Ivan Kolpakov has been named Meduza’s chief editor

An announcement from CEO Galina Timchenko to readers:

Dear readers,

On March 11, 2019, Ivan Kolpakov was named Meduza’s chief editor. Acting chief editor Tatiana Ershova is now our editorial director.

Ivan resigned as chief editor on November 9, 2018, despite the fact that our board of directors found no grounds for his removal and voted unanimously to keep him in his position.

It was my decision to reinstate Kolpakov as chief editor. From the very beginning, Ivan has been this publication’s visionary and leader, and together we created one of the most widely read mass media outlets in Russia. I do not know another professional better equipped to take on the goals and challenges ahead.

Every department manager at Meduza supports Ivan Kolpakov’s return, first and foremost Tatiana Ershova and deputy chief editors Dmitry Tomilov and Sultan Suleimanov. Meduza’s editorial team has complete confidence in his professional abilities. Ivan also has the support of the members of Meduza’s new board of directors, which will meet formally for the first time in late March 2019, when the board will approve Meduza’s road map for the next year, as well as an employee code of conduct. I will announce the names of our new board members later.

After four years, the startup culture that suited Meduza in its infancy has become something of a problem for us. I consider what happened last November to be a difficult experience, but at the same time it is a serious lesson for the future. I deeply regret what took place. I understand that conflict resolutions should be institutional, and we have developed rules and procedures to this effect. I am confident that we can avoid the repetition of any similar incidents. Perhaps we learn slower than we should, but we can and we will learn from our mistakes.

I thank all our staff and especially Tatiana Ershova for their incredible resilience and professionalism, which has allowed Meduza to maintain its readers. I thank our colleagues, who have supported us in these months, even as we stumbled. And I extend my enormous thanks to you, our readers. Our work is for you.

Meduza CEO,

Galina Timchenko