Novaya Gazeta illuminates the dark side of Russian reality. The publication was founded by a group of journalists in 1993. The newspaper exposes corruption, human rights violations and corporate crimes. Even now, when many topics have become taboo, Novaya remains an outpost of freedom of speech in Russia. The editorial office has repeatedly voiced open threats. But the team continues to work. Including the chief editor of the publication - Dmitry Muratov.
Biography of the chief editor
Dmitry Andreyevich was born in the city of Kuibyshev (now Samara) on October 30, 1961. At school I dreamed of becoming a photographer. I walked around the stadiums, took pictures. Already then decided on the choice of profession. But at the city university there was no faculty of journalism, so I entered the philological department.
Muratov says that he was lucky that he was "not in his specialty" because they had amazing teachers. While studying, he worked at the plant as a transport worker and in the regional youth newspaper Volzhsky Komsomolets.
In 1983, after graduating from the university, he got into the same newspaper by distribution, traveled around the country and wrote about construction teams. I wanted to continue to work there. But the party committee felt that the young journalist needed to work in the party newspaper, where Muratov did not want to go. In case of refusal, he had to go to the army. And he chose the second option. According to him, at that time he was already married, he had a student wedding. His wife supported him. The journalist does not particularly cover personal life. Only once did the family of Dmitry Muratov be mentioned in the press - in 1997, when he said that his daughter wants to become an architect, and he would like to see her as a lawyer.
So, in 1983, Dmitry joined the ranks of the Soviet Army. When he returned from service in 1985, perestroika began in the country. At first, he worked all the same in the Volzhsky Komsomolets. Soon Dmitry was offered to become a correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda in Kuibyshev. On the same day, the editor of the Komsomolka department called him and warned that Muratov would not agree to the correspondent. Soon, without a single day of work in the newspaper, Dmitry Muratov became the head of the department at KP. And he went with his family immediately to Moscow.
Years of work at KP Muratov recalls warmly: there was a wonderful team that made sure that the newspaper was read from the front page. The circulation of Komsomolskaya Pravda reached 22 million. In 1992, a conflict broke out in the collective: one part of the journalists believed that the newspaper should remain independent from the government, others that the publication should bring money. The dialogue did not work, and journalists who disagreed with the editorial policy left the newspaper and registered the 6th floor LLP. Among them was Muratov.
New newspaper - new editor?
In 1993, the partnership established the New Daily Newspaper, where Dmitry Muratov worked as deputy editor. At first they huddled in the building of the Moscow Herald. They hoped that some of their readers would be taken away with them. But this did not happen - they sold the newspaper themselves, offered at kiosks, handed out at the subway.
In 1994-1995 he was in Chechnya as a special correspondent. When he returned from a business trip, it turned out that the newspaper did not come out at all. Since August 1995, its release has resumed, but it has become weekly. The word "daily" in the title began to interfere, the publication was renamed "Novaya Gazeta". At the general meeting, Muratov was elected as the chief editor. Since then, he has been doing this.
How does it feel to be a journalist?
M.S. Gorbachev helped restore the newspaper. Found sponsors, they helped pay off part of the debt. During his work as chief editor, Muratov repeatedly found a way out of difficult situations even when it seemed that there was no way out. In the entire history of the existence of the "New" from the state there was no help. Sometimes kept only on enthusiasm. This is the main quality of the team.
In 1996, the circulation of the newspaper grew to 120, 000. In “Novaya”, from the very beginning, the direction — the investigation — appeared. Decency of business or corruption schemes, abuse of position or honesty of the authorities - it was all in the newspaper. After the tragic death of journalist A. Politkovskaya, the editor-in-chief gathered everyone for an urgent meeting, where he announced that he wanted to close the newspaper, because no profession was worth dying for. No one supported him.
Muratov says their team is wonderful. No one needs to be motivated. Professionalism, honesty, impartiality, accuracy, perseverance and empathy - these features are inherent in all members of the team. They take risks, but carefully check the information. For them, the trust of readers is important.
Muratov’s name was repeatedly mentioned in the press. He was published both as the author of the materials and as the chief editor. Dmitry Muratov was mentioned in reports of the tragic death of Novaya journalists. He connects what happened with the professional activities of employees.
In 1997, Muratov hosted the Press Club program on ORTV, and from 1998 to 1999, he hosted the “The Court is on” program on NTV. He collaborated with the program “Scandals of the week” on the TV-6 Moscow channel.
Social activity
Muratov is one of the founders of the Free Choice committee. He was among those who applied to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation with a statement on the cancellation of the results of the State Duma elections held in 2003. According to the applicants, the procedure for disseminating information was violated, which led to a distortion of the results. The applicants' actions did not bring any result. Muratov left the committee in 2008.
Since 2004, Muratov has been a member of the Yabloko Democratic Party. In 2011, he entered the party’s election list.
Dmitry Muratov was a member of the Public Council at the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of Moscow, but in 2011 he publicly announced the suspension of activities. His entry into the organization was caused by the opportunity to host those who were deceived or offended by law enforcement agencies. Muratov perceived the work in the Council as a continuation of journalistic activities. After the events of 2011 on Triumfalnaya Square, when the organizers of the rally were detained and arrested, Muratov said that it was a disgrace for the country, and in January 2012 left the Council.
New Media
In 2006, M. Gorbachev and businessman A. Lebedev became co-owners of Novaya Gazeta: 10% of the shares went to the first, 39% to the second, and 51% were received by the publication team. The co-owners promised that they would not intervene in the politics of the magazine. In addition, they proposed Muratov to create a holding that would include several newspapers, radio stations, social services, and Internet resources. In 2008, the New Media holding was established.
Evidence and rebuttal
In 2003, after the publication of the article “The Kursk Case in the Novaya Gazeta”, the Ministry of Defense sued. The experts on whom the editorial staff relied proved that the submariners did not die immediately, but lived for several days. The court decision was not made in favor of the Moscow Region, which was blocking off its admirals.
In 2003, a hearing was held with the General Prosecutor’s Office in the Basmanny court, where the deputy prosecutor appealed with a statement that the Novaya Gazeta publication on August 18, “The Looping Vector of the Prosecutor General’s Office, contains words discrediting his reputation and asked to recover 10 million rubles from the editorial office compensation for non-pecuniary damage. The court ordered the publisher to pay a fine of 600, 000 rubles and publish a refutation.
In 2008, after the scandalous admission of R. Kadyrov to the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Muratov, among many well-known journalists, openly protested and stated his intention to leave the Union. In March of the same year, the secretariat of the Union canceled its decision to admit Kadyrov to the organization. The refusal was motivated by the fact that this contradicts the charter, since no evidence of Kadyrov’s journalistic activity was found.
In 2009, Kadyrov filed a lawsuit against the Novaya Gazeta journalists and Muratov personally. He called slanderous a number of publications of the publication, in which he was accused of involvement in crimes. These were the articles No Fear, The Hunt for Tongues, The Last Case of Markelov, Mukhavat Salah Masaev, The Name of Russia - Death, and the Vienna Killing publication dedicated to the results of the investigation into the murder of U. Israilov.
In 2010, Kadyrov’s representative and Novaya’s lawyer in the Basmanny court refused a settlement. In February of the same year, it was refused to initiate proceedings on the statement of Kadyrov. He himself recalled several lawsuits: to O. Orlov, the head of Memorial; to L. Alekseeva, head of the human rights organization MHG; to Novaya Gazeta and its editor-in-chief.
