Who is the owner of the new newspaper? Who sponsors the information dump “Novaya Gazeta”

Material accusing Novaya Gazeta of receiving funding from the Netherlands. Moreover, the authors of the article linked the receipt of money with the release of articles about the Boeing crash near Donbass. Novaya called it a “denunciation” and rejected the accusations.

According to Izvestia, the Dutch authorities can have a significant influence on editorial policy " Novaya Gazeta" As Izvestia found out, in 2012, Novaya Gazeta, along with the online publication Caucasian Knot, received direct state support from the government of the Netherlands.

In addition, as Izvestia writes, the main founder of Novaya Gazeta was Research and Technology Corporation CJSC (RST.F; liquidated in 2014), owned by the Dutch company Research and Technology Corporation (RTC) NV. According to the SPARK database, RST.F owned ZAO Novaya Dezhednevnaya Gazeta until at least 2006.

“Experts do not rule out that indirect financing Russian media continues, including to promote its position on the most pressing issues,” the authors claim and below quote the opinion of political scientist Alexander Shatilov.

The editors were unable to identify who is the current shareholder of Novaya Dazhednevnaya Gazeta CJSC legislation on joint stock companies allows a closed joint stock company not to disclose its owners.

Izvestia calls the “New” policy “quite definite and, one might say, unambiguous.” As the publication notes, according to Medialogy, during the year (July 2014 - July 2015) Malaysian Boeing was mentioned in more than 100 publications of Novaya Gazeta. In these articles, the point of view was repeatedly expressed that the disaster occurred due to the fault of pro-Russian militias, and at times, even the responsibility for what happened was shifted to Russia.

“In fact, as far as Novaya Gazeta is concerned, the Netherlands will continue to sponsor Russian edition using gray schemes,” Izvestia quotes the commentary of the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on information policy, information technology and connections of Andrey Tumanov.

The editors of Novaya have already published a response to the accusations. According to journalists, the basis for the “leak” was a grant from the Dutch Embassy received by Novaya Gazeta in 2012. This information is actually open and has never been hidden.

“The authors of the article carefully avoid the grant amount. So the amount of the contract is one million two hundred thousand rubles. Rubles. The agreement provides for the intended use of the grant - the creation of a multimedia studio for the Novaya Gazeta website, equipment and software for her,” writes Novaya.

Also, as the newspaper writes, CJSC Novaya Dezhednevnaya Gazeta, mentioned by Izvestia, has not been involved in publishing Novaya Gazeta since 1998.

“Just look at the last page to find out that the founder and publisher of Novaya is the Novaya Gazeta Publishing House CJSC. Finding out the “current shareholders” of this closed joint-stock company, who are quite Russian, is also not difficult, especially since Novaya Gazeta never hid them.”

As noted separately, in a conversation with editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov, Andrei Tumanov said that he had not spoken with Izvestia journalists about Novaya Gazeta’s financing schemes.

Among the great variety of information publications, the priority for which is the delivery of high-quality and reliable material to their readers, stand out clearly liberal media. Publications of this kind do not care about the quality or truthfulness of the information - the main thing for them is to throw out into the information space a portion of Russophobic slag, paid for by Western sponsors, or to create another fake with a loud headline in order to collect more views on it. Standing apart among such publications is Novaya Gazeta, which can safely be called the “sink tank” of the Russian information field.
For example, Novaya journalists constantly harp on high-profile topics where Russia is presented as a “worldwide evil” - such a topic in Lately became the Skripal case, which all British publications are trumpeting about. The editors are ready to attach the story of the “newbie” to any news item, for example, to the news that the Americans from The Wall Street Journal allegedly gained access to the testimony of one of Aeroflot’s top managers.

Of course, the dubious quality of the materials issued by Novaya affected the popularity of this garbage publication - readers are turning away from this media in droves, having had their fill of their Russophobic heresy. You can easily verify this by looking at the data from the Liveinternet service. Over the past two years, the number of views of Novaya Gazeta has more than halved.

The rate of unique visitors is also falling. Back in March of this year, 236,774 unique users were recorded, and by June there were 159,732. The collapse is actually rapid - Novaya is already in 1547th place on Rambler, and is inferior in popularity even to regional publications like United Odessa.

As a result, a colossal decline in the monetary indicators of this garbage publication. In just three years, Novaya’s profit fell from 10.5 million rubles to 93 thousand - this is just a laugh.

Of course, in connection with the above, a very reasonable question arises - where does Novaya get its money? With such a colossal drop in income, they didn’t even cut staff; are there really only altruists working there? Of course not - this is where Western sponsors come to the rescue, dictating the information policy of Novaya Gazeta and similar publications.

It’s no secret that until 2014, Novaya Gazeta was owned by the Dutch company Research and Technology Corporation, which was liquidated just before the adoption of the law “On Foreign Agents” in Russia. And the funds of the famous ideologist of “color revolutions” George Soros have been pumping money into “New” since 2002.

Of course, the leadership of Novaya Gazeta will never admit that it exists solely thanks to Western funding, and tries in every possible way to hide this fact with the help of complex circuits. The official structure of the publication looks like this.

