Novaya Gazeta

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Novaya Gazeta (Template:Langx, Template:IPA) is an independent Russian newspaper. It is known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs, the Chechen wars, corruption among the ruling elite, and increasing authoritarianism in Russia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was formerly published in Moscow until shortly after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine began, in regions within Russia, and in some foreign countries. The print edition is published on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; English-language articles on the website are published on a weekly basis in the form of the Russia, Explained newsletter. As of 2023, the newspaper had a daily print circulation of 108,000, and online visits of 613,000.<ref name="auto2"/><ref name="auto3"/>

Seven Template:Lang journalists, including Yuri Shchekochikhin, Anna Politkovskaya, and Anastasia Baburova, have been murdered since 2000, in connection with their investigations.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In October 2021, Template:LangTemplate:'s editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, alongside Maria Ressa, for their safeguarding of freedom of expression in their homelands.<ref name="auto1">Template:Cite web</ref>

In March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the newspaper suspended publication within Russia due to increased government censorship.<ref name=":3" /> The next month, a European edition of the paper, Template:Lang Europe, was launched from Riga, Latvia, in order to avoid censorship; the website was blocked in Russia later that month.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In July, the newspaper launched a magazine, Novaya Rasskaz-Gazeta,<ref>«НО». Поехали! Редакция «Новой газеты» запустила новый журнал и сайт Template:In lang, Новая газета, 15.07.2022</ref> with its website blocked shortly later.<ref name="tmt-novaya-rasskaz-gazeta">Template:Cite web</ref> In September 2022, Russian authorities revoked Template:LangTemplate:'s Russian media license.<ref name="tmt-license"/>

History

1990s

A group of former journalists from Komsomolskaya Pravda organised the newspaper in 1993. Its first name was Template:Lang (Daily New Gazette).<ref name="rbc_election">Template:Cite web</ref> Mikhail Gorbachev used the money from his 1990 Nobel Peace Prize to help establish the Template:Lang and purchase its first computers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

2000s

File:Dmitry Medvedev and Dmitry Muratov (2009).jpg
Dmitry Muratov interviewing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2009

On 26 November 2001, Template:Lang published an article by Oleg Lurie stating that the management of the International Industrial Bank, headed by Sergey Pugachyov, had been involved in money laundering through the Bank of New York.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Pugachyov's bank brought a libel suit against the newspaper, citing financial losses, as a number of its customers had allegedly changed the terms of their accounts in a way which made the bank lose money because of the publication of the article. On 28 February 2002, the bank won the case in Moscow's Basmanny municipal court, and was awarded 15 million rubles (about $500,000) in lost revenue, an unprecedented sum for Russian newspapers that might undermine the very existence of Template:Lang, especially as on 22 February Template:Lang had been ordered by the same Basmanny court to pay about $1 million for a corruption allegation against the Krasnodar Krai's top judge. In April, the decision in the International Industrial Bank case was reconfirmed by a court. However, in a 27 May 2002 article, Yulia Latynina, a Template:Lang journalist, revealed that the bank's three customers who had been named in the lawsuit were its subsidiaries or otherwise controlled by its board of directors, and claimed that Template:Lang had requested that a criminal fraud investigation be opened into the activities of the bank.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As a result, in June 2002 the International Industrial Bank renounced its claim to the compensation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 2004, the newspaper printed seven articles by columnist Georgy Rozhnov which accused Sergey Kiriyenko of embezzling US$4.8 billion of International Monetary Fund moneys in 1998 when he was Prime Minister of Russia.<ref name="cjeskiriyenko"/> The newspaper based the accusations on a letter allegedly written to Colin Powell and signed by U.S. Congressmen Philip Crane, Mike Pence, Charlie Norwood, Dan Burton, and Henry Bonilla, and posted on the website of the American Defense Council.<ref name="punkd"/> The newspaper claimed that Kiriyenko had used some of the embezzled funds to purchase real estate in the United States. It was later revealed that the letter was a prank concocted by The eXile, a Moscow-based tabloid.<ref name="punkd">Template:Cite news</ref> In response, Kiriyenko sued Template:Lang and Rozhnov for libel, and in passing judgment in favour of Kiriyenko the court ordered Template:Lang to retract all publications relating to the accusations and went on to say that the newspaper "is obliged to publish only officially proven information linking Mr Kiriyenko with embezzlement."<ref name="cjeskiriyenko">Template:Cite web</ref>

