225684 | 9 Sept. 2024 | 19:47
THE UNPARALLELED MEDIA TOREADOR
WORDS FOR KEVORK KEVORKYAN
Margarita Pesheva
In the classic Spanish fiesta, the bullfighter is constantly playing with death, not only provoking the bull in the arena, but also himself. He puts his life on the line, because he believes in his knowledge, skills and excellent preparation. The bullfighter always relies on being the stronger player in the arena, who can always defeat the bull.
For decades, Kevork Kevorkyan has worked in journalism. He has written hundreds of articles dedicated to the national fate and the plight of the ordinary person, who is often deprived of rights and justice. His love for Bulgaria and his homeland can be seen in every publication. He passionately desires for life in the country to improve, for laws to be followed by everyone, and for there to be societal morality and social justice. The Facebook page of Kevork has thousands of likes, shares, comments and engagements, and it's no coincidence. Above all, his exceptional contribution as a television journalist, who for three decades has created, developed and elevated the greatest TV achievement in the 65-year history of Bulgarian television - the show "Every Sunday".
THE BULLFIGHTER, THE TELEVISION
The greatness of Kevork Kevorkyan's television success in the show "Every Sunday" is that, like a true TV bullfighter, he enters the arena, but "the bull is inside him", constantly competing with himself. Every following episode of "Every Sunday", every TV interview about him is always the same serious media battle. Over the years, he constantly competes on the television arena: with the routine of his profession - with the dogmatism of power - with the "resistance" of his interviewees - with the lack of experience of the audience for such a big media challenge. But Kevorkyan is an incomparable media matador. He knows perfectly well that every great journalistic success is a cruel competition with the "bull inside you", which you must defeat in order to succeed.
"EVERY SUNDAY", TV BRIDGES
"Every Sunday" is undoubtedly a visionary show that surpasses its time and era. It is always broadcast live. For three decades, it remains a territory of free speech and innovative experiments. Since 1983. The show is broadcasted live from various European capitals including Moscow, Budapest, Paris, Tallinn, Warsaw, etc.
"Every Sunday" has 1,060 episodes with over 6,000 guests, where Kevorkyan asks nearly 70,000 questions.
He offers the audience dozens of original segments, which make "Every Sunday" a pioneering television program. It is no coincidence that several of its segments are later "cloned" in other TV shows, such as "Interview at Will," "Short Story Feature," "Arbitration on Sunday," "Family History Hour," etc. The show also has segments on investigative journalism, health and sports issues, historical memory, etc. It also broadcasts Italian football and the first TV bingo. "Every Sunday" organizes a nationwide highly successful campaign for raising funds for the restoration of war monuments, which is the first of its kind in our country.
Thanks to the talent, craftsmanship and creative efforts of Kevorkyan, "Every Sunday" comprehensively covers the national TV journalism on the territory of big personalities and big ideas, capturing the spirit of the time and social change, generously offered to the Bulgarian audience.
This is the first television show in our country to establish TV bridges with many famous guests from other countries and continents. They give the Bulgarian audience the opportunity to compare and measure with other cultures, personalities and creative achievements. The media territory of "Every Sunday" includes 58 TV bridges from 39 cities in 17 countries on 4 continents.
THE INTERLOCUTORS. THE PROFESSIONAL SELECTION
Kevorkyan stands out with its skilled professional selection of guests that it offers to Bulgarian viewers. In the most famous segment "Guest by Request" and its successor "Hotline", the entire Bulgarian elite participates, making the serious achievements and values of the nation's great leaders highly visible. For the first time, Bulgarian viewers have the incredible opportunity to see dozens of famous representatives of the global elite in the fields of politics, science, and the arts. Kevorkyan converses with world-renowned conductor Herbert von Karajan, writer William Saroyan, the politician who brought down the Berlin Wall Mikhail Gorbachev, filmmaker Andrzej Wajda, writer Gore Vidal, and social thinkers John Kenneth Galbraith and Noam Chomsky...they are just a part of a staggering series of true global celebrities.
