VZCZCXYZ0013
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTL #0232/01 1891403
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071403Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY TALLINN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0695
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS TALLINN 000232 
 
DEPT FOR PA/OBS/BS GSANTULLI 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EN
SUBJECT:  TV CO-OP ON ALASKA GENERATES MAJOR INTEREST PLUS ITS OWN 
MEDIA COVERAGE 
 
REF: Tallinn 258 and 773 
 
¶1.  Summary.  A team of award-winning reporters from the Estonian 
television program "Subboteya" spent three weeks in Alaska exploring 
the history of Alaskan Russians, the challenges faced by Alaska's 
natives, and the lives of Alaskan-Americans.  Not only did their 
documentary air on Estonian TV after their return, the journalists 
also shared their experiences with other Estonian media outlets, 
Tallinn high school students, U.S. Embassy staff, as well as through 
the Mission's signature Regional Outreach Program in the 
predominantly Russian-speaking region of North-East Estonia.  All of 
these follow-on, interactive events generated even more public 
interest and media coverage on Alaska and offered Estonia's 
Russian-speaking youth a positive image of the United States. End 
summary. 
 
¶2. A three-member team of Estonia's Kanal 2 weekly "Subboteya" TV 
program spent three weeks on their TV Co-Op in Alaska from October 
2-20, 2007.  "Subboteja" hosts Aleksandr Zukerman and Mihhail 
Vladislavlev, as well as cameraman Riho Prees, prepared a three-part 
documentary on their trip to Alaska, which aired on Estonia's 
top-ranked Kanal 2 on October 27, November 3, and November 10, 2007. 
 The first piece in the series introduced Alaska and described its 
nature beauty and history.  This segment also covered the annual 
re-enactment in Sitka of the Alaska Purchase and included an 
interview with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.  The second part of the 
documentary focused on Alaska's Native Peoples and their school 
system - including the Alaskan Olympic Games which feature Native 
Alaskan sports.  The third and the final piece focused on Alaska's 
Russian past.  This episode also showed the Alaskan Russian Orthodox 
Church today and told the story of Alaska's communities of Russian 
Old Believers. 
 
¶3.  "Subboteya" is the most widely watched Russian-language TV show 
in Estonia as it is extremely popular among both Russians and 
Estonians.  Thanks to this, the short series on Alaska generated a 
great deal of public interest and secondary media coverage including 
articles in "Arter" magazine - the weekly supplement to Estonia's 
leading newspaper "Postimees" (236,000 readers) as well as in the 
Russian-language edition of "Postimees" (63,000 readers).  The 
crew's Alaska trip was also covered in the Russian-language 
"Molodjozh Estonii" (41,000 readers) and as an upcoming event in the 
weekly TV magazine "Nadal" (120,000 readers). 
 
¶4.  On January 28, 2008, co-hosts Zukerman and Vladislavlev gave a 
talk at a Russian-language high school in Tallinn as part of a 
program designed to inspire young people to pursue careers in 
education.  The journalists showed clips from their programs and 
talked about their experiences in Alaska.  A group of 30 students 
asked questions about Alaska's history, geography, and culture. 
Zukerman said that he wanted to fight stereotypes and asked the 
students to reserve judgments about the United States until they 
have first-hand experience.  This teaching event was covered in the 
Russian-language weekly "Den za Dnjom" (53,000 readers). 
 
¶5.  Thanks to the team's interest in the subject and the large 
amount of film they brought back from Alaska, both "Subboteya" and 
the Embassy have come up with a number of ideas one how to make 
further use of this footage.  During their post-program briefing on 
November 17, the "Subboteya" team offered to participate in Post's 
signature Regional Outreach Program by traveling with and Embassy 
team to the predominantly Russian-speaking city of Narva in 
North-East Estonia.  The purpose of this outreach visit trip was to 
do a series of presentations on the team's trip to Alaska to share 
their experiences with a larger Russian-speaking audience.  The idea 
came to fruition in April 2008 and it represented the first time 
that the Post included non-Embassy staff in one of its Regional 
Outreach Programs. 
 
¶6.  And so on April 24-25, the "Subboteya" team traveled with PAO 
and Media Assistant on Embassy Regional Outreach to Estonia's 
predominantly Russian-speaking Ida-Virumaa region to talk about 
their Alaskan experience.  The journalists met with approximately 
200 Estonian- and Russian-speaking students from various schools in 
Narva and Jhvi.  The students showed great interest in the 
presentation and asked multiple questions on various subjects 
related to life in Alaska.  The "Subboteya" team also gave a talk at 
the American Corner located at Narva's Central Library to over 30 
interested listeners. 
 
¶7.  At both the school and library events, "Subboteya" co-hosts 
Aleksandr Zukerman and Mihhail Vladislavlev showed clips from their 
show. Zukerman and Vladislavlev described their experiences 
traveling in Alaska, across the United States, and around the world. 
 Thanks to their interesting, informative, and fun presentation, 
audiences learned all about Alaska's history, geography, and 
culture.  When speaking at the schools, the journalists stressed 
that the art of communication is instrumental in insuring the 
success of Estonia's integration process. 
 
¶8.  This successful Regional Outreach visit to North-East Estonia 
received significant coverage in the Russian-language regional 
newspaper "Narvskaja Gazeta" on both April 24 and 26 (16,000 
readers) as well as on the Russian-language "Pervyi Baltiski Kanal" 
TV station's evening news (80,000 viewers) on April 28.  Local "TV 
Narva" also interviewed Mihhail Vladislavlev during the visit and 
broadcast this story on both April 25 and 26. 
 
¶5.  Comment:  Post will continue working with the "Subboteya" team 
in order to make the most of what this talented team of journalists 
has to offer to help promote integration in Estonia. 
 
DECKER