On 13 April 2009, the newspaper was granted the first-ever print interview in a Russian publication with President Dmitri Medvedev, in which he discussed issues such as civil society and the social contract, transparency of public officials, and Internet development.<ref name="Novaya">Template:Cite news</ref>

2010s; cyber attack and investigative reporting

File:Novaya Gazeta website symbol.svg
Website logo

On 26 January 2010, the paper's website was subjected to a denial-of-service cyber attack, and effectively taken offline.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> As of 1 February 2010, the site was still inaccessible. At the peak of the attack the server was receiving 1.5 million connections per second.<ref>Hacker Attack Freezes Novaya Gazeta's Web Site, Nikolaus von Twickel, Moscow Times, 1 February 2010</ref> The newspaper maintained its online presence by publishing articles on its page on LiveJournal, a Russian-owned social networking service.<ref>Blog posts related to the DDOS attack, Novaya Gazeta, 2010.</ref> On 7 April 2011, the website was targeted again with the same botnet that appeared to be used in a large-scale attack on LiveJournal, which hosted many opposition blogs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 25 July 2014, the paper opened with "Vergeef ons, Nederland" / "Прости, Голландия" ("Forgive us, Netherlands" in both Dutch and Russian), in response to the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 disaster.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In early 2016 the newspaper published an article alleging the existence of a so-called "Blue Whale" game, a social network phenomenon reportedly consisting of a series of initially innocuous tasks assigned to players by administrators, before elements of self-harm are introduced, culminating in a final challenge requiring the player to commit suicide. The publication of the article caused a moral panic to sweep Russia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Yevgeny Prigozhin (13-06-2023).jpg
Russian mercenary leader and oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, subject of an investigation by the newspaper.

After Template:Lang published an investigation in October 2018 by journalist Denis Korotkov about Russian mercenary leader and oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, Korotkov and the Template:Lang editor-in-chief were the target of threatening deliveries of a severed ram's head and funeral flowers to the newspaper's offices.<ref name="svoboda_october_2018">Template:Cite web</ref> The style of the threat resembled others by Kremlin-linked Prigozhin.<ref>"Six red carnations and one severed ram’s head: Deadly threats sent to Russian independent newspaper", Global Voices, 18 October 2018</ref>

In 2017 Template:Lang published reports about anti-gay purges in Chechnya, where 3 men were allegedly killed, and dozens detained and intimidated. After publication, the Chechen government denied the existence of persecutions in the Republic.<ref name="guardian_Apr_2_2017">Template:Cite web</ref> The newspaper published a report by Elena Milashina and a list of 27 Chechens killed on 26 January 2017. The newspaper also addressed the report and the list to the Investigative Committee of Russia, and asked the committee to investigate the matter. While Template:Lang published the names of 27 killed Chechens in the list, the newspaper said that the real number might be even more, possibly 56.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The newspaper said that the allegedly killed Chechens were detained by the local security service, put in custody inside guarded territory owned by the Grozny traffic police regiment, and executed on 26 January both by gunfire and by asphyxiation by State Security forces without filing any legal accusations.<ref name="novaya_23_july_2019">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="novaya_july_11_2017">Template:Cite web</ref>

2020s; Novaya Gazeta Europe

File:2018-06-20 Boris Nemzow Preis 2018-9831 (cropped).jpg
Editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov, who was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize

In October 2021, Template:LangTemplate:'s editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, alongside Maria Ressa, for their safeguarding of freedom of expression in their homelands.<ref name="auto1"/>

Following the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov stated that the newspaper would publish an edition in both Russian and Ukrainian in solidarity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 4 March 2022, after receiving an official warning from Roskomnadzor, the Russian federal agency responsible for censoring Russian mass media, the newspaper said it would remove materials and cut reporting on the war.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It published materials from occupied Kherson and other Ukrainian cities.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 28 March, after it received another warning from Roskomnadzor, the newspaper announced that it would suspend its online and print activities until the end of the "special military operation".<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref>

On 7 April 2022, as a result of the crackdown, journalists from Template:Lang announced the launch of Template:Lang Europe, with its editor-in-chief, Kirill Martynov, stating that Template:Lang Europe would be independent from Template:Lang "both legally and in practice", with its newsroom consisting of staffers who had left Russia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The new outlet would publish articles in other languages aside from Russian, and Martynov stated that the journalists hoped to eventually resume their work in Moscow.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 29 April 2022, Template:Lang Europe announced that its website had been blocked in Russia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 15 July, staff launched the magazine Novaya Rasskaz-Gazeta, with its first issue containing analysis of Putin's ideology; however by 24 July, the website was blocked in Russia.<ref name="tmt-novaya-rasskaz-gazeta"/>

On 6 May 2022, the first print issue of Template:Lang. Europe appeared on newsstands in Riga, Latvia, and online at novayagazeta.eu. The print version is published by Rīgas Viļņi in Riga, Latvia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 28 July 2022, Roskomnadzor demanded that Template:LangTemplate:'s media license be cancelled, claiming that "the editorial office was not providing its editorial statute within the timeframe established by the law on media".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 5 September, the Basmanny District Court in Moscow cancelled the newspaper's license in Russia, which Muratov called "political".<ref name="tmt-license">Template:Cite web</ref> That same month the Russian Supreme Court revoked Template:LangTemplate:'s online license, making it no longer available on the internet in Russia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 28 June 2023, the Prosecutor-General of Russia designated Novaya-Gazeta Europe as an undesirable organisation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

As of 2023, the newspaper had a daily print circulation of 108,000, and online visits of 613,000.<ref name="auto2"/><ref name="auto3"/>

Muratov's Novaya Gazeta first opened an office in Latvia, next in Germany, and, in 2024, in Paris.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2024, the documentary, Of Caravan and the Dogs, was released.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The film uses videos from several months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine until Novaya Gazeta, Radio Echo of Moscow, and Rain TV closed down and its staff fled to other countries for their safety.

Key people

File:Dmitry Muratov Four Freedoms Award 2010.jpg
Editor-in-chief Muratov shortly after receiving the Four Freedoms Award on behalf of Template:Lang in 2010

In a video posted by Template:Lang on YouTube in January 2017, editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov revealed that the newspaper's employees jointly owned 76% of its shares, while the remaining 24% were owned by Alexander Lebedev (14%) and Mikhail Gorbachev (10%).<ref name="youtube_novaya">Template:Cite web</ref>

Since 2009, the newspaper's editor-in-chief has been elected every second year by the editorial staff in a secret ballot. A few days before the November 2017 election, Muratov announced that he would not stand, as he felt that there was need for a change after his 22 years in the position, but that he would continue to work for the newspaper. He was replaced by Sergey Kozheurov, the general director of the newspaper and its first editor-in-chief.<ref name="rbk_2017">Template:Cite web</ref> However, Muratov was re-elected again in November 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Deaths and attacks on journalists

Template:See also Igor Domnikov was well known in Template:Lang for his witty essays and acerbic tone. He was attacked near the doorway of his Moscow apartment, on 12 May 2000. Hit with a hard object, presumably a hammer, by an unknown assailant, he was lying unconscious in a pool of his own blood when he was found by a neighbor. Domnikov was delivered to a hospital with skull and brain injuries, and underwent surgery, but remained in a coma. He died from his injuries on 16 July 2000. Five gang members were arrested in August 2007 on suspicion of murder, and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 18 years to life for his murder as well as other crimes.<ref name="cpj_">Template:Cite web</ref> On 11 March 2015, former Deputy Governor of Lipetsk Oblast Sergei Dorovskoi was charged by the Investigative Committee of Russia with inciting the murder, but Dorovskoi was never punished because of the statute of limitations.<ref name="cpj_in_russia_last_key_suspect">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="novaya_october_8_2018">Template:Cite web</ref> Investigations have found that Domnikov had written a series of reports about life in the Lipetsk region in 1999–2000, in which he criticized the local government for corruption, which was the motive for Dorovskoi to incite others to kill the journalist.<ref name="cpj_Anatomy of Injustice">Template:Cite web</ref>

