Maybe it's summer, or maybe something else – I haven't watched news on local TV channels for a month now. One "parquet" replaces another "parquet," one official migrates from channel to channel, sowing season gives way to harvest, and a resignation to an appointment. Volyn news airs at an inconvenient time for me – either I'm still on the minibus, or having dinner, or already asleep. "Avers" and "Polissia" have been reduced to, forgive me, again "parquets" (maybe some don't know – that's what TV people call a report from an event confined within the walls of a press hall, in a word, from a meeting room). "And what can you do, who's got it easy now?" – everyone who could has repainted themselves (even journalists no longer wonder at strange personnel decisions), no new revolution is expected, Bondar is clearly no Frenchman, and Karpuk, thank God, is no Rodych, the Klondikes have gone quiet, Hil is in Zhytomyr. Be that as it may, the "boredom" on the channels has primarily intra-channel causes. *** It practically looks like the information services of all three Volyn TV studios have been drained of blood. The leader of orange information Volyn – the "Polissia" studio – has quietly found an airtime refuge in the region only under the somewhat faded banner of "Channel 5." For two months now, "Polissia" news has been airing on the mostly decimetre "Fifth." People who shaped the studio's face have left. And those who remained must content themselves with reports from traditional, banal, and often boring and sad press conferences. What will happen to the "Polissia people" nobody knows, since, according to information from the studio, all the surviving residents of the 16th floor of the tallest high-rise in Lutsk city centre (that's where the "Polissia-TV" office is located) have recently... stopped working there, because they wrote resignation letters... of their own free will (forgive me, reader, for so many dots, but they replace "strong" words). "Polissia" is practically wrecked, because in the eyes of its journalists and cameramen (wise and snarky young men and women) the spark that made the studio's news honest and unbiased has disappeared. And although Mr. Tkachuk (he gradually nibbled away at the patience of "Polissia" journalists) is now already the former director, no moves are visible from the studio's owners ("Channel 5," namely the channel's top star Roman Chaika) to normalize the situation. Everything is heading toward "Polissia" being reorganized into a "5th" correspondent bureau. And what to do with the people who won't fit within the bureau's limits?.. But at VT – a mini-revolution. Finally four leading journalists of the channel spoke out loud about the problems at the channel. Yes, Mr. Sviatoslav, indeed LEADING, because could you imagine quality news without Radavska, Bodenkova, Trofymchuk and Hnatiuk, who are now being sent away from sharp topics as far as possible? After a tent-city pretext loomed near the office of the ODIRT (regional state TV and radio company), everything is heading toward the fact that after Mr. Chyzh is finally ousted from his post, Mr. Pyrozhko will be taken on not only by the young men from the "National Alliance" (incidentally, they once didn't care whom to drive out of the Volyn prosecutor's office – few knew why Hil was bad). It looks like Pyrozhko's old "friend" – Mr. Bondar – has decided to announce a tender for the position of General Director of VODTRK. An unspoken instruction has been given and... And when will Kolismyk, Volodymyr Nalkovych, Hrushovinchuk etc.? And as a "preventive measure" against Pyrozhko's dismissal – the "orangization" of VT news, when the channel's "beacon of attractiveness" sharply changed orientation from blue to orange. Everything else – sending journalists away from politics to the children's studio, attempts to correct their texts. Finally, doesn't it seem, Mr. Sviatoslav, that all the prizes and awards of the ODIRT that you so love to show off are the achievement of journalists, including those who left the channel because of conflicts with you. Will these four also leave? But where to? Or maybe the General Director will leave?.. Well, and "Avers" – a Lutsk brand, a popular and overfed channel, whose news, judging by pay and staff turnover, aren't needed by its owner either. People quit the channel almost monthly; the latest acquisition is former "Polissia" editor-in-chief Oksana Lukashuk. And so what?.. And who will properly cover sports, culture, non-political analytics in the news... Lukashuk can't be everywhere at once. *** And all this is happening today, a few days before autumn 2005, a year after the terrible storm of temnyky (censorship directives) on air. When the dream of normal channels and newspapers hasn't yet crashed, driven by post-orange officials. ...the guys drink kEFIR in the morning when "Grandma Halia" comes with a hangover. In the regional TV space, a hangover seems to be ongoing. Here it is, the much-vaunted and sweet freedom of speech. And where, on which channel, to show it to people?...