These days, my Facebook feed is full of posts by people commiserating the demise of Vedomosti, Russia’s leading financial daily.
Some journalists post photos of life in the newsroom, others blame former owners for selling the outlet to the Kremlin, and then a third group share posts announcing that highly qualified journalists and editors are looking for new jobs. This collective mourning follows the news this week that five deputy editors left Vedomosti in protest at the appointment of a new editor-in-chief, Andrey Shmarov, who they say ‘has repeatedly broken the newspaper’s editorial standards and rules’.
Several years ago, I started writing a book about Russia’s media managers together with my colleague Elisabeth Schimpfossl. This distinct group of senior editors and media founders in post-Soviet Russia acts as an important hub between politics, business and society. Whether loyal to the regime or not, they all know how to navigate the murky waters of Kremlin politics. They know how to engage in the power game with the Kremlin and the owners of their media, without necessarily sacrificing their conscience in the process. At the same time, they also know how to preserve their audiences’ loyalty too, keeping readers entertained and engaged - and thus the money coming in.