ORIGINAL QUESTIONS
Kevork is an exceptional master in asking original questions, very intelligent and profound in meaning and spiritual messages. In his long life on "Every Sunday" he managed to ask about 70,000 questions, of which only a tiny fraction are repeated. I don't know of any other such case in the world history of television. Here are a few examples, characteristic of his style:
- to Rangel Valchanov, film director: "When did you realize that your opponent is more likable?"
- to Miron Ivanov, satirical writer: "What are the most annoying semi-processed foods in our lives?";
- to Lyubomir Levchev, poet and writer: "Who will steal Bulgaria? Have you ever thought about it?"
- to Paulo Coelho, writer: "If someone tells you that bread is more important than faith, what would you say?"
These unusual questions surprise the interviewee, provoke their emotional reaction, and ultimately lead the viewer to the truth about them.
A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE
Kevorkian is a visionary, he looks far ahead and, in some ways - predicts the future. In "Every Sunday" he makes an attempt, although unsuccessful, to play a game of chess with world champion Gary Kasparov through a computer. Through this attempt, he actually predicts the future. In 1997, IBM's artificial intelligence "Deep Blue" truly defeats world chess champion Gary Kasparov, putting an end to the millennia-long advantage of homo sapiens in the game of chess.
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS, IDEOLOGICAL CLICHES
Kevorkyan never neglects the requirement for professional ethics in the studio during the conversation, he does not forsake his emphasized courteous attitude towards each interlocutor. Regardless of whether they are a world-renowned scientist, Nobel Prize laureate, or an ordinary worker. As a TV host, he has a constant hunger for intelligent conversation, which must go beyond the confines of ideological clichés and platitudes.
A morphological study with an unrepresentative sample of 180 questions showed that within this sample, Kevorkyan uses only 4 lexical items in his interviews, which are part of the communist phraseology and ideological vocabulary of the era. Moreover, he uses them strictly in a historical context. These lexical items are "communism", "Warsaw Pact", and "gulag", which he uses in his interview with Mikhail Gorbachev (2002) and the abbreviation "KGB" (Committee for State Security) in his interview with academician Vladimir Azhazha (2004).
Overall, avoiding strict communist phraseology is characteristic of his journalistic work throughout the existence of "Every Sunday" - not by chance the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, and personally Todor Zhivkov, deal with the lack of demonstrations of ideological fidelity in the program. On November 22, 1984, at a meeting with the film industry professionals in Varna, Zhivkov praises the famous director Hristo Hristov for his new film "Willing Conversation" and thus rehabilitates him after the harsh criticism for his previous film "A Woman of 33". Zhivkov says: "Spiritual culture is on the rise, a huge step forward has been made in the cinema. The criticism of some deviations did not lead to stagnation, but to progress." The film "Desired Conversation" is making a turnaround, because in it the communist defends his ideal, while in "Every Sunday" he does not.
This is evidence from the book "Political Fragments" by former secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party Stoyan Mihaylov.
In fact, Kevork never crosses the line where his questions and the entire show would seem loyal to the then dominant communist ideology. He also does not participate in the revival process, unlike other well-known TV shows and journalists. This creates many enemies for him and he does something truly unprecedented - he asks for trust and 488,945 viewers vote for him, which is an exceptional media achievement for its time.
JOURNALISM AND POLITICS
Kevorkyan, on no occasion and under no circumstances, is tempted to "ride the white horse" into politics, create a party and become a deputy in the National Assembly. He certainly had many opportunities to do just that - to take advantage of the great fame of "Every Sunday", accumulated over the years, which would have allowed him to redefine his persona from journalist to politician.
In one of his publications, he says: "the mastery in the television craft is also in resisting certain temptations that seem irresistible". That you can't be an excellent journalist if you cross the boundary that separates politics from journalism.
Today, Kevorkyan is very active on the journalistic field, fearlessly criticizing the entire political class for their actions and inactions - both the governing parties and the opposition. In his own words - "The journalist should always be a thorn in the side of those in power."
