Raf Shakirov resigned Monday as the editor of Izvestia, which has provided some of the best coverage of the Beslan hostage crisis. A newspaper staff member said the Kremlin had demanded his ouster.
Shakirov said his resignation was connected to a dispute with the newspaper's owner over its Saturday issue, which was filled with large, dramatic photographs from Beslan.
"The leadership of Prof-Media and I disagreed on the format of this issue. It is considered too emotional and poster-like and, in general, papers are not made like that," Shakirov told Radio Liberty.
"We did it ... proceeding from our perception of what this means for the country. And actually this perception proved to be right -- that this is a war," Shakirov said, according to a transcript of the interview published on www.newsru.com. "Nevertheless, I am forced to resign from this position."
Prof-Media, which is owned by billionaire Vladimir Potanin, declined to comment. The media holding's deputy head, Yevgeny Abov, said he had learned of Shakirov's departure from media reports.
An Izvestia staff member, who asked not to be identified, said the Kremlin was upset about the newspaper's coverage of the recent terror attacks in Russia, and the Saturday issue was the last straw.
"The newspaper's coverage is the reason, especially the Saturday issue. There was a call from the Kremlin asking that the editor be fired," the staff member said.
Founded in 1917 and known for decades for its conservative stance, Izvestia published some of the most thorough and probing accounts of the Beslan crisis. It was the first to cast doubt on the government's claim that some 350 hostages were being held. The actual number was more than 1,000.
Shakirov, 44, had run Izvestia since November 2003, when he joined the newspaper from Gazeta, where he had served as editor since its launch in 2001. In March 1999, he lost his job as editor of Kommersant over a story critical of then-Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. The story was published while he was out of town.
Izvestia's news coverage improved noticeably under Shakirov. It offered strong coverage of the June 22-23 raids on Ingushetia and was the first to report that the two Chechen roommates of women suspected of bombing two planes last month had gone missing. One of those missing women is suspected of carrying out a suicide bombing near the Rizhskaya metro station last week.
Igor Yakovenko, general secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists, condemned the shakeup at Izvestia, saying Shakirov was fired for doing his job.
"As the editor of the newspaper, Shakirov spoke out about the Beslan crisis in the way any professional journalist should and did not lie," Yakovenko said.
Oleg Panfilov, director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, said Shakirov left Izvestia because he had failed to toe the Kremlin line and had made the newspaper's coverage too explicit.
"He failed to catch the mood of those with power, while the other newspapers did and are now working without any problems," Panfilov said.
Media outlets have previously faced Kremlin pressure in times of crises. NTV television came under fire in late October 2002 when it broadcast footage of the storming of the Dubrovka theater by special forces to end a hostage standoff. Authorities said NTV, which is owned by state-controlled Gazprom, had jeopardized the operation, even though the footage was not aired live but with a delay. NTV's coverage of the Dubrovka crisis is widely considered to be the key reason NTV general director Boris Jordan lost his job in January 2003.
With a circulation of 234,500, Izvestia is one of the country's largest daily newspapers. Its parent company, Prof-Media, holds stakes in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper and in Independent Media, the parent company of The Moscow Times. The stake in Independent Media is 35 percent.
Izvestia said on its web site that until a new editor is appointed it will be run by its executive secretary Vladimir Borodin.
Shakirov said his resignation was connected to a dispute with the newspaper's owner over its Saturday issue, which was filled with large, dramatic photographs from Beslan.
"The leadership of Prof-Media and I disagreed on the format of this issue. It is considered too emotional and poster-like and, in general, papers are not made like that," Shakirov told Radio Liberty.
"We did it ... proceeding from our perception of what this means for the country. And actually this perception proved to be right -- that this is a war," Shakirov said, according to a transcript of the interview published on www.newsru.com. "Nevertheless, I am forced to resign from this position."
Prof-Media, which is owned by billionaire Vladimir Potanin, declined to comment. The media holding's deputy head, Yevgeny Abov, said he had learned of Shakirov's departure from media reports.
An Izvestia staff member, who asked not to be identified, said the Kremlin was upset about the newspaper's coverage of the recent terror attacks in Russia, and the Saturday issue was the last straw.
"The newspaper's coverage is the reason, especially the Saturday issue. There was a call from the Kremlin asking that the editor be fired," the staff member said.
Founded in 1917 and known for decades for its conservative stance, Izvestia published some of the most thorough and probing accounts of the Beslan crisis. It was the first to cast doubt on the government's claim that some 350 hostages were being held. The actual number was more than 1,000.
Shakirov, 44, had run Izvestia since November 2003, when he joined the newspaper from Gazeta, where he had served as editor since its launch in 2001. In March 1999, he lost his job as editor of Kommersant over a story critical of then-Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. The story was published while he was out of town.
Izvestia's news coverage improved noticeably under Shakirov. It offered strong coverage of the June 22-23 raids on Ingushetia and was the first to report that the two Chechen roommates of women suspected of bombing two planes last month had gone missing. One of those missing women is suspected of carrying out a suicide bombing near the Rizhskaya metro station last week.
Igor Yakovenko, general secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists, condemned the shakeup at Izvestia, saying Shakirov was fired for doing his job.
"As the editor of the newspaper, Shakirov spoke out about the Beslan crisis in the way any professional journalist should and did not lie," Yakovenko said.
Oleg Panfilov, director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, said Shakirov left Izvestia because he had failed to toe the Kremlin line and had made the newspaper's coverage too explicit.
"He failed to catch the mood of those with power, while the other newspapers did and are now working without any problems," Panfilov said.
 Izvestia Raf Shakirov |  |
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With a circulation of 234,500, Izvestia is one of the country's largest daily newspapers. Its parent company, Prof-Media, holds stakes in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper and in Independent Media, the parent company of The Moscow Times. The stake in Independent Media is 35 percent.
Izvestia said on its web site that until a new editor is appointed it will be run by its executive secretary Vladimir Borodin.
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