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| Vremya | |
|---|---|
 Logo since 2018 | |
| Genre | News Current affairs |
| Presented by | SeePresenters below |
| Opening theme | Time, Forward! byGeorgy Sviridov, Patrioticheskaya Pesnya byMikhail Glinka (1984–1986), Unnamed Melody byAndrey Petrov (1970–1979) |
| Country of origin | Soviet Union (1968–1991) Russia (1994–present) |
| Original language | Russian |
| Production | |
| Production locations | Ostankino Technical Center, Moscow, Russia |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes to 1 hour (general) 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes (Sunday edition) |
| Production company | Channel One Russia |
| Original release | |
| Network | Soviet Programme One (1968-1991) Channel One (1994-present) |
| Release | 1 January 1968 (1968-01-01) - 27 August 1991 (Soviet Union) 16 December 1994 (1994-12-16) - present (Russia) |
| Related | |
| RT News,Vesti,Novosti | |
Vremya (Russian:Вре́мя,lit. 'Time';pronounced[ˈvrʲemʲə]) is the main evening newscast inRussia, airing onChannel One Russia (Первый канал,Pervy kanal) and previously onProgramme One of theCentral Television of the USSR (CT USSR;Russian:Центральное телевидение СССР, ЦТ СССР). The programme has been on the air since 1 January 1968 (there were no broadcasts from August 1991 to December 1994) and has broadcast in color since 1974.
In the Soviet days ofVremya, the programme had a pro-government bias and typically did not report on news that could potentially fuel anti-government sentiment. The programme presented reports that promotedsocialism and portrayed theWest in a negative manner. The newsroom was tied to thePolitburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee. This situation changed afterGlasnost, when a director of news was introduced alongside the news being sourcedfrom official outlets. This made CT USSR report accurately on thecollapse of the Soviet Union's satellite communist countries in Eastern Europe in 1989. This also made Vremya to be shown uncensored and critical, triggering the protests that hastenedthe end of the Soviet Union.
In the Russian Federation era,Vremya became a "flagship propaganda outlet" of the government.[1] Reporting during the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine featured the Kremlin's messaging, at the same time independent news outlets were shut down.[2][3]
Vremya is produced in three daily editions, scheduled for transmission in Moscow at 13:00, 17:00 and 21:00local time (= UTC+3), the last of these having been the programme's main edition ever since its inception in 1968. Given the country's vast size (it stretches over eleven time zones) editions ofVremya are also broadcast (either live or deferred) at Moscow time plus two, four, six, and eight hours, according to locality.[4]
During the Soviet era, the programme's main edition was also carried simultaneously on the primary channel of each republican station:AzTV,Belarus 1,Eesti Televisioon, Georgian Public Broadcasting, Kazakhstan-1, Channel 1 of theKiev Telecentre,LTV1,Lithuanian National Radio and Television, Uzbekistan 1, etc. The program was also simulcast in autonomous republics as well. Since the premier in 1968, Vremya has been aired via satellite.
Thebroadcast lasts 30 minutes, but in special circumstances (more especially during the Soviet era), the broadcast is extended beyond the 30 minutes allotted when necessary (such as theRed Square state ceremonies and parades,CPSU Party Congress telecasts together with other CPSU-led activities, plenary sessions of theSupreme Soviet of the USSR, and deaths of Soviet leadersLeonid Brezhnev,Yuri Andropov andKonstantin Chernenko). Even highlights of the celebrations of the Union-wide holidays were also broadcast.
Starting in the mid-1970s, another 30-minute late edition was presented on the All-Union Programme (launched in 1956) around 11:00 pm. (This was in the form of a live simulcast ofVremya in the nextOrbita transmission zone, occasionally a repeat of the 9:00 pm programme, especially in the European USSR.) Prior to that, both channels airedVremya simultaneously at 9:00 pm, then a replay broadcast would be aired the next morning when the First Programmesigned on around 7:30 am (later 6:30 am) after the exercise programme, before airing children's programming and schools and colleges programmes, all produced together with the USSR Ministry of Education and were also seen on Programme 4. Later, a live morning edition was shown at 6:30 am, before thebreakfast programme120 minut (which continues today on Channel One Russia asDobroye Utro,Russian:Доброе утро) on weekdays (on weekends a morning edition of Vremya aired at 8:00 am after sign-on).
News summaries were added as the transmissions increased during the day. There was a bulletin at the end of the morning and midday programmes (i.e. around 1:00 pm), an afternoon edition at 3:00 pm, and another at 6:30 pm on the first channel. From 1989, the latter bulletin began to use the two presenter format ofVremya, as well as theVremya moniker, and its corresponding studio and graphics (including the title sequence and theme music), looking as it was the program's first edition (the 6:30 am program was the morning news edition while the one at 1 pm was the midday update), with the 9:00 pm telecast as the second (main) edition and the one at 11:00 pm as the third or late edition or the late night replay. The All-Union Programme's daytime schedule always began with the news at around 15:00. Midnight newscasts did not appear until the 1980s, when the First Programme screened a headline update preceding theclosedown sequence, usually after midnight. All of these bulletins were known asNovosti (Russian:Новости, "The News"). From 1989, the 15:00 news round-up on the All-Union Programme and the midnight news round-up on the First Programme were known asTSN: Television News Service (Russian: TCH:Телевизионная служба новостей,TSN:Televizionnaya sluzhba novostey), which ended in 1991. Today the news on Channel One Russia follows a similar schedule to this one, with Vremya, Novosti, and the all-Russian and regional news updates.
