Олег Покальчук 04-11-2009

Почему так много места я уделяю «Свободе»? Потому что до 91-го и после, особенно после 95-го, когда из Мюнхена все перебрались в более дешевую Прагу, - это во всех ее редакциях уже совершенно разные истории. Когда, к примеру, в российскую «Свободу» пришел начальником Марио Корти (выгнавший в свое время оттуда Шустера), он разрушил эффективную и востребованную схему передач, но так и не смог превратить русскую службу в конкурентоспособную хотя бы относительно «Эха Москвы».

Telekritika

oleg_vinokurov wrote:

Aug. 18th, 2009 06:22 am (UTC)

...Это к вопросу о Марио Корти... Дело в том, что милейший Марио абсолютно ничего не делал на своем посту (именно как руководитель)... И вот он ходил по бюро, мило всем улыбался, похлопывал по плечу, болтал за жизнь, но абсолютно ничего не делал... Ларина именно случай с Корти использовала в качестве иллюстрации. Никакого совпадения: и Корти, и ее мужа уволили абсолютно за одно и то же - за безделье.

xlarina.livejournal.com

vlad_ab wrote:

Aug. 14th, 2009 03:49 pm (UTC)

Марио... разваливать Русскую службу начал именно он...

Aug. 15th, 2009 01:09 am (UTC)

Марио... руководить ему было скучно, и все стало понемногу расползаться... Джефф - как раз профессионал, и русским владеет не хуже Марио, просто бонвиван, которому было лень заниматься организацией вещания в России...

vlad_ab wrote:

vlad-ab.livejournal.com

Да? Очень жалко... А кого еще, кроме Юрьенена и кто вообще остался?

ИС 06.01.2005 18:01 775102

Paolo Pinkel 06.01.2005 17:58

Еще Гудаву, Марио Корти и Льва Ройтмана.

Марио не жалко, потому что сволочь редкостная...

vorota

"Giovanni Bensi"

12/11/2004 09:30 PM

To: cortim@rferl.org

cc:

Subject:

Ho appreso con grande piacere che finalmente sei stato licenziato da RL. Esprimo la mia solidarietà agli altri tre colleghi, Gudava, Iourenien e Roitman, ma non certo a te, che sei l'unico che meriti pienamente questo provvedimento. Professionalmente sei un'assoluta nullità ed eri diventato direttore del servizio russo senza nessun merito e grazie alla menzogna e a "pastette". A suo tempo avevi espresso su di me questo giudizio: "The Russian Service has increased its original hours and, in response to a precise mandate, intends to engage in new initiatives which require additional slots and fresh blood. Mr. Bensi should thouroughly consider these circumstances and draw his conclusions". Volevi cacciarmi via con un gesto di una vigliaccheria di cui solo uno spudorato come te può essere capace. Di che cosa ti lamenti adesso? Ora tocca a te: RL ha bisogno di "fresh blood" e un vecchio arnese incapace, ignorante e presuntuoso come te viene cacciato via. Giustissimo! Dovrebbero cacciarti a calci nel culo, perché non meriti altro. Chi di spada ferisce di spada perisce. Di una sola cosa mi pento: di averti fatto assumere a suo tempo a RL, mosso da inopportuna pietà. Chi aiuta i serpenti riceve morsi. Se non ti avessi aiutato saresti ancora in Italia a fare lo scansafatiche, l'unica cosa che sai fare con competenza e perizia.

Con la più profonda disistima e disprezzo.

Prague, Oct. 16, 1996

Dear Mr. Handler,

I hope, you made Mr. Corti acquainted with the letter sent to me by ambassador Ferraris: it is a straightforward answer to the shameless accusation by Mr. Corti that my objections against him are "contrived" ("pretestuosi"). The letter confirms that Mr. Corti was not a "diplomat", but only a temporary clerk of the lowest rank in the Italian embassy in Moscow. I reflected also on what you told me in connection with Mr. Corti having read my first message to you and with his reaction to it. I appreciate the admission by Mr. Corti that he is a false diplomat. But, sincerely, I don't believe that this qualification, as Mr. Corti pretends, according to your words during the first of our talks, has been given him without his knowledge and consent. This version is scarcely credible already because Mr. Corti did not ask to correct the "mistake", as it would have been requested by honesty; but, beside that, the lie about the "diplomatic" past of the same person was logically embedded in a ludicrous beef-up campaign, a part of which were his irresponsible journalistic assignments (Chechnya and "bel canto"), his equally false definition as an "accomplished analyst" and a ridicolous dithyramb to his glory in the "Newsletter". All this has been noticed by all members of the Russian service, who are not so stupid as somebody seems to assume. But during a second talk, you told me that Mr. Corti indeed acknowledged his own initiative in falsely calling himself a "diplomat", claiming that it was a "weakness" from his part. Well, this only confirms my judgment on Mr. Corti's attitude to ethics.