Viktor Popkov, a contributor for the newspaper, was shot to death in Chechnya in 2001.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Yury Shchekochikhin, a journalist and a deputy in the State Duma, had also worked for the newspaper as an investigative journalist and had been a deputy Editor-in-Chief until he died from a mysterious and severe allergy on 3 July 2003. Some of his contributions published in Template:Lang were related to the investigation of the Three Whales Corruption Scandal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Anna Politkovskaja im Gespräch mit Christhard Läpple.jpg
Journalist Anna Politkovskaya

Journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was highly critical of Putin and of Russia's actions in Chechnya, wrote for Template:Lang until her assassination when she was shot dead in her Moscow apartment on 7 October 2006, Putin's birthday.<ref name="auto4">Template:Cite web</ref> Politkovskaya wrote in an essay that the editors received: "Visitors every day in our editorial office who have nowhere else to bring their troubles, because the Kremlin finds their stories off-message, so that the only place they can be aired is in our newspaper, Template:Lang."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Vyacheslav Izmailov, a retired army major who was a military correspondent, was part of the team investigating her death, and in 2007 claimed to know who had ordered her death.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Fifteen years after her murder, Template:Lang released a short film investigating her death, and documenting failures at every level of the subsequent investigation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In November 2023, President Vladimir Putin pardoned a former law enforcement involved in the murder, for serving in a Russian penal military unit.<ref name="auto4"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Journalist and human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov was shot and killed in Moscow on 19 January 2009 while leaving a press conference about his last minute appeal against the early release of Yuri Budanov, a former Russian military officer convicted for kidnapping and aggravated murder of a young Chechen woman.<ref>"Chechen Rights Lawyer and Journalist Shot in Moscow". The International Herald Tribune Retrieved 19 January 2009</ref> Anastasia Baburova, a freelance journalist for Template:Lang and a member of Autonomous Action, was with Markelov at the time and was shot in the head and also killed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Natalya Estemirova, a human rights researcher and lawyer who lived in the Chechen Republic, had sometimes met journalist Anna Politkovskaya and lawyer Stanislav Markelov, because they all were investigating crimes in Chechnya and defending victims rights. She also wrote reports in Template:Lang. Estemirova was kidnapped from a sidewalk on 22 July 2009 in the Chechnyan capital Grozny, and two hours later was killed and her bullet-riddled body was found in the neighboring Ingushetia Republic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="guardian_estemirova">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2018 three journalists of Template:Lang, Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguyev, and Orkhan Dzhemal, were killed in an ambush outside the town of Sibut in the Central African Republic. They were engaged in investigations of the Russian mercenary engagement in the Central African Republic through the Wagner Group.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 7 April 2022, Muratov was attacked by an unknown person and covered with red paint while on a train from Moscow to Samara, supposedly with the attack reflecting the attacker's support of Russian troops.<ref name="instagram">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=guardian-muratov-attacked>Template:Cite news</ref> Muratov said the attacker had shouted "Muratov, here’s one for our boys".<ref name=guardian-muratov-attacked/> He said his eyes were "burning terribly" after the attack, and posted a selfie showing the effects of the attack.<ref name=guardian-muratov-attacked/> The substance was red paint containing acetone.<ref name=guardian-russian-intelligence-behind-poisoning/> A declassified United States intelligence report concluded the attackers were part of an unnamed Russian intelligence unit.<ref name=guardian-russian-intelligence-behind-poisoning>Template:Cite news</ref>

Inserts

Svobodnoe Prostranstvo ("Free Space", Template:Langx), which had been a colour supplement to Template:Lang, is included in the Friday issue.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:Lang has also published The New York Times International Weekly on Fridays since 2009. This eight-page supplement features a selection of articles from The New York Times translated into Russian.Template:Citation needed

Template:Lang regularly contains free inserts of its side-projects or other newly launched newspapers. The United Civil Front (by the corresponding organisation) and Yabloko's newspaper were published in the form of inserts in the past. Current inserts include the Shofyor ("Driver" or "chauffeur", Template:Langx) side project and the popular science Kentavr ("Centaur", Template:Langx).Template:Citation needed

Awards

File:Karlsmedaille für europäische Medien, 2012.jpg
2012 Charlemagne Award for the European Media

See also

References

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Template:Andrei Sakharov Freedom Award Template:Authority control Template:Portal bar