Savik Schuster
Date of Birth: 22.11.1952
Savik Schuster (born as Micheil Schewelis Schusteris) - journalist and television host known for his work in Russian and Ukrainian media. Honored Journalist of Ukraine (2012).
Place of Birth. Education. Born in Vilnius into a family of football player and coach of the Vilnius football team 'Spartak' Michail Schuster and lawyer Isabella Schuster.
At the age of 19, after a year and a half at the medical faculty of the University of Vilnius, he emigrated with his parents to Canada. He holds Canadian and Italian citizenship. Graduated in 1976 with a degree in Biochemistry and Physiology from McGill University in Montreal.
All related materials
- Schuster confirmed - Akhmetov was at his birthday party in VilniusNews
- Zelensky to Schuster on media war: You can also serve oligarchs without malice, but you serveNews
- Medieval scam. Avakov intrigues with a photo with Gordon, Groisman, Komarovsky, and SchusterNews
Career. For some time, Savik Schuster worked at the research center of the University of Florence in Italy. However, he did not realize himself as a doctor, but as a journalist. He reported on events in the war in Afghanistan (first arrived there as a doctor in 1981 and then retrained as a reporter) in prestigious publications such as Newsweek, Der Spiegel, Liberation, La Republica. In the same publications, his articles and photo reports about wars in Lebanon, Chad, Nicaragua were published.
Starting in 1988, Savik Schuster was a correspondent for Radio Free Europe in Munich and built a correspondent network for the radio station in the USSR. In 1996, he took over the Moscow bureau of Radio Free Europe.
In 2001, the journalist moved to the Russian television channel NTV, where he hosted the programs Third Half, Hero of the Day, Influence, and the talk show Freedom of Speech. After the closure of Freedom of Speech in Moscow in July 2004, which that year received the most prestigious award from the Russian TV Academy TEFI for Best Talk Show of the Year, Savik Schuster headed the documentary films department at NTV.
In May 2005, he moved to Ukraine and began cooperation with the television channel ICTV as the host of the political talk show Freedom of Speech, whose regular guests included top figures in domestic politics and the football program Third Half.
In the summer of 2007, he switched to the Inter channel. He hosted the talk show Savik Schuster's Freedom (similar to Freedom of Speech on ICTV). He realized the documentary project Great Ukrainians. In July 2008, he left the Inter network.
In June 2008, it became known that the popular television host intended to establish his own production studio.
From September 5, 2008, to January 2011, he hosted the live show Schuster Live on the Ukraine channel.
From January 21 to February 15, 2013 the show Schuster Live was broadcast on the First national channel. It then aired from February 22 2013 on Inter channel.
On February 21, 2014 the episode of the show Schuster Live was broadcast on channel 5.
In spring 2014 Savik Schuster returned to the First National channel. In autumn the show Schuster Live was removed from the screen on the instruction of Zourab Alasania.
In September 2015 - worked on the channel 1+ 1. But on September 18, 2015 his show was removed from the screen.
Savik Schuster worked on his own cable channel 3S.tv., founded in cooperation with Pawel Jelisarow.
From April 29 to December 31, 2016 the show by Savik Schuster was broadcast on the municipal television channel Kiev.
On December 1, 2016, the channel Schuster 3S.tv informed that starting from January 1, 2017, the activities would be suspended due to financial problems.
In August 2019, Savik Schuster signed a contract with TRK Ukraine to air the show 'Freedom of Speech' on Fridays. The first episode was shown on September 6.
Views and evaluations. The transition of the journalist, who hosts one of the most rated programs on Ukrainian television, from ICTV to Inter was a great surprise for the channel management and thousands of viewers. Savik Schuster explained his departure in an interview with Telekritika as follows: 'If I had stayed at ICTV, I would not have lost financially. There are moments of professional growth and professional development. One cannot mix them, especially in journalism. Now I have a moment of professional growth: I want to make 'The Great Ukrainians'. I proposed this project to ICTV; they did not want it, but Inter wanted it immediately. If this project is successful, my value on the journalism market will indeed increase.'
The assessing Ukrainian television said that for most owners, their channels are - political or toys. 'That is the real problem. There are many creative, willing people. I see young people who are ready to work 24 hours a day to improve… But there must also be owners who are as progressive as these young people and really want that. Such owners do not exist,' complained Savik Schuster.
When asked by a tabloid newspaper who is the most interesting to him in Ukrainian politics, the journalist replied that, first of all, Yulia Tymoshenko. And added: 'I want to make a movie about her, but an honest, real one… But who will allow that?' And his presence in Ukraine is due to Viktor Yushchenko, whose rise to power confirmed the freedom of speech.
Scandals. In August 2007, there was a great stir in the broadcasting circles of Ukraine and in some media. The occasion was the announcement of the first broadcast of Schuster's Freedom on Inter. The ICTV leadership suspected that the new program would be a copy of their Freedom of Speech, which Schuster had previously hosted. The General Producer of ICTV, Alexander Boguzky, also did not rule out that the conflict over the show could continue in court. Schuster himself recalled that he had hosted a similar project on Russian television. After several broadcasts of the new project and fierce discussions in the expert world, the storm around the topic calmed down.
Another serious scandal, the waves of which even reached the Supreme Rada, broke out around the final part of the Great Ukrainians project in May 2008. According to TV journalist and project editor Wachtang Kipiani, Prince Yaroslav the Wise took first place through brutal manipulations in the final SMS voting. And if there had been no forgery, the winner would most likely have been Stepan Bandera. The head and host of 'Great...' denied all allegations, stating that the voting was within acceptable limits.
Honors. Honored Journalist of Ukraine (August 15 2012).
Family. First wife - Italian. Son - Stefano (born 1987), financial specialist, works in London. Daughter - Sara (born 1989), designer, lives in Florence.
Second wife (unofficial marriage) - Olga Newskaja, Russian stylist. They began living together in 2005 when she moved from Moscow to Kiev. In 2012, Savik Schuster separated from Newskaja.
Hobbies. A big football fan - loves to watch, analyze, and comment on games. He even played in the youth national team of the Lithuanian SSR in the past.
03.11.2023