In Moscow, the struggle for the leading Russian newspaper “Vedomosti” a bitter end comes. Week its latest editor-in-chief Andrei Schmarow resistance the editors. Schmarow had been used at the end of March with a view to a further sale of the sheet, as managing editor-in-chief. He made immediately clear that he holds to the objective, independent, and, therefore, often critical attitude of the “Vedomosti” a little. (F. A. Z. from 15. April). In particular, with regard to the reporting to Rosneft, the state-controlled Oil company, under the leadership of Igor Sechin, a companion of President Vladimir Putin – the role of the former Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder as Rosneft Chairman of the Supervisory Board primarily ceremonial. The editorial accused Schmarow to interventions in the reporting, censorship and breaches of the editorial statutes. These “dogmas” to originate from the time when the Business News Media (BNM), the public company behind “Vedomosti”, an American-British-Finnish consortium belonged to; you are in Russia is legendary and contributes to “Vedomosti” in spite of the rather limited Print run of 75000 copies, however, meaning. The Kremlin, however, the prohibition on foreigners from 2016, by law, to own more than twenty percent of any Russian media title.
Friedrich Schmidt
Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.
F. A. Z.
The editorial, it is left for complaints: you researched with colleagues from other independent media that Rosneft’s fearsome press spokesman was probably involved in the appointment of his well-Known Schmarow and that BNM has since 2017 the enormous debt of a Subsidiary of the oil Company. Although Schmarow ban, citing a Kremlin request to publish survey results of the independent opinion research Institute Lewada-center, the discontent with Putin’s mirrors falling popularity. But the editors published the results of more – including contributions from Lewada staff of “Vedomosti”-view, double page, a refuge for liberal votes. “If the editor-in-chief is not a chief in the editorial office, then it is not editorial, but any partisan unit,” said Deputy communications Minister Alexei Volin on the Situation. He urged journalists to resist the orders of the owner used editor-in-chief, “to immediately release”.
90 employees have left due to the new editor-in-chief
As the owner of the “Vedomosti” applies to opaque wrangling since the end of may, media entrepreneur Ivan Jerjomin. The news portal “FederalPress” was Rosneft structures for many years, through lucrative contracts Advertising connected, as published in the PR Material. So no one was surprised that Jerjomin to Schmarow held fixed, as it was on Monday again the choice of the editor-in-chief. The editorial presented a with of the house trusted against a candidate. Schmarow was chosen because the voice of the owner is the decisive one. As a result, all five Deputy editors-in-chief announced that they “would leave Vedomosti” as soon as possible; they all worked a long time in front of the Kremlin-law against foreign influence at the newspaper and stood up for continuity. Also, the Online-in-chief of the “Vedomosti” and the head of the Economic Department want to go. Previously, the newspaper had already left about ten of the approximately ninety employees Schmarows due. More searches now on Facebook for work “in connection with the end of the history of the newspaper”.
The Deputy editors-in-chief and justified their progress in order that the principles of the newspaper would no longer be guaranteed with Schmarows appointment. One of the five, Dmitry Simakow, which was eighteen years in the case of “Vedomosti” said, among “respectable etiquette” was “something Serviles”. It was “a disaster”. With the exception of one Investor, who bought the – in front of the media law of the Russian subsidiary of Axel Springer published a Russian edition of “Forbes” magazine, looks Simakow no “white knight” on the media market, the wool take the big risks. The situation would be “every year toxic”.
