Izvestia Still Without An Editor

Staff Writer

Published: October 5, 2004 (Issue # 1009)

MOSCOW - The delay in appointing a replacement for Izvestia editor Raf Shakirov, who resigned after criticism of the newspaper's coverage of the Beslan crisis, is likely due to a dearth of candidates who are qualified and loyal to the Kremlin, lawmakers and analysts said.

Izvestia publisher Prof-Media, which is owned by billionaire Vladimir Potanin, said after Shakirov's resignation on Sept. 6 that it would find a new editor within a week, but almost a month later an interim editor, Vladimir Borodin, is still running the daily.

Borodin held the post of executive secretary at the newspaper under Shakirov. His name has not surfaced as a possible replacement.

Izvestia held a general shareholders meeting Tuesday to discuss the appointment, a newspaper spokeswoman said. She refused further comment until after a board meeting later this week.

The day after the Sept. 3 storming of the Beslan school, Izvestia ran a special edition devoted to the tragedy that included a full front-page photograph of a hostage being rescued. An Izvestia staffer has said Shakirov stepped down after the newspaper's owners got an angry telephone call from the Kremlin.

Media watchers and newspapers, including Moskovskiye Novosti, have named seven possible candidates to replace Shakirov-most of them closely linked to the Kremlin and the Cabinet.

MN's list includes three women-Natalya Timakova, head of the presidential press service, Natalya Cherkesova, director of the Rosbalt news agency and wife of the head of the Federal Drug Control Service, and Alla Manilova, public relations chief for the St. Petersburg administration.

Other possible candidates include former Press Minister Mikhail Lesin, presidential aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky, former Nezavisimaya Gazeta editor Vitaly Tretyakov and Komsomolskaya Pravda editor Vladimir Sungorkin.

Pavel Gutiontov of the Russian Union of Journalists said Izvestia's search was taking longer than expected because there are not many editors who have high professional standards and are loyal to the Kremlin. "It's extremely difficult to find a person who suits the authorities 100 percent and is authoritative enough to run a newspaper" the size of Izvestia, he said.

Gutiontov said the newspaper and its owners would not have the last word about the shortlist of candidates, in an apparent reference to possible Kremlin interference. "Other people are making the decision, and Potanin might not even be aware" of the candidates, he said.

"Of course, it's possible to appoint a very obedient person from the circle that is very close to the 'emperor,'" said Boris Reznik, deputy head of the State Duma's Information Policy Committee and a member of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, referring to President Vladimir Putin. "But this would make it quite a different newspaper.

"There's probably some fighting going on at the top," he said, adding that the authorities are being cautious because Izvestia is "a worldwide brand."

Gutiontov said the choice for editor could be a surprise.

Amid the uncertainty about the editor, leading Izvestia reporter Svetlana Babayeva has moved on to work as RIA-Novosti's London bureau chief.

Prof-Media holds a majority stake in Komsomolskaya Pravda and a 35 percent stake in Independent Media, The St. Petersburg Times' parent company.