ABSTRACT
Sergei Medvedev was a journalist for the central television news program “Vremia” when the coup began. His film report, shown on “Vremia” on Monday, August 19, gave national coverage to the resistance movement mobilized by Yeltsin against the junta. From Medvedev’s report, millions of Soviet citizens learned for the first time about Yeltsin’s “Appeal to the Citizens of Russia,” and they saw film clips of Yeltsin standing courageously atop a tank. The report also included pictures of the construction of barricades around the White House. Although Medvedev was dismissed from his job after the airing of his report, he was reinstated on Wednesday, August 21, and on Thursday he became the anchorman for “Vremia.” He was interviewed by Bill Keller, Moscow Bureau Chief for the New York Times, on September 25, 1991.