"Kevorkyan is a phenomenal dialogue expert, an unrivaled verbal gladiator. There is a sacrilegious pillar of words in Kevork's dialogical nature. This is his self-destructive boldness. Kevorkyan has transcended the boundaries of two eras without having to change, renounce, or please anyone." - writes the great poet Lyubomir Levchev about him.
"THE TRUTH IS ALWAYS ABOVE US"
This is the motto of "Every Sunday" - actually, these were the last words of English mountaineer Mallory, who disappeared forever whilst being 100 meters under the summit of Everest. "Every Sunday" stands for decades, defending and protecting the truth, which has earned it a high public reputation among the large national audience.
- "Every Sunday" was a free zone, an untaxed area. There was no censorship. One could speak their mind freely" - says the great writer Yordan Radichkov.
- "Kevorkian carried his pluralistic attitude. He always took different opinions from different people, provoking them to confess and discover the truth. He understood that the truth cannot be only from one or the other side..." - says the famous satirical poet Radoy Ralin.
- "The show during those times was intense. "Every Sunday" was a big window to the world and to what was happening in the country. There was no parliament like the people, nor press, as it should have been. It was an endless singing to the same melody, and "Every Sunday" was different and played to some extent the role of the non-existent parliament, of the non-existent newspapers with influence. It created the beginnings of a freer and more normal dialogue in society. The interview with Amosov was an event. He said very strong words about the time, about the vices of socialism, and these were things that had not been voiced in the Bulgarian political space for five decades." - says ethnographer Toncho Zhechev.
- "The program emerged in the years when communism began to retreat from its main positions and ideologies. It caused an initial shock among our society, because it raised non-standard and uncomfortable questions, and raised topics that were actually of interest to people. The program restored truths that had been suppressed for many years.
"Every Sunday" became a phenomenon, because it raised and defended a new platform, far more civilized than the one that dominated the media at that time. Secondly, this platform was protected with exceptional professionalism by Kevorkyan.
Amosov firmly denied the situation at the time and gave Kevorkyan the opportunity to establish "Every Sunday" as one of the most democratic platforms in Bulgaria " says the famous Bulgarian historian Nikolay Genchev.
Throughout his career, Kevorkyan remains faithful to the truth, not making any compromises. The most characteristic example of his journalistic approach is his interview with academician Nikolay Amosov, conducted at the end of 1988, at Christmas, directly from Kiev - through a telebridge.
THE CASE "NIKOLAY AMOSOV"
Academician Nikolay Amosov is a world-renowned heart surgeon and cyberneticist. His book "Thoughts and Heart" has been published in over 40 countries. Kevork, as always, fearlessly seeks the truth, he does not avoid the sharp, momentous questions of his time. Here is a snippet from this famous interview:
- "What were the false myths that caused the most harm to your society?" - asks Kevorkyan.
- "The biggest false myth was the myth of the unlimited progress of mankind. By making a revolution, changing the social system and hanging slogans on the walls, we will all quickly become better. This is the main myth. Over 70 years have passed, but we have not become good. And the second myth is that the capitalist system is doomed to a quick death. This also did not prove true and it seems it will not be proven".
- "Which of the popular slogans was the most unacceptable to you?" - asks Kevorkyan.
- "The most unacceptable slogan for me was "Proletarians of all countries, unite!", because the myth that all high moral qualities belong to the proletariat was not confirmed in practice."
The interview of Kevorkyan with academician Amosov resonates like a real media bomb, a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall. "The empire of evil" and its satellites still seem unshakable. The newspaper "Pravda", the mouthpiece of the CPSU, and the newspaper "Labourer's Work", the organ of the BCP, are published under the main slogan of communist ideology "Proletarians of all countries, unite!" - which is precisely denied in the UN. This predetermined the fate of Kevorkyan's show. At the end of June 1989, "Every Sunday" was stopped. The government has decided to replace the best TV program with the series "Samurai's Revenge". "Samurai's Revenge"!? The authorities wanted to suggest that they are all-powerful!" commented Kevorkian on the matter.
