| Leonid Parfyonov | |
| Native Name Lang: | ru |
| Birthname: | Leonid Gennadyevich Parfyonov |
| Birth Date: | 26 January 1960 |
| Birth Place: | Cherepovets, Vologda Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Citizenship: | Soviet Union and Russia → Israel (since 2017) |
| Years Active: | 1986–present |
| Spouse: | Yelena Chekalova (1987–present) |
| Education: | Leningrad State University (Journalism, 1982) |
| Signature: | Leonid Parfyonov signature.svg |
Leonid Gennadyevich Parfyonov (Russian: Леонид Геннадьевич Парфёнов, born January 26, 1960[1]) is a Russian journalist, news presenter, TV producer and author of many documentary TV shows. Parfyonov is known for his studio work and productions for the NTV (of which he was Producer General between 1997 and 1999). From December 3, 2004, until December 20, 2007, he was an editor-in-chief of Russky Newsweek, Russian edition of Newsweek. From 2012 until 2018, Parfyonov was a member of Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights.[2] [3]
As the author and narrator of the daily culture news TV show on NTV, Parfyonov produced the line of popular 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 of Pionerskaya Pravda.[9] The first big material, for the State Prize, was devoted to Sergey Solovyov's film One Hundred Days After Childhood (1975).[10] [11] In 1977 he entered the Faculty of Journalism at Zhdanov Leningrad University. In the dormitory he lived together with students from Bulgaria, thanks to which he learned the Bulgarian 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 the Soviet press he was published in such publications as Krasnaya Zvezda, Pravda, Moskovskiye Novosti and Ogoniok. In 1983 he was a correspondent in the newspaper Vologda Komsomolets. For the newspaper he wrote articles on youth culture, fashion, art, in particular he wrote a number of articles about the Leningrad Rock Club. Some time later, two resolutions follow on behalf of the Vologda Regional Committee of the CPSU: "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, where he worked until he left for Moscow in 1986. On regional TV, he interviewed Aleksandr Bovin, disgraced music journalist Artemy Troitsky, and Gunnar Graps, leader of the Magnetic Band.[15]
He was friends with the future famous rock musician Alexander 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 first house concerts in Moscow and Leningrad.[16]
In 1986 Parfyonov was a special correspondent of the youth editorial office of the Central Television, at the same time he worked as a correspondent of the program "The World and Youth". In 1988, he went to work for ATV. In 1989, in co-authorship with Andrey Rasbash, he made a three-part documentary film "Children of the XX Congress" (Russian: "[[20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|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 program "Namedni", which he made together with the TV company ATV. In early 1991, Parfyonov was suspended from the airwaves for making "incorrect" remarks about Eduard Shevardnadze's resignation as foreign minister.
In November 2010 Parfyonov became the first recipient of the Listyev Prize, in honour of Vladislav 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 on the authorities, saying “journalists are not journalists at all but bureaucrats, following the logic of service and submission”.[19] 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".[20]
In February 2018, Parfyonov created a YouTube channel named Parfenon, where he publishes his documentaries 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 show Namedni and started discussing the latest news. As of April 2020, his channel has 760 thousand subscribers and almost 50 million views.[21]