Kommersant: Difference between revisions

'''{{Lang|ru-latn|Kommersant}}''' ({{lang-ru|Коммерсантъ}}, {{IPA-ru|kəmʲɪrˈsant|IPA}}, ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to '''[[Ъ]]''') is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in [[Russia]] mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia certified July 2013 circulation of the daily was 120,000–130,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kommersant.ru/about/kommersant|title=Kommersant Website; (Russian)|year=2013|access-date=1 September 2015}}</ref> It is owned by [[Alisher Usmanov]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Poberezhskaya|first=Marianna|date=2015-01-01|title=Media coverage of climate change in Russia: Governmental bias and climate silence|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0963662513517848|journal=[[Public Understanding of Science]]|language=en|volume=24|issue=1|pages=96–111|doi=10.1177/0963662513517848|pmid=24510920 |s2cid=42674897 |issn=0963-6625}}</ref>

The original ''Kommersant'' newspaper was established in Moscow in 1909, but was shut down by the [[Bolsheviks]] following the [[October Revolution]] in 1917.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-10-15 |title=Kommersant |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015092748/http://www.presseurop.eu/it/content/source-profile/356311-kommersant |access-date= |website=[[Presseurop]]}}</ref>

In 1989, with the onset of press freedom in Russia, {{Lang|ru-latn|Kommersant}} was foundedrelaunched under the ownership of businessman and publicist [[Vladimir Yakovlev (journalist)|Vladimir Yakovlev]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/source-profile/356511-kommersant|title=Kommersant; Presseurop (English)|work=Presseurop|year=2012|access-date=13 April 2012|archive-date=5 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140405003856/http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/source-profile/356511-kommersant|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|date=2008-02-01|title=Media Map|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03064220701882780|journal=[[Index on Censorship]]|volume=37|issue=1|pages=183–189|doi=10.1080/03064220701882780|issn=0306-4220|last1=Bessudnov |first1=Alexei |s2cid=220926309 }}</ref> The first issue was released in January 1990.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Arrese|first=Ángel|date=2017-03-01|title=The role of economic journalism in political transitions|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1464884915623172|journal=[[Journalism (journal)|Journalism]]|language=en|volume=18|issue=3|pages=368–383|doi=10.1177/1464884915623172|s2cid=147918088 |issn=1464-8849}}</ref> It was modeled after Western [[business journalism]].<ref name=":0" />

The newspaper's title is spelled in Russian with a terminal [[Yer|hard sign]] (ъ) – a letter that is silent at the end of a word in modern Russian, and was thus largely abolished by the post-revolution [[Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution reform|Russian spelling reform]], in reference to a pre-Soviet newspaper of the same name active between 1909 andoriginal 1917''Kommersant''.<ref name=":1" /> This is played up in the {{Lang|ru-latn|Kommersant}} logo, which features a script hard sign at the end of somewhat more formal font. The newspaper also refers to itself or its redaction as "Ъ".

Founded as a [[weekly newspaper]], it became popular among business and political elites.<ref name=":1" /> It then became a daily newspaper in 1992.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> It was owned by the businessman [[Boris Berezovsky (businessman)|Boris Berezovsky]] from 1999 until 2006, when he sold it to [[Badri Patarkatsishvili]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Koikkalainen|first=Katja|date=2007-12-01|title=The local and the International in Russian business journalism: Structures and practices|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09668130701655176|journal=[[Europe-Asia Studies]]|volume=59|issue=8|pages=1315–1329|doi=10.1080/09668130701655176|s2cid=153949932 |issn=0966-8136}}</ref> In September 2006, it was sold to [[Alisher Usmanov]].<ref name=":2" />

In January 2005, {{Lang|ru-latn|Kommersant}} published a protest at a court ruling ordering it to publish a denial of a story about a crisis at [[Alfa-Bank]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Alfa-d Up|url=http://www.kommersant.com/p543041/r_524/Alfa-d_Up/|work=Kommersant|location=Moscow|date=31 January 2005|access-date=28 August 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606111951/http://www.kommersant.com/p543041/r_524/Alfa-d_Up/|archive-date=6 June 2011}}</ref> In 2008, ''[[BBC News]]'' named {{Lang|ru-latn|Kommersant}} one of Russia's leading liberal business broadsheets.<ref>{{cite news|date=16 May 2008|title=The press in Russia|publisher=[[BBC News]]|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4315129.stm|access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref>