. - Rada, would you come here, please.
She can't see a thing. The hat blocks her view.
He often photographs our daughter with Instagram.
A year ago, maybe a bit longer, he started using Instagram.
He likes to use his phone for unexpected snapshots.
You don't need to retouch them. The picture is what it is.
You capture the moment.
He likes it a lot. He already had an Instagram exhibition.
It's incredible that an iPhone can produce a photograph like that.
A truthful picture.
I consider Denis's work as the thing...
that gives meaning to his life.
Nothing beats personal experience.
Self-observed, self-made: that's what makes you happy.
When mass media don't offer us that, we'd rather withdraw in our private life...
where we don't need to produce incessantly and nothing is hyped...
but where we find satisfaction...
in the most individual expression of the most individual emotion.
That's how simple my work is.
No comments:
Post a Comment