MOSCOW, May 16. In Moscow, at the Troekurovsky cemetery, a farewell to Eduard Sagalaev was held. The journalist and media manager died at the age of 77 on May 13.
The departure of Eduard Mikhailovich is an absolutely irreparable loss for the Russian media sphere. An indefatigable experimenter, he always demonstrated an amazing zest for life and inexhaustible imagination, which gave rise to projects that win the hearts of viewers.
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Relatives, friends, colleagues, students came to say goodbye. They remembered what Eduard Mikhailovich was like.
Chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia Vladimir Solovyov noted that Sagalaev will be included in textbooks on discipline in universities.
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“In those days when he commanded television, changes began. For the first time, not announcers, but presenters began to lead the news. A new, unique team appeared — the Television News Service, I also worked in it. It provided unique opportunities for creativity, self-expression and humor. Of course, I remember the programs «Vzglyad», «12th floor», which he hosted. Sagalaev did a lot as the organizer of television: both Channel One and the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company,” Solovyov noted. noted that with the advent of Sagalaev on television, it has changed dramatically.
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"Eduard Mikhailovich set a high bar and he himself answered the challenges that the time set, because there was no point of support. That television, which he himself created and introduced new people, giving them freedom, became those points of support. TV went ahead of society, it was the only live platform, and Sagalaev introduced live broadcast into it. He was courageous and bore responsibility with brilliance. Many masters of modern television came out of his greatcoat, so to speak, «Kiselev said.
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OTR General Director Vitaly Ignatenko called Sagalaev an outstanding person.
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"Around him was a field of integrity, struggle, courage. This he gave to his disciples. It was necessary to have great courage to appear on TV "12th Floor", "Vzglyad", the new "Time", — said Ignatenko. strong> remembered his leadership gift.
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"The best people are leaving. He was one of the few bosses who appreciated talent. Eduard Mikhailovich was so emotional that sometimes I was surprised how he could negotiate with the management at all. Even though he was hurt. God rest his soul, he deserves it,” Proshutinskaya emphasized. was, it seemed, predetermined: the Soviet television of the 70s needed bright personalities who could create new formats (although in those days they didn’t use such words). And Sagalaev gets down to business with powerful energy. 
The cycle «Our Biography» appears, which he creates together with Anatoly Lysenko, who for many years became not only his colleague, but also a close friend, and Galina Shergova. The task is difficult, but insanely interesting — to create a series of 60 documentaries for the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution — one for each year. the channel would have fantastic budgets. And the young television people of the 70s simply wanted to — and they did it, and moreover, they experimented not only with content, but also with form: they split the frame, superimposed the image. Today, these techniques seem familiar to us, but in the 70s they were an absolute innovation.
New songs and «Look» on TV: Soviet media of the 80s
And at the same time, Eduard Sagalev did not limit himself to television: he was a generalist journalist, a true media worker, as they would say today: in the early 80s he headed the radio station «Youth» — and the Soviet youth listened to its programs with pleasure. Not only topical social topics were raised there, but sometimes new music sounded, for the sake of which programs were even recorded on tape recorders — where else on the Soviet air will you hear fashionable news? 
It was he who came up with the name for the TV show, which for many years became a symbol of the new bright and provocative journalism. «Look» — short, understandable and symbolic: Sagalaev himself remained mostly behind the scenes, and new stars became the favorites of the audience — Alexander Lyubimov, Vladislav Listyev, Alexander Politkovsky. They set new standards for communication, broadcasting, interviews — but behind their backs they always felt «senior comrades» who were ready to support and help, and Sagalaev was one of them.
Head of the Union of Journalists: Media in the new Russia
The only time he regretted his own career decision was when, in 1991, he agreed to head the Union of Journalists of the USSR. «The demon beguiled,» as Eduard Mikhailovich himself admitted. The USSR ceased to exist, and the Union of Journalists of a huge country left with it, and even he could not keep it — so Sagalaev returned to television and for many years was a member of the leadership of television giants: his experience and ability to see the development of the media world were certainly appreciated by his colleagues .
He is again engaged in TV documentaries, creates the program «Mystical Journeys», and then — on the channel «Psychology 21» launches its own program «The Wisdom of an Idiot, or Eduard Sagalaev's Encyclopedia of Errors».
Self-irony is a sure sign of a sage, which the departed master was: he never took the pose of an omniscient bonze, but, on the contrary, did not shy away from stories about some of his own miscalculations, which was much more valuable. The last thing he wanted was to «bronze» or become a «living legend».