We don't disagree

Letter from the founders of Meduza

Hello, dear Meduza investors!

THIS MESSAGE (MATERIAL) WAS CREATED AND (OR) DISTRIBUTED BY A FOREIGN MEDIA PERFORMING THE FUNCTIONS OF A FOREIGN AGENT AND (OR) BY A RUSSIAN LEGAL ENTITY PERFORMING THE FUNCTIONS OF A FOREIGN AGENT

You received this letter because you made a donation to Meduza - that is, you finance our publication. The first month of crowdfunding is ending, and it’s time to tell you what’s happening with the campaign to save Medusa. We will try to be as frank as possible in the current difficult circumstances.

Public Enemies

At the end of April, when the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation recognized Meduza as a “foreign agent” - this phrase itself still seems outlandish - we decided that we were finished. We really prepared for the fact that our publication is closing. We began to think about where to get the money to let the employees go with at least some compensation, and also about what we would do with the debt. Yes, in 2014 we had to launch Meduza without an investor, so we simply borrowed money from friends - and only recently began to pay it back.

Six years have passed since then, and everything has happened to us - but never before have we had to face so many problems at once. We call attempts to cope with these problems “playing three-dimensional chess.”

It seems that we need to explain once again what exactly happened after we were added to the register of “foreign agents.”

In exactly one week we lost almost all advertisers. As many of you remember, all these years Meduza has been making money mainly through native advertising. Branded tests, games, articles were done by a separate editorial team, and it was a real conveyor belt. After reading the news about the “foreign agency,” advertisers fled in different directions. Some companies demanded that even archival projects in which they were mentioned be removed from the Meduza website. We are very grateful to the few brave entrepreneurs who continue to advertise on Meduza - but, unfortunately, these contracts do not provide even 5% of our previous income. Our business collapsed.

At the same time, problems began with the heroes and sources of the articles. People are afraid to talk to a “foreign agent.” Meduza special correspondent Svetlana Reiter came up with this trick: she quotes Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, who said that nothing should change in the work of journalists recognized as “foreign agents.” Sometimes this works (although less often than we would like). You will be surprised: yes, Dmitry Peskov again told a lie.

The threat of recognizing them all personally as “foreign agents” hangs over our journalists and editors. And if this actually happens to at least a few of them, we will get bogged down in reports to the Ministry of Justice. In addition, both Meduza itself and our employees can now be strangled with fines - and if this does not seem enough, criminal cases can be added to the fines. All this could still happen in the future. We don’t kid ourselves that “everything will be fine.”

In addition, since Meduza was declared a “foreign agent,” editorial staff began to receive many more threats than before. We are talking about real lawsuits, and about possible physical violence, and about cases that they promise to fabricate against our journalists. This is now a daily routine. This is how the life of people whom the state declared “enemies of the people” works.

What's next

How can we describe the feelings we experienced when the news arrived that Meduza was recognized as a “foreign agent”? A mixture of bitterness and rage - and at the same time powerlessness. A monstrous injustice that is difficult to accept. To be honest, all these feelings still come up sometimes.

Nevertheless, since we became “enemies of the people” in Russia, two important events have occurred, thanks to which you continue to read Meduza. Firstly, after two days of painful discussions, the publication’s team decided that they were not ready to part ways so easily. Most employees refused to accept this reality. If it is possible to fight back against stupidity, lies and injustice, we must try to do so.

Secondly, we started crowdfunding - and it seems to have worked. We didn’t count on great success - rather, we tried to gain time so as not to die instantly - and figure out what options we had left. In previous years, we tried several times to calculate whether Meduza could survive on reader support if it lost advertising (we never really felt safe). Each time it turned out that it was unlikely. At the same time, crowdfunding had to be deployed under appalling conditions. This winter and spring, any independent position became punishable in Russia. Many famous people who spoke in support of opposition politicians and activists suffered for their honesty: they lost fees, contracts, concerts and projects.

We know that some of our friends were forced to send us money through intermediaries, fearing persecution from the state (by the way, there is a way to support Meduza absolutely anonymously). People have a lot to lose, and we understand them very well. We sympathize with everyone who is attacked or intimidated by the authorities. And we are grateful to those who directly explained to us why they cannot publicly support Meduza, although they consider what is happening to be lawlessness and an attack on freedom of speech.

All the more important is what happened: more than 83 thousand people have already participated in our crowdfunding. More than 83 thousand people - among them you - said that they need Meduza. Not all of you like us, and that’s okay: journalists shouldn’t try to please anyone at all. Nevertheless, you believe that independent journalism is an important social institution that Russia needs. Every money transfer you make in 2021 is an action. Every post calling for donations to Meduza is a manifestation of courage. Meduza continues to operate only thanks to you.

We don’t yet have the full picture: we don’t know whether Meduza will be able to live on the money that we will be able to collect every month through crowdfunding. The first month of the campaign is not over yet - and only in a couple of weeks will we know how much regular payments we can realistically count on. The experience of other crowdfunding campaigns shows that some people unsubscribe, and this is a natural course of events. The influx and outflow of regular subscribers is influenced by many factors. Unfortunately, not all of them depend on us.

For our part, we are doing everything to reduce our budget. For example, let’s disconnect entire directions: you’ve probably heard that the YouTube shows “Radio Dolin” and “Tell Gordeeva” have become autonomous projects, and the podcast studio “Medusa” is now an independent organization called “Speech Technique” . All this is absolutely necessary - although painful and difficult. Thanks to the disconnect from Meduza, projects not related to the socio-political agenda have a chance to survive - without the stigma of a “foreign agent.” And we have the opportunity to reduce costs a little more.

At the same time, we are trying to learn how to work in new conditions as quickly as possible. In conditions when our readers have become our investors. After all, this means that our responsibility to you becomes absolute.

In particular, we racked our brains for a long time whether we should name the exact amount we managed to collect, or at least the approximate amount of regular payments (when a realistic idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthis amount becomes available). We are supporters of transparency - and in other, more favorable political conditions, we would have disclosed this data. But now we are afraid to do this because we do not want to provide detailed information to those who have designated us as “enemies of the people” and are trying to destroy us. We assume that any information about Meduza's financial situation will be used against us - and perhaps against those who finance us.

We guarantee that every penny you transfer to Meduza will go towards journalism. We work only in the interests of our readers - and in full compliance with strict professional standards approved by the editors in the form of a code in 2019.

What we can report is that after the first month of crowdfunding, we have reason to be cautiously optimistic. If the number of regular payments gradually increases, we can survive. That is, readers help us cope with one of the key problems facing Meduza - financial.

And we continue the “game of three-dimensional chess.” We are still “foreign agents”. The risks for our employees remain extremely high. It's harder than ever for us to do our jobs.

We know that we will make mistakes and irritate you, and our assessments of events will not always coincide with yours. And yes, it’s time for us to hire a good editor, a good proofreader, a good designer and a good programmer. We'll look for them. :)

But this is the happiness of cooperation: arguing and disagreeing, explaining and finding a compromise, respecting each other and forgiving each other’s mistakes. True independent journalism is a social institution, the result of many complex agreements between editors and readers.

Meduza will work as long as its readers need it. Thank you for being. We will try not to let you down.

Galina Timchenko and Ivan Kolpakov