The Economist’s Tom Standage on digital strategy and the limits of a model based on advertising

http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/04/the-economists-tom-standage-on-digital-strategy-and-the-limits-of-a-model-based-on-advertising/

“The Economist has taken the view that advertising is nice, and we’ll certainly take money where we can get it, but we’re pretty much expecting it to go away.”

Putinist art: Russia cracks down on cultural freedom

http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_putinist_art_russia_cracks_down_on_cultural_freedom311580?utm_content=bufferfaaee&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

@TheEconomist Kal's Cartoon

The crackdown on rights and freedoms that accelerated with Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin is rapidly extending to the realm of arts and culture. In the past few years, contemporary art exhibits and film screenings have occasionally come under attack from obscure vigilantes who deemed them insulting to Russian “traditional values”. But more recently, government officials, abetted by top clergy and eagerly assisted by loyal artistic figures, have begun to wage aggressive campaigns against film and theatre productions.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article.php?id=360883

Social Network Analysis Reveals Full Scale of Kremlin's Twitter Bot Campaign

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/04/02/analyzing-kremlin-twitter-bots/

Kremlin’s Troll Army

All four groups were merged into a single data set, resulting in a total of 17,590 Twitter accounts. As with those producing the anti-Nemtsov tweets, the metadata confirmed that the vast majority were indeed bots. 93% showed no location on their profile, 96% had no time zone information and 97% had no Twitter favorites saved.  Also, despite having produced an average of 2,830 tweets, the accounts almost never interacted with other Twitter users through @replies or @mentions.

Odesa businessman compares Russians to Nazis on Russian TV

http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/04/04/odesa-businessman-compares-russians-to-nazis-on-russian-tv/

“No person in his right mind can deny Russian aggression,” he said. “Where do they (militants in the Donbas) get their tanks, where do they get the BUKs, where do they get their surface to air missiles?” he asked rhetorically, telling his Russian audience that “you can deny it till you’re blue in the face.”

Furthermore, he said the reaction of Ukrainians was similar to the reaction of Russians to the Nazi invasion. “During World War II, you (Russians) could not deny German aