Rise and Fall of Russian Media

Despite the increasing state control over free speech, the Russian media market is still alive — and huge. There are tens of independent online media with a multimillion audience and each year new ones appear. How to survive on the internet, when it is controlled by the state? How to find professional journalists, when there are no decent schools of journalism? How to manage a media outlet, when you do not know what is going to happen tomorrow? Publisher of the popular Russian language online media outlet "Meduza" Ilia Krasilshchik will provide an analysis of how the world of Russian media works.


ABOUT THE SPEAKER: After dropping out of university at 21, in 2008 Ilia Krasilshchik became the editor of the then most influential Moscow entertainment and city life magazine Afisha. During his five year tenure Afisha published more the 100 issues, including specials like “Oral History of the Russian Media”, “Oral History of the Russian Internet”, and a “Coming Out” issue (as an answer to the ”LGBT propaganda” law adopted by the Russian State Duma). In 2013 he became the Product Director at Afisha publishing company, launching three separate web-based media and а TV streaming service in one year. In 2014 he left Afisha to launch Meduza, a groundbreaking Russian language web news outlet based in Riga, Latvia. By the end of 2015 the monthly readership of Meduza exceeded 3.5 million unique visitors and more than 500,000 followers on social media. 70% of Meduza’s audience is based in Russia.

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Duration: 48:01

 Download Podcast

Duration: 48:01