Between 1980 and 1984, and since 1986,Vremya has used the theme song fromTime, Forward! as its signature tune and opening sequence. The French songManchester et Liverpool ofMarie Laforêt was used as the background music that was heard during the weather forecast from 1968 to 1981.[5] After 1985, various songs were used alternatively, but Train at 1:30[6] and Mikhaela ofAnatol Chiriac were the most regularly used background music songs for the weather forecast of Vremya. Until 1991, the weather forecast featured a sequence of photos from various republics of the USSR and during their photos the temperature and weather conditions in each republic was shown, while one of the above songs (like Train at 1:30 and Mikhaela from the mid eighties and after) was used as the background music throughout the weather forecast.
In a two-week test that lasted from 12 to 23 February 1990, more than 100PBS member stations across the United States broadcastVremya. The test was coordinated byWGBH-TV.[7] The test was then extended for another two weeks, but was not carried by all of the same stations.[8]
After the introduction of theglasnost andperestroika,Vremya loosened its fidelity to the party line and began presenting fair reports about the events transforming Eastern Europe at the time. On 15 March 1989 150 million Soviet citizens watched as the station aired an 85-page speech by Gorbachev to aplenum of theCPSU Central Committee criticizing the poor state of agriculture and setting out the case for reforms,[9][10] the highlights of that address being featured on that day's telecast.
In the 1980s, 86% of Soviet adults relied on television coverage as their primary source of news. However,Vremya was seen as "a joke" by many Soviet citizens due to its poor coverage of news events.[9] The coverage of theChernobyl nuclear disaster, for example, was often relegated to lesser news items during the ongoing coverage of the disaster; in contrast, western news media such asCBS Evening News led with the story for six consecutive weekdays.[9] Following the evacuation of the nuclear workers'closed city ofPripyat,Vremya issued the following brief announcement:
There has been an accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. One of the nuclear reactors was damaged. The effects of the accident are being remedied. Assistance has been provided for any affected people. An investigative commission has been set up.
— Vremya, 28 April 1986, 21:00[11]
In 1987 the program logo appeared for the first time in its studio. 1988 saw a big change for the newscast as its studios featured picture backdrops for the first time, and debuted a new logo, with a styled letter В in a box (this was the year of its 20th anniversary). On 19 August 1991 it showed pictures of theimpending coup d'etat in Moscow for the first time, albeit in the new styled studios which opened in 1990.
Vremya covered highlights of the March 1989 elections for theCongress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union and the sessions of the Congress in Moscow, making interviews with its leadership and deputies.
The last Soviet-eraVremya newscast was broadcast on 27 August 1991 and replaced with another news programme known asTV-Inform (ru:ТВ-Информ) the following day.[12] The closure was due to pressure fromRSFSR PresidentBoris Yeltsin claiming that the programme was "too tied to theCPSU", but according to the news anchors themselves it was due to CT USSR being forced to lay off a large number of their staff which were said to beKGB agents. When the USSR dissolved in December that year, the programme, nowNovosti Ostankino, changed broadcasters from Soviet Central Television to the new1st channel Ostankino and4th channel Ostankino. During the network's name change to ORT-1 (Public Russian Television-1,Russian:Общественное Российское Телевидение) in April 1995, and Ostankino 4's earlier 1994 reformatting intoNTV, the newscast was integrated as part of theNovosti ITA brand of newscasts with the 9pm edition being the flagship.
Vremya resumed broadcasting on 16 December 1994, in time to report on thelooming conflict in Chechenya. The format was then changed to that of a single-presenter one, but the dual-presenter one was kept for special editions of the program, and was even incorporated into the newscast's 1995-99 opening sequence. Special New Year's Day openers debuted in 1998, in celebration of the program's 30th anniversary.
On 1 January 2018 the program celebrated its 50th anniversary. Russian PresidentVladimir Putin visited the studio and congratulated the staff for the occasion.[13]
On Sundays since the late 1980s, the programme also has a separate Sunday edition, initially calledSeven Days (Семь дней,Sem' dney), since 2003 known asSunday Vremya (Воскресное Время,Voskresnoe Vremya, Sunday Time). This programme also airs a roundup of the week's news. Until its launch,Vremya was shown as per Monday-Saturday.Sunday Vremya debuted on the then Programme One of Soviet Central Television in 1989.
During a liveVremya broadcast related to theRussian invasion of Ukraine, on 14 March 2022, employeeMarina Ovsyannikova appeared behind the news anchor,Ekaterina Andreeva, holding a poster, made visible to millions of viewers, which stated, in a mix of Russian and English:[14]
No War
Остановите войну, не верьте пропаганде, здесь вам врут.
[Stop the war, don't believe the propaganda, here you are being lied to.]
Russians against war
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