Moscow Times Changing Flavor as New Ownership Looms

[jone]

It was originally assumed that a sale of the Moscow Times would not result in the Anti-Putin stance maintained through the Ukraine conflict by the media outlet.  Here is the article that originally tallied the change of ownership:

The Moscow Times and a minority stake in its sister publication Vedomosti are being sold to Demyan Kudryavtsev, former chief executive of major Russian publishing house Kommersant, news agency RBC reported citing an unidentified source.

Kudryavtsev and Finnish media conglomerate Sanoma, the newspapers’ owner, had as of Tuesday signed a deal on the sale of The Moscow Times and Sanoma’s 33 percent share in independent business daily Vedomosti, the report said, citing a ”source on the media market.”

Kudryavtsev declined RBC’s request for comment, and Sanoma did not respond to the agency’s request by press time.

The full article can be read here:

http://russia-insider.com/en/2015/03/18/4638


However, there is certainly a new flavor to the website. 

Here are some of the featured articles from around the web that are referenced at the bottom of the website:

1.  US to speed up demolition of WWII Monuments

2.  US Intelligence Plane Intercepted by Russian Fighter Jet

3.  How US is colonizing Europe

4.  NATO Expansion:  Disastrous US Miscalculation


I can't imagine how this plays at all like the Moscow Times that we have read in the past.  What are your thoughts?

[Larry1]

The Moscow Times used to publish some articles critical of the Russian government.  As did RIA Novosti previously.  If those headlines are representative, then it looks like two more previously independent media voices are now only Kremlin propagandists.

[mendeleyev]

Watch for staff changes internally, and for editorial content changes. The law that forced this sale was designed to eliminate independent voices--my guess is that it will be successful.