And here we need to pay special attention to the ANO Editorial and Publishing House Novaya Gazeta. The creation of this office was attended by such characters as Mikhail Gorbachev and the same Dutch offshore Research and Technology Corporation through his personal JSC Rst.f.

The beauty of ANO is that the founders are not responsible for the company’s activities. In addition, you can endlessly send money to such companies in the form of donations and no one will pay attention to it, no one will even charge taxes on these transactions. This is what Novaya Gazeta takes advantage of, constantly receiving anonymous donations for its “ independent journalism».

The second funding mechanism is hidden under the receipt of various awards. Liberal publications consistently receive money for their “unbiased articles.” Thus, the editor of the investigative department of Novaya Gazeta, Roman Anin, received an award from ICIJ, a structure financed by the same Soros. Later, the money was transferred to the accounts of Novaya Gazeta, and no one had any questions - after all, they were transferred by Anin, and he, whatever one may say, is a citizen of Russia.

Another method is the so-called “gasket companies”. “Novaya” aired this story together with American company Bellafonte LLC: ANO RID Novaya Gazeta, together with an American office, is creating the ANO Editorial Region. The Americans pour a lot of money into it and then liquidate it. And the money is successfully flowing into the accounts of “Novaya”, and according to the documents again there is no fault, since one Russian company received funds from another - and no foreign agents for you.

The fact that some Russian media, which more than others like to loudly declare their independence, receive serious support from foreign states, is no longer surprising. Other countries may use Russian-language publications to promote their own interests.

ON THIS TOPIC

So, back in 2002, information appeared about Novaya Gazeta receiving money from the George Soros Foundation, which is now known as one of the main sponsors of “color” revolutions around the world. The publication itself confirmed this information. However, this is not the only channel of support, including material, that Novaya Gazeta journalists received from abroad.

In 2010, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands presented the editor-in-chief of the publication with the “Medal of Freedoms” from the Franklin Roosevelt Foundation. In addition, in 2012, Novaya Gazeta, along with the online publication Caucasian Knot received direct state support , Izvestia reports with reference to the official report of the Dutch government. Experts note that a foreign state can have a significant influence on editorial policy.

"New Newspaper" for a long time was looking for sponsors, and the fact that she found them abroad is not surprising. In principle, the fact that a number of Russian media are sponsored from abroad creates an ambiguous situation: foreign countries in this way they can promote their interests", said political scientist Alexander Shatilov.

"The Dutch can promote their topics through Novaya Gazeta," including those related to the Malaysian Boeing that crashed in 2014", the expert added. Thus, over the course of a year, the publication recalled the crash of a passenger plane in Ukrainian airspace more than 100 times. The largest number of messages was in July 2014 - 25 texts - and a year later, on the anniversary of the tragedy, 19 publications.

At the same time, the direction of the articles does not raise doubts among the thoughtful reader. Often the responsibility for the tragedy was shifted to Russia, and materials with neutral headlines were published extremely rarely. Experts view this as just another episode information war, in which the Netherlands aims to highlight as widely as possible own position inside Russia.

However Chief Editor Dmitry Muratov assures Novaya Gazeta that the money received did not influence the selection of stories. "We submitted an application when they publicly announced that they were ready to support the updating and creation of new sites. We received a grant and officially reported for its implementation. We changed the site: we launched a multimedia project. We have our own studio, our own lecture hall and stories, which are updated almost every day. This did not affect the editorial policy. What editorial policy can we have with the Dutch?" he said.

According to the law, foreign companies are not entitled to own more than 20% of Russian media. Just a couple of weeks before the adoption of such amendments, one of the founders of Novaya Gazeta, RST.F, who is a subsidiary registered in the Dutch Caribbean offshore of RTC NV- was liquidated. Analysts do not rule out that in this way the owners of the publication tried to hide Western funding. At the same time, experts believe that indirect financing of Russian media, including to promote their position on the most pressing issues, continues.

“In fact, as for Novaya Gazeta, the Netherlands will continue to sponsor the Russian publication, taking advantage of gray schemes,” says Andrei Tumanov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications. In addition, the legislation on joint stock companies allows closed joint stock companies not to disclose information about owners, which does not allow identifying the current shareholders of Novaya Gazeta.

Novaya Gazeta received direct financial assistance and support from the Dutch authorities, according to a report posted on the official website of the Dutch government.

According to the Izvestia publication, in 2012, Novaya Gazeta, along with the online publication Caucasian Knot, received direct state support from the government of the Netherlands.

Note that the main founder of Novaya Gazeta was Research and Technology Corporation CJSC (RST.F; liquidated in 2014), owned by the Dutch company Research and Technology Corporation (RTC) NV. According to the SPARK database, RST.F owned ZAO Novaya Dezhednevnaya Gazeta until at least 2006.

According to experts, such funding for Russian media is used to promote their position on the most pressing issues. Izvestia notes that RST.F was liquidated in August 2014 literally two weeks before the introduction of a bill amending the law on media to the State Duma, according to which foreign companies do not have the right to own more than 20% in Russian media. In fact, with this move, the owners tried to hide Western funding of the publication.

The editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, confirmed that the newspaper's shareholder structure consists of Novaya Dezhednevnaya Gazeta CJSC (76%), 10% belongs to Mikhail Gorbachev and 14% belongs to entrepreneur Alexander Lebedev.

According to the editor-in-chief of the "Caucasian Knot" Grigory Shvedov, the publication received money from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs "for institutional support. This did not affect the editorial policy in any way." And Muratov explained that the money received from the Netherlands went towards the development of a new website.

Regarding the materials, in 2014 Novaya Gazeta published an apology in Dutch “for the downing of a Malaysian Boeing by pro-Russian terrorists.” The material with the headline “Forgive us, Holland” (in Dutch and Russian) was also duplicated exactly on the website of the largest daily newspaper in the Netherlands, De Telegraaf.

The cover featured a photograph depicting a funeral procession of cars. The phrase “Malaysian Boeing” was mentioned in an accusatory context in more than 100 publications of Novaya Gazeta. The most messages were in July 2014 (25 texts) and a year later, on the anniversary of the tragedy, 19 publications.

A selection of publications from other international publications is also given, in which Russia is blamed for the deaths as a result of the plane crash.

Let us recall that in 2002 it became known that Novaya Gazeta received money from the George Soros Foundation. The Dutch Embassy in Moscow explained that the document, which refers to direct government funding of Novaya Gazeta from the Netherlands, “is an attachment to a letter addressed to the Parliament of the Netherlands.”

The editorial policy of Novaya Gazeta will now be determined by Sergei Kozheurov. The founder and former editor-in-chief of the newspaper Dmitry Muratov will focus on the publication's strategy

Editorial office of Novaya Gazeta (Photo: Sergey Mamontov / RIA Novosti)

According to the results of the elections held at the editorial office of Novaya Gazeta on Friday, November 17, its general director Sergei Kozheurov was elected editor-in-chief of the publication, Nadezhda Prusenkova, head of the press service of Novaya Gazeta, told RBC. Dmitry Muratov, as expected, headed the newspaper's editorial board.

As Sergei Kozheurov told RBC, he does not intend to change the editorial policy of the publication. “A new editor-in-chief does not mean that there will be a new editorial policy. My priorities in this position are to continue to talk about everything. What we've always done. I was the first editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, and my the main task so that I don’t become the last,” he added.

In total, three people applied for the post of editorial director, all current employees of the publication: one of the founders and first editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, Sergei Kozheurov; chief editor Alexey Polukhin, who joined the publication in 2003; editor of the “Politics and Economics” department Kirill Martynov, who previously worked, in particular, at the Gleb Pavlovsky Foundation for Effective Politics and at Rosmolodezh.

Dmitry Muratov, who headed the publication for 22 years, did not stand as a candidate. He announced his intention to leave the post of editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta to RBC on Monday, November 13. Muratov explained his decision by the need for a change of power. “If we are for the change of power outside, why not be guided by the same principles inside?” - he said in his address to readers on the Novaya Gazeta website on November 14. Muratov called talk about “pressure from above” a “banal lie.”

The procedure for electing the head of Novaya Gazeta every two years is prescribed in the editorial charter. The new editor-in-chief is elected by secret ballot. It started at the editorial office at 12 noon, Prusenkova reported to RBC.

“On Monday we had a debate between the candidates. They were conducting a campaign. On election day, a ballot box was installed in the editorial office, where all the publication’s employees placed their completed ballots,” Prusenkova said, adding that 129 employees of the publication took part in the voting.

After the counting of votes, which ended at 14:15, Kozheurov was declared the winner. In parallel with the editor-in-chief, the editorial board of Novaya Gazeta was elected. This new organ in the management structure of the publication, strategic issues will be assigned to the council, Muratov previously clarified to RBC. By heading the editorial board of Novaya Gazeta, Muratov will thereby retain key issues, said RBC’s source in Novaya Gazeta. “This is strategically important, he knows everything, takes all the blows,” explained RBC’s interlocutor.

The socio-political publication Novaya Gazeta has been published in Russia since April 1, 1993. Since 1995, it was headed by one of the founders, Dmitry Muratov. The founder of Novaya Gazeta is ZAO Publishing House Novaya Gazeta, which, according to SPARK data as of October 2017, is 100% owned by Informburo LLC. Its co-owners on a parity basis are Dmitry Muratov and Sergei Kozheurov.

The editorial office of the publication is managed by the ANO Editorial and Publishing House Novaya Gazeta. The board of the ANO includes former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev. In 2016, the editorial staff received a donation from individuals received 131.6 million rubles, income from publishing activities amounted to 34.5 million rubles, according to the ANO report published on the website of the Russian Ministry of Justice.

Now Novaya Gazeta is published three times a week - on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. The circulation of the publication (according to the editors) is 187,750 copies. In October 2017, according to Similarweb, the Novaya Gazeta website was visited 11.5 million times. Of these, 61% of traffic came from Russia.