Do not have to be in opposition

Russian Forbes was headed by Nikolai Uskov. How did this happen?

On Thursday, January 14, the editor -in -chief was replaced in Forbes magazine - instead of Elmar Murtazaev, they will be Nikolai Uskov, who previously led the Russian GQ, as well as the Snob project. The appointment until the last was kept secret - the team found out about it only at a special meeting with the editorial office. Up to employees was presented by the new owner of the publication Alexander Fedotov. The new Glavred said that he was not embarrassed by the lack of experience in the business media and promised that he would save the team, and the magazine would continue to remain an independent publication. Special correspondent "Medusa" Ilya Zhegulev talks about the details of this purpose.

Elmar Murtazaev, the Forbes employees learned about the dismissal of the chief editor of the Russian version of Forbes at a meeting of the owner of the publication Alexander Fedotov with the team. Moreover, the theme of the meeting was secret to the last moment. It was announced that Murtazaev was leaving the magazine of his own free will.

Almost simultaneously with the start of this meeting, the ACMG press release appeared on the Forbes website, which bought a magazine in October 2015. In it, among other things, it is reported on the introduction of a new position-the chief editor of the joint editorial board of Forbes magazine and Forbes.ru website. She will be taken by Nikolai Mazurin, who was still the first deputy chief expense of the magazine. Mazurin will continue to oversee the content of both the magazine and the site. “I am convinced that many years of experience in Nikolai Mazurin in Forbes will be guaranteed that the journal will maintain the continuity of editorial traditions,” Fyotov Forbes quoted.

Nikolai Uskov was appointed new editor -in -chief of the Russian Forbes. The historian by education, a former teacher of the Department of the Middle Ages of Moscow State University, has been working in the media of Uska for 15 years. In 2000, Uskov became the editor of the first Internet project of the publishing house Independent Media-Estart.ru. It was planned to publish news about style and beauty on the site using the resources of existing glossy publications Independent Media - such as Cosmopolitan, for example. But the project was recognized as failed and closed. Uskov went to the magazine Menʼs Health, and in 2002 he became its editor-in-chief. He already gained the greatest fame as the editor-in-chief of the Russian version of the American GQ magazine, in which he worked from 2003 to 2012. In the last three years, Uskov was the head of the Snob project.

The story of who and under what circumstances bought Russian Forbes, Medusa told in November 2015. An influential business monthly fell under the "Law on Foreigners in the Media", according to which foreigners cannot own a share of more than 20% in Russian media. Forbes was not acquired by the most famous entrepreneur Alexander Fedotov. Almost immediately after the announcement of the deal, Fedotov said that he would not want to have a “many politics” in the journal, although he assured that he would not interfere in editorial affairs.

Changes in the Russian Forbes began almost immediately after the change of owner. Natalya Gandurina, who had previously headed Jalou Media Group Russia, became the general director of the new publisher of Forbes “As Russian Media”, the publisher of the magazine LʼOfficiel. At the same time, the editorial office was left by the editor -in -chief of Forbes Life and Forbes Woman Julia Taratuta. In mid -December 2015, they did not extend the contract with her. Taratuta said that Gandurina began to intervene in the affairs of the editorial office - in particular, she tried to remove the already published material from the last number of Forbes Life from the site dedicated to media managers.

Elmar Murtazaev, however, chose to stay. But, as the sources in the editorial office said, his relationship with the owner also did not work out. Moreover, according to Medusa, Murtazaev wrote a statement of care in December 2015.

According to the source, Fedotov several times demanded to remove certain publications; Nevertheless, each time Murtazaev managed to defend materials, including annually updated rating of salaries of top managers. In the summer of 2013, the rating was the subject of a loud scandal - Igor Sechin, the head of Rosneft, filed a lawsuit against the magazine, demanding that he earns $ 50 million a year (Sechin won this dispute). The new rating was published in the December issue of Forbes. Fedotov himself, according to Medusa, in private conversations admitted that he did not like this rating, he called him "based on rumors."

Elmar Murtazaev refused to comment on the reasons for his dismissal and further plans.

According to the results of a meeting with the team, Forbes publisher Natalya Gandurina told the Medusa correspondent that “no significant changes are planned in the editorial policy or in the staffing of the magazine,” and the whole team was proposed to stay.

Nikolai Uskov, to the question of how, without experience in business journalism, he decided to lead the largest business monthly, replied that he had experience with entrepreneurs. “Still, I have been writing about a big business for several years, I have been taking an infinite number of interviews with entrepreneurs- Friedman , Prokhorov . It is difficult to find a person among the most important entrepreneurs [that] with whom I did not interview or did not produced them. Therefore, I do not consider myself far from this area. In addition, Forbes has a very strong team, ”said Uskov Medusa.

According to Uskov, “they did not give any quotas for the reduction of [editorial team],” and the team will continue to work in the previous composition. First of all, Uskov plans to focus on improving Forbes.ru website: “I know that a certain work on the site is conducted, the new version has not yet been presented yet. And I see large reserves in terms of digital. We need a new modern site. "

The new editor -in -chief of the magazine believes that Forbes is about business, not about politics; At the same time, the publication should be “inconvenient, because no one respects convenient magazines”: “We should not consider ourselves obligated to be in the opposition. Our work is fundamentally different. But if we believe that Sechin and [head of the Bank of VTB Andrei] Kostin has such a salary, we must write about it. ” According to Uskov, the wage rating will remain in the magazine, like other ratings, "but there should be serious riesch behind each of them."

Uskov assured that the editorial policy of Forbes will not change by the will of the owner. “We have a general understanding with Alexander [Fedotov] - and this is a condition for my transition to Forbes - that there is an owner and there is a chief editor. And the editorial policy is affected by the editor-in-chief, not someone else. ” Such an agreement, according to Uskov, is concluded in words. “But there is the law of the Russian Federation, which forbids the owner to intervene in an editorial policy. I do not think that it makes sense to conclude additional agreements, ”says the new leader Forbes.

“It seems to me very curious what Fedotov does,” added Uskov. - There are very few managers left on the market who have ambitions. Most people have gone their eyes. Unlike Alexander. "

Ilya Zhegulev

Moscow