Legendary TV host Vladimir Molchanov has died in Russia
Vladimir Molchanov, a well-known journalist, television host, and writer, has died in Russia. Molchanov was 75 years old.
Photographer Yuri Rost announced the media figure’s death.
Rost wrote about the loss on social media, calling the TV host a “talented and intelligent Russian intellectual” as well as a man with a clear moral stance.
“What a tragedy! A wonderful, dignified man, Volodya Molchanov, has passed away. A talented and intelligent Russian intellectual, a principled journalist, a brilliant TV host, an honest writer, and my great friend. This is a great and irreparable loss,” Rost wrote.
Vladimir Molchanov was one of the most famous TV hosts of the late Soviet period and the early 1990s. From the early 1970s, he worked at the Soviet News Agency “Novosti” (APN) and also served as a correspondent in the Netherlands.
The journalist gained widespread popularity in the late 1980s thanks to his original program Before and After Midnight. The show was a true breakthrough for Soviet television and significantly changed the format of television broadcasts at the time.
In addition, Molchanov hosted the programs “Time” and “90 Minutes,” and worked on the series “And Longer Than a Century.”
The journalist repeatedly and openly expressed his views on political events in the USSR. In one interview, he recalled that after the events in Vilnius in January 1991, he refused to host the program “Time” and demonstratively threw away his party membership card.
“They let me keep the program, but they started coming into the editing room sometimes to peek at what we were editing,” Molchanov said in an interview.
As early as 1991, following the events in Vilnius, Molchanov openly criticized the Soviet authorities.
After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Molchanov did not speak out publicly; however, in the Russian independent media and in the recollections of his colleagues, he was described as a man with anti-war and humanistic views.
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