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Leonid Parfyonov | |
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Леонид Парфёнов | |
.jpg) Parfyonov in 2025 | |
| Born | Leonid Gennadyevich Parfyonov (1960-01-26)January 26, 1960 (age 65) |
| Citizenship | Soviet Union and Russia → Israel (since 2017) |
| Education | Leningrad State University (Journalism, 1982) |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Spouse(s) | Yelena Chekalova (1987–present) |
| Website | leonidparfenov |
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Leonid Gennadyevich Parfyonov (Russian:Леонид Геннадьевич Парфёнов, born January 26, 1960[1]) is a Russianjournalist,news presenter,TV producer and author of manydocumentaryTV shows. Parfyonov is known for his studio work and productions for theNTV (of which he was Producer General between 1997 and 1999). From December 3, 2004, until December 20, 2007, he was aneditor-in-chief ofRussky Newsweek, Russian edition ofNewsweek. From 2012 until 2018, Parfyonov was a member ofPresidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights.[2][3]
As the author and narrator of the dailyculture news TV showNamedni [ru] on NTV, Parfyonov produced the line ofpopular history TV documentaries which he narrated and hosted on-site of almost each event portrayed. The series achieved great success and were repeatedly broadcast for years after premiere.[4][5]
Leonid Parfyonov was born on January 26, 1960, in Cherepovets, Vologda region. His mother, Alvina Andreevna Parfyonova (maiden name Shmatinina, born 1931), came from the village of Ulomy; his father's ancestors, metallurgical engineer Gennady Viktorovich Parfyonov (1931–2004), were from Yorga.[6][7] His father was chief engineer of the Cherepovets Iron and Steel Complex. Leonid's brother Vladimir Parfyonov (born 1966) is a businessman, owner of a company selling medical equipment.[8]
Parfyonov studied at school in Cherepovets. In 1973 he received a diploma as a young correspondent ofPionerskaya Pravda.[9] The first big material, for the State Prize, was devoted toSergey Solovyov's filmOne Hundred Days After Childhood (1975).[10][11] In 1977 he entered the Faculty of Journalism atZhdanov Leningrad University. In the dormitory he lived together with students fromBulgaria, thanks to which he learned theBulgarian language, which, according to his own words, is still the only foreign language he can speak fluently.[12] He graduated in 1982.[13][14]
In theSoviet press he was published in such publications asKrasnaya Zvezda,Pravda,Moskovskiye Novosti andOgoniok. In 1983 he was a correspondent in the newspaperVologdaKomsomolets. For the newspaper he wrote articles on youth culture, fashion, art, in particular he wrote a number of articles about theLeningrad Rock Club. Some time later, two resolutions follow on behalf of the Vologda Regional Committee of theCPSU: "On deficiencies in the newspaper 'Vologda Komsomolets'" and "On serious deficiencies in the newspaper 'Vologda Komsomolets'". After them, Parfyonov would be forced to quit the newspaper and go to work for Vologda Regional TV in Cherepovets,[11] where he worked until he left for Moscow in 1986. On regional TV, he interviewedAleksandr Bovin, disgraced music journalistArtemy Troitsky, andGunnar Graps, leader of theMagnetic Band.[11][15]
He was friends with the future famous rock musicianAlexander Bashlachev. It was at Parfyonov's apartment in September 1984 that Bashlachev had his fateful meeting with Artemy Troitsky, after which the latter organized for Bashlachev the firsthouse concerts in Moscow andLeningrad.[16]
In 1986 Parfyonov was a special correspondent of the youth editorial office of theCentral Television, at the same time he worked as a correspondent of the program "The World and Youth". In 1988, he went to work forATV. In 1989, in co-authorship withAndrey Rasbash, he made a three-part documentary film "Children of the XX Congress" (Russian:"Дети XX съезда") about the generation of the sixties (Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Len Karpinsky,Yegor Yakovlev,Andrei Voznesensky, etc.)[17]
From November 1990 to March 1991 - author and host of the information and analytical programNamedni, which he made together with the TV company ATV. In early 1991, Parfyonov was suspended from the airwaves for making "incorrect" remarks aboutEduard Shevardnadze's resignation asforeign minister.[1]
In 1992, he made a series of programs "Delo", telling about the events that took place in the world in 1991.
In 1992, Parfyonov,Konstantin Ernst, Igor Ugolnikov and ex-producer of the TV companyVIDgital Svetlana Popova formed the company "Master TV" to produce their own programs, which existed for three years.
From March 1992 to May 1993, on Ostankino Channel 1, Parfyonov was the author and presenter of the documentary "Portrait on the background". At first, he talked about political figures (Gaidar,Rutskoy,Shevardnadze,Nazarbayev), and then devoted the broadcasts to people who personify any era (Zykina,Kirillov,Magomaev,Pugacheva,Grebenshchikov). In December 1992, as part of this program, Parfyonov interviewedEvgeny Leonov, which, as it later turned out, was the last for the popular actor,[18] but was not fully shown on television until 2002.[19]
In October 1993, he moved to work at the newly established television company NTV, where he decided to relaunch the programNamedni, but this time in the format of a "weekly informational program on non-political news." Parfyonov was the first in Russia to wear pink shirts instead of white ones during filming and to appear on air unshaven. This was part of the format he called "infotainment" — news through entertainment.[20]
In 1994, he was the author and host of the projectNTV — Novogodnee TeleVidenie (NTV — New Year's Television), for which he received his first TEFI award in the category "Entertainment Program".[21]
On March 15, 1995, Leonid Parfyonov hosted an episode of Vladislav Listyev's talk showChas Pik (Rush Hour) on Channel 1 Ostankino.[22]
In November 2010 Parfyonov became the first recipient of the Listyev Prize, in honour ofVladislav Listyev, a Russian TV journalist who was murdered in 1995. On the live-broadcast ceremony for the prize, Parfyonov made an unexpected and emotional speech damning Russian TV community for dependence onthe authorities, saying “journalists are not journalists at all but bureaucrats, following thelogic of service and submission”.[24] This became a contradiction to the past, when Parfyonov had refrained from making political statements, saying "I am a professional journalist, not a professional revolutionary. My job is to report, not to climb the barricades".[25]
In February 2018, Parfyonov created a YouTube channel named Parfenon, where he publishes hisdocumentaries and runs a weekly blog on "what has happened [to Parfyonov] during the week, what [he] saw, and what [he] thought about" as written in his channel's description. He later revived his TV showNamedni and started discussing the latest news. As of April 2020, his channel has 760 thousand subscribers and almost 50 million views.[26]
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