Moreover, you praised to me the excellent skills of Mr. Corti in two non-journalistic fields. I don't contest this fact, as I don't claim competence in fields outside my professional experience. But at the same time you admitted that Mr Corti lacks "editorial authority" ("redaktsionnyi avtoritet" in your original words), i. e. a fundamental quality to lead an editorial staff.

I have also learned from you that Mr. Corti hinted at his possible resignation as a consequence of his un-ethical behavior, but that you rejected this opportunity with reference to his allegedly irreplaceable skills in the above mentioned non-editorial fields. Well, I have a great esteem of you, Mr. Handler, as a person and as a journalist, but I must constate with astonishment that you accept to have a journalistically incompetent person and a liar as your deputy. I think, it is a question of moral sensitivity and of respect for one's own profession. The Roman emperor Caligula made his horse a senator: according to this logic, of course, Mr. Corti can be deputy director, or even director, of the Russian Service, but this logic (I think that you agree) is scarcely acceptable in a serious information medium (as for me, to Mr. Corti two definitions fit, in Italian: "diplomatico dei miei stivali" and "direttore del cavolo"; ask, please, him for translation: in the ominous 11th April memorandum he has been extolled not only as a false "analyst" and a false "diplomat", but as a "linguist" as well, I don't know, however, how false).

Incidentally, the swindle with the "diplomat" (the 11th April memorandum is by all means an official document of the RFE/RL management) balances on the brink of a criminal offense: in the Italian Penal Code, as recalled by ambassador Ferraris, it is described by the concise formula "millantato credito", elsewhere by the more extensive reading: "false attribution of titles and degrees in order to achieve an advantage".

I ask you to ponder over the fact that the scandalous circumstances related to Mr. Corti's appointment are known in the Russian Service and people laugh at it. Besides, they can easily become public and convey a lot of rather negative consequences for our radio and its management. If nothing happens I feel free to bring these considerations to the knowledge of higher levels of RFE/RL management or to other persons that may be concerned.

Sincerely yours

Giovanni Bensi

Dear Mr. Handler,

Unfortunately, I must take note of the fact that, in spite of several conversations with me about the violation of professional (and general) ethics in connection with Mr. Corti's appointment as a deputy director of the Russian Service, you have not yet spoken about my objections to the concerned person. For this reason I feel compelled to explain my position to you in a written form with a copy, for his information, to the same Mr. Corti (whose authority, as we have agreed upon, I don't recognise).

Mr. Corti's appointment represents a gross violation of deontology (professional ethics) and of ordinary human ethics as well, and this for two reasons:

1. In the memorandum dated 5 April 1996 Mr. Corti is defined as an "accomplished analyst". It is simply not true. Mr. Corti is not, and has never been, a journalist. He has never worked as such in an editorial staff of any media, has never written an article, a commentary or an analysis (except for a few occasional contributions that are irrelevant from a professional point of view; in particular, he did never write anything in Russian. If he, with such an exiguous record, can be called an "accomplished analyst", how should be defined I, author of thousands of articles, commentaries, reports written in two languages in over 30 years?). Mr Corti is indeed extraneous to the journalistic profession and therefore absolutely incompetent.

As such, he has no professional and moral right to control and direct the activity of journalists with many years (in my case 33 years, of which 24 - almost a quarter of a century - at RL) of professional experience. Ridiculous and preposterous attempts to artificially beef him up during the first months after June 1995 cannot be a substitute for decades of experience. It is highly irresponsible and professionally immoral, for exemple, to send a non-journalist, with no experience at all, as a war correspondent to Chechnya. This trip of Mr. Corti was, beside all, also a waste of money, because in Chechnya we have already excellent correspondents and there was no necessity to send there a dilettante: it was done with the only goal to give Mr. Corti an appearence of seeming journalistic activity.

