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Lysenko says he was not offered post of Public TV head

He also said that “younger people are most likely to be offered this position”

MOSCOW, April 18 (Itar-Tass) — President of the International Academy of Television and Radio Anatoly Lysenko has not been offered to head the Public Television. He made this statement in an interview with Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

“I must say that nobody has made such an offer to me,” he said. Asked if he after all is offered the post of the head of the new television, Lysenko said: “I don’t know, I’ll make a decision if I get the offer.”

He also said that “younger people are most likely to be offered this position.”

Lysenko said that so far he has no idea what the public television will be like and how it will function, but he is certain that the TV head must be patient, because “he will be criticised from all sides, it’s inevitable.”

According to him, “The Public Television should fulfil many tasks, but the main among them is to bring up the civil society.” “This TV should not be biased, because in this case it will immediately lose its function. It should be a free platform for the discussion of important for citizens problems and their education,” Lysenko believes.

On Tuesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that he signed an executive order on the establishment of the Public Television in Russia. In this connection Russian media began to publish suppositions about the most likely candidate for the post of the Public Television chief. In particular, Anatoly Lysenko, and head of the Voice of Russia state-run radio Andrei Bystritsky have been named among them. The presidential executive order stipulates that members of the Public Television Council shall be appointed for a term of five years and shall participate in its activities free of charge. Council members cannot include members of the Federation Council, State Duma deputies, members of the Civic Chamber, individuals holding public office or positions in Russian state bodies at federal, regional and municipal levels.

The Russian Public Chamber for its part reported that the acceptance of applications for membership in the Council of the Public Television will be started in May. According to member of the Public Chamber Dmitry Biryukov, the Chamber members will work out a package of documents for the formation of the list of candidates for the Public TV Council as early as next week. He noted that “officials and Public Chamber members cannot be members of the Council.” “It should include people of different political views and public figures,” he added.