ID :
145423
Sun, 10/10/2010 - 09:13
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/145423
The shortlink copeid
.Row erupts over erotic calendar MSU students offer PM as 'gift'.
MOSCOW, October 9 (By Itar-Tass World Service writer Lyudmila
Alexandrova) -- On the birthday of the Russian prime minister and leader of the United Russia party, Vladimir Putin, who turned 58 last Thursday, a scandal erupted over some controversial gifts offered to him.
On the eve
of Putin's birthday shoppers in the hypermarkets of the Auchan group could
buy an erotic calendar, entitled Vladimir Vladimirovich, We Love You. On
its pages, half-naked students and graduates of the journalism department
of the Moscow State University expressed love and affection to the prime
minister, each in her own way.
While the top officials of the journalism department were criticizing
the girls and Internet blogs were being filled with indignant comments
(most of them are unquotable), another group of female students of
journalism managed to make their own 'counter-present' to the prime
minister.
The erotic calendar was put on sale on October 6. The author of the
project is the Fakultet Publishers, headed by three former students of the
journalism department of the Moscow State University. In the Auchan
hypermarkets the calendar can be bought for 250 rubles. On its pages there
are photos of female students of the MGU department of journalism and
captions, positioned as messages to the prime minister. Each is signed by
the name of the girl and mentions what status the lady has at the
journalism department (student, graduate, post-graduate student).
Among the photo captions one can see the following ones: "If only
everyone had such a man," "How about a third time?" "You are the best!",
"I love you!" "Well, who, if not you?" "Over the years, you only get
better," "You are my primier," "I want to congratulate you personally.
Give me a call."
A fifth-year student of the journalism department, Yelena Gornostayeva
(The Girl of March), addresses Putin from the pages of the calendar in
these words: "Forest fires have been put out, but I am still burning."
Gornostayeva, a hostess on Radio Energy, had already undressed once for
the readership of men's Maxim magazine.
According to her, the department held "a large-scale casting,
well-known stylist Sasha Rogov worked with us and twelve of us were
selected."
"This calendar was timed for the birthday of the prime minister, the
girls decided to make him such a present. It is from a pure heart. We are
pleased that we were able to personally congratulate our prime minister
with all our beauty," said one of the participants of the project.
As the electronic newspaper GZT.RU has learned from the producer of
the project, a former student of journalism at the Moscow State University
and co-founder of the publishing house Fakultet, Vladimir Tabak, the
calendar was printed in 50 thousand copies.
"We have a lot of respect for Vladimir Putin, and since we are in the
publishing business, we decided to congratulate him on his birthday in
this way. Since we are the department's graduates ourselves, we decided to
invite girls from the department into the project. They are not models,
but intelligent girls who are getting good education in the humanities.
These girls have not just good looks, but also brains," Vladimir Tabak
said.
It is interesting that the release of an erotic calendar for 2011 as a
gift to Putin on October 6 was announced in her blog by the
press-secretary of the pro-Kremlin movement Nashi (Ours), Christina
Potupchik.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said immediately afterwards he had not
heard about such a calendar before, and attributed it to the personal
initiative of Nashi movement activists.
"We can treat this as a private initiative of that lady (Christina
Potupchik). As for taste, it is her own business," said Putin's spokesman.
The press service of the department of journalism said it was a
personal initiative of the students, and the university learned about it
from the Internet. The dean of the department of journalism, Yelena
Vartanova, criticized the students for what she described as an "incorrect
act". Vartanova is quoted by the Russian News Service radio as saying that
every Russian citizen has the right to congratulate a senior official on
his or her birthday. However, according to department's dean, the students
should not have used the name of the journalism department of the Moscow
State University to advertise their gift. "They have hidden themselves
behind a brand that does not belong to them personally," said Vartanova.
However, she added that the girls will not suffer punishment for what
they have done. "Why should we punish them? It's only a matter of
education, taste and ethics," she explained.