THE VERB "KEVORKING"
The verb "kevorking", according to actress Katya Paskaleva, was born spontaneously in "The Actors' Club". There is hardly another similar case in the history of world television. The problem is when the personal name of a TV host becomes a verb, and from there - a television metaphor and symbol? The transformation of Kevork's personal name as a TV host into a verb is an exceptionally high assessment of his journalistic work. Through this verb, the audience acknowledges his creative superiority over all other television journalists.
THE ORIGINAL TV INTERVIEW
In the studio, Kevorkyan managed to bring out the best from his interviewee, as well as himself. In the segments "Interview by Request" and "Hotline," he works tirelessly for his viewers. Year after year, he offers them interviews with renowned guests who change their way of thinking and their assessments of true creative achievements. Kevork always shows empathy towards his interviewees, knows how to listen to them, and is interested in the truth - about their creative work, about the highs in their lives and professions. Consciously, but also intuitively, he knows how to capture the interviewee's attention - through a sense of humor and direct questions, through everyday language that involves short and clear expressions, rather than boring jargon. He has a high level of conversation control in the studio, achieved through extensive preparation that allows for no unpleasant surprises.
Undoubtedly, his ability to get close to every interviewee allows him to break psychological barriers and have a meaningful conversation. As a host, he is equally close to both highly educated and less educated guests.
In the three decades of "Every Sunday", Kevork maintains a high level of self-evaluation of his work, never completely satisfied with himself. He values honest exchange with his interviewee, which does not mean he shies away from asking surprising or uncomfortable questions.
In the studio, he manages to show emotional warmth towards every interviewee and make them open up for an honest conversation, a trait not inherent to every host. There is an inherent sense of nobility towards the interlocutor, forgiving him some mistakes and inaccuracies. It is very difficult for him to forgive his own mistakes. He possesses a healthy curiosity towards other person, regardless of their status, education or social position.
Sometimes he discovers real "diamonds" among ordinary people. In fact, on "Every Sunday" he never stops being interested in their lives and human fate. In short, this sums up his greatness as a television host.
KEVORKYAN - MEDIA TOREADOR
The small studio of "Every Sunday" turned out to be that media bullfight, where many different battles are fought - with the interviewees - with the routine of the national audience - with the ideological stubbornness of the ruling political class - with the media guild, which is often not ready to handle such a great professional success.
"Every era gives birth to the hero it needs" - says Unamuno. Kevork is exactly such a hero - in him is embodied the "individualized collective soul" over which he reigns as a television journalist and publicist for several decades. With rare talent and a striking force of character, Kevorkyan managed to turn "Every Sunday" into a platform for culture, politics, social and spiritual events that surpasses the times, breaks stereotypes, and overcomes prejudices. And over the years, he has given a chance to the strong, talented and courageous. To those real heroes who go against the current, constantly seek challenges, and are not afraid to wave the "red cloak" of change.
It is also appropriate to recall Peter Uvalliev's assessment of Kevorkyan: "You are a reviver, renewer and protector of public opinion in Bulgaria. And not only that: you were the first and only one to embed spontaneity, the most powerful subversive force that destroys the one-directional life dictated by the party, into the subdued Bulgarian thinking.Each of your unadorned confessions becomes an unobtrusive sermon."
LEGACY
The quality journalism of Kevorkyan is especially needed today by the new generation of journalists, who need their own professional example. His television career still remains a model to follow. From the seemingly small media territory of "Every Sunday" began the great transformation. That significant cultural and spiritual expansion, which brought the national perspective to other countries, civilizations, and personalities. The growth of the world and life in "Every Sunday" inevitably changes the national view.
Happy jubilee, Mr. Kevorkyan!
Wishing you health, to continue seeking the truth with the same professionalism and uncompromising attitude, which inevitably remains somewhere there - at the foot of Mount Everest!"
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