Have financial pressures at the Moscow Times brought the newspaper to heel?
On 23 January, The Moscow Times published an editorial about the Human Rights Congress titled “It’s Time to Engage Not to Confront” that baffled regular readers. What was confusing was the obvious change in tone of the editorial from the previous approach taken by the paper. Traditionally, The Moscow Times had not been afraid to publish articles that challenged Putin or the government; the newspaper was viewed as the only Western news perspective in Moscow. However, the editorial stated “we don’t believe that declaring a ‘human rights state of emergency’ is a responsible reaction to the present situation,” and “such rhetoric merely deepens the divide between the government and liberal forces in society, provoking confrontation rather than facilitating a dialogue that could lead to real improvements.” (THE MOSCOW TIMES, 23 Jan 01; via www.themoscowtimes.com) The eXile, a bi-weekly Moscow-based independent newspaper, published a scathing article earlier this month in which the writer Mat