I call your attention to the fact that in Mr. Corti's country of origin, Italy, to became an acknowledged journalist it is necessary to work 18 months as an apprentice ("praticante") in the editorial board of a printed or electronic medium, to pass an examination and then for other 18 months it is forbidden to the new journalist to hold a leading position in an aditorial staff. It can be said without the shadow of a doubt that Mr. Corti's appointment has nothing to do with his journalistic merits or skill, which simply do not exist.

Of course, I don't question possible skills and capabilities of Mr. Corti in other fields of activity (administration, archives management, technical support) in which I am not competent (and, unlike Mr. Corti, I have the honesty to admit my incompetence where I am incompetent).

2. At this point it were suitable to say that I have nothing against his person or his integrity. But for reasons that I will explain below, I have strong objections just against his person and moral integrity. In the same memorandum dated 5 April 1996 it is stated, evidently with Mr. Corti's knowledge and agreement, that he "worked thre years as a diplomat in Moscow". It is simply not true, in the normal human language it would be appropriate to call such a statement a lie. I have been acquanted with Mr. Corti since 1961 and I know that he has never been a diplomat. He worked three years (1972-1975) with a limited contract in the Italian embassy in Moscow, but only as a translator and a clerk. He never entered the diplomatic service, to which he was not entitled, because at that time he had not even higher education (and, I suppose, he has not yet today). However, as I have been told by a competent person in the USSR) a non-diplomat can be temporarily granted, for security reasons, a diplomatic pass (I don't know if it was the case with Mr. Corti), but this circumstance does not give the concerned person the right to call himself a diplomat. After his returm from Moscow, at the expiry of his contract, Mr. Corti lived 4 years jobless in Rome, and applied for a work at RL only in 1979 on my suggestion (what now, in face of his behavior contrary to ethics, I deeply regret).

Mr. Handler, I ask you if Mr. Corti's appointment is justifiable, under such circumstances involving incompetence and statements that do not correspond to the truth. For far lesser offences officials in many countries have volountarily resigned. I think that such a situation requires immediate remedial action, because many of the above reported scandalous circumstances are evident to other staff members as well, and this has a moral negative impact, a disrupting effect on the work of the Russian Service as a whole, particularly of the younger employees. If nothing happens, I consider myself free to submit the whole question to the higher direction of RFE/RL.

Sincerely yours

Giovanni Bensi

Ambasciatore
Prof. Dr. Luigi Vittorio Ferraris
Consigliere di Stato

14 settembre 1996

Dr. Giovanni Bensi
Na Zajezdu 2
10100 Praha 10

Caro Bensi,

ho assunto le informazioni che lei mi aveva richiesto su Mario Corti, che può essere certo accusato di millantato credito.

Il signor Mario Corti è stato assunto con contratto di diritto locale a Mosca dal 1. luglio 1972 al 30 aprile 1975. Quell'incarico, che non costituisce rapporto di diritto pubblico, non comporta mai iscrizione nella lista diplomatica, ne status di qualsiasi genere affine a quello diplomatico. Infatti Corti era munito solo per il periodo in cui ha prestato servizio di "passaporto di servizio", che ha naturalmente restituito alla fine del suo contratto.

Mi faccia sapere se debba fare stato di questi fatti e esattamente a chi, poiché certamente ho titolo per smentire che egli sia stato per un periodo qualsiasia a Mosca quale "diplomat".

Mi rammarico molto di quanto mi racconta e comprendo la Sua amarezza; Si consoli - se questo può servire - che alla RAI succede talvolta anche di peggio, ma questo solo per sottolineare che la RAI non è certo un modello da invocare.

Attendo Sue notizie Nel frattempo molte care cose alla Consorte e molti cordialissimi saluti anche a Lei e con molta amicizia

Suo

Luigi Vittorio Ferraris

Via dei Baullari, 4 -00186 Roma - tel. (06) 6861088 - 60010 Vaccarile (Ancona) - tel. (011) 7986955