"The appearance of such a calendar is evidence of the tastes, level of
education and ethical standards of the students who contributed to its
release. In my opinion, all this is very bad, but we sometimes cannot
control students in their actions. Everyone has likes and dislikes, and
that is the way it has always has been," the president of the department
of journalism (permanent dean from 1965 to 2007) Yasen Zasursky said in an
interview with the e-newspaper GZT.ru.
The journalistic community has given its own response to the
initiative. The next day there appeared in the Internet an alternative
calendar, also a gift to Putin. This alternative Calendar was based on a
contrast: on its pages one sees female students of the same department of
journalism of Moscow State University, but fully clothed and with their
mouths taped with scotch. Next to the photos are these questions: "When
will Khodorkovsky be released?", "How inflation will affect bribes?", "Who
killed Anna Politkovskaya?" and so on.
By the way, 7 October is not only Putin's birthday, but also the day
when Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya was killed.
The alternative photo calendar has been posted on her blog by one of
the participants in the project with a postscript: "After yesterday's
calendar, (even giving the link to it is disgusting), a group of girls at
the journalism department of the Moscow State University could not but
prepare its own response. We have a few questions to ask... We have asked
them. My advice is to print it out and put it up on the wall. We shall not
let the journalism department's honest name be disgraced."
In the Internet, students and graduates of the journalism department
have begun to actively discuss the issue of reputational damage done to
the department. "I would not like anyone to associate us with this," a
female student has written in Twitter. "I have taken a look at those
students of journalism and I felt like writing a letter to the department'
s president. 'Mr. Zasursky, expel these idiots," says a commentator in
another microblog. One of the female graduates of the faculty has written:
"I'm getting up to go and burn my diploma right away."
Blogger calling himself Simon writes: "In journalism now there are
practically no normal people, so I believe there is no room for things to
get worse. That they have stripped themselves half-naked - well, that's
the type of youth we have these days, everybody who is not too lazy
hurries to get undressed. Is there anything else we can boast about? All
normal guys have left long ago, and they get Nobel awards. We keep
exporting oil and women. Actually, there is nothing else to go around."
-0-str
Alexandrova) -- On the birthday of the Russian prime minister and leader of the United Russia party, Vladimir Putin, who turned 58 last Thursday, a scandal erupted over some controversial gifts offered to him.
On the eve
of Putin's birthday shoppers in the hypermarkets of the Auchan group could
buy an erotic calendar, entitled Vladimir Vladimirovich, We Love You. On
its pages, half-naked students and graduates of the journalism department
of the Moscow State University expressed love and affection to the prime
minister, each in her own way.
While the top officials of the journalism department were criticizing
the girls and Internet blogs were being filled with indignant comments
(most of them are unquotable), another group of female students of
journalism managed to make their own 'counter-present' to the prime
minister.
The erotic calendar was put on sale on October 6. The author of the
project is the Fakultet Publishers, headed by three former students of the
journalism department of the Moscow State University. In the Auchan
hypermarkets the calendar can be bought for 250 rubles. On its pages there
are photos of female students of the MGU department of journalism and
captions, positioned as messages to the prime minister. Each is signed by
the name of the girl and mentions what status the lady has at the
journalism department (student, graduate, post-graduate student).
Among the photo captions one can see the following ones: "If only
everyone had such a man," "How about a third time?" "You are the best!",
"I love you!" "Well, who, if not you?" "Over the years, you only get
better," "You are my primier," "I want to congratulate you personally.
Give me a call."
A fifth-year student of the journalism department, Yelena Gornostayeva
(The Girl of March), addresses Putin from the pages of the calendar in
these words: "Forest fires have been put out, but I am still burning."
Gornostayeva, a hostess on Radio Energy, had already undressed once for
the readership of men's Maxim magazine.
According to her, the department held "a large-scale casting,
well-known stylist Sasha Rogov worked with us and twelve of us were
selected."
"This calendar was timed for the birthday of the prime minister, the
girls decided to make him such a present. It is from a pure heart. We are
pleased that we were able to personally congratulate our prime minister
with all our beauty," said one of the participants of the project.
As the electronic newspaper GZT.RU has learned from the producer of
the project, a former student of journalism at the Moscow State University
and co-founder of the publishing house Fakultet, Vladimir Tabak, the
calendar was printed in 50 thousand copies.
"We have a lot of respect for Vladimir Putin, and since we are in the
publishing business, we decided to congratulate him on his birthday in
this way. Since we are the department's graduates ourselves, we decided to
invite girls from the department into the project. They are not models,
but intelligent girls who are getting good education in the humanities.
These girls have not just good looks, but also brains," Vladimir Tabak
said.
It is interesting that the release of an erotic calendar for 2011 as a
gift to Putin on October 6 was announced in her blog by the
press-secretary of the pro-Kremlin movement Nashi (Ours), Christina
Potupchik.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said immediately afterwards he had not
heard about such a calendar before, and attributed it to the personal
initiative of Nashi movement activists.
"We can treat this as a private initiative of that lady (Christina
Potupchik). As for taste, it is her own business," said Putin's spokesman.
The press service of the department of journalism said it was a
personal initiative of the students, and the university learned about it
from the Internet. The dean of the department of journalism, Yelena
Vartanova, criticized the students for what she described as an "incorrect
act". Vartanova is quoted by the Russian News Service radio as saying that
every Russian citizen has the right to congratulate a senior official on
his or her birthday. However, according to department's dean, the students
should not have used the name of the journalism department of the Moscow
State University to advertise their gift. "They have hidden themselves
behind a brand that does not belong to them personally," said Vartanova.
However, she added that the girls will not suffer punishment for what
they have done. "Why should we punish them? It's only a matter of
education, taste and ethics," she explained.
"The appearance of such a calendar is evidence of the tastes, level of
education and ethical standards of the students who contributed to its
release. In my opinion, all this is very bad, but we sometimes cannot
control students in their actions. Everyone has likes and dislikes, and
that is the way it has always has been," the president of the department
of journalism (permanent dean from 1965 to 2007) Yasen Zasursky said in an
interview with the e-newspaper GZT.ru.
The journalistic community has given its own response to the
initiative. The next day there appeared in the Internet an alternative
calendar, also a gift to Putin. This alternative Calendar was based on a
contrast: on its pages one sees female students of the same department of
journalism of Moscow State University, but fully clothed and with their
mouths taped with scotch. Next to the photos are these questions: "When
will Khodorkovsky be released?", "How inflation will affect bribes?", "Who
killed Anna Politkovskaya?" and so on.
By the way, 7 October is not only Putin's birthday, but also the day
when Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya was killed.
The alternative photo calendar has been posted on her blog by one of
the participants in the project with a postscript: "After yesterday's
calendar, (even giving the link to it is disgusting), a group of girls at
the journalism department of the Moscow State University could not but
prepare its own response. We have a few questions to ask... We have asked
them. My advice is to print it out and put it up on the wall. We shall not
let the journalism department's honest name be disgraced."
In the Internet, students and graduates of the journalism department
have begun to actively discuss the issue of reputational damage done to
the department. "I would not like anyone to associate us with this," a
female student has written in Twitter. "I have taken a look at those
students of journalism and I felt like writing a letter to the department'
s president. 'Mr. Zasursky, expel these idiots," says a commentator in
another microblog. One of the female graduates of the faculty has written:
"I'm getting up to go and burn my diploma right away."
Blogger calling himself Simon writes: "In journalism now there are
practically no normal people, so I believe there is no room for things to
get worse. That they have stripped themselves half-naked - well, that's
the type of youth we have these days, everybody who is not too lazy
hurries to get undressed. Is there anything else we can boast about? All
normal guys have left long ago, and they get Nobel awards. We keep
exporting oil and women. Actually, there is nothing else to go around."
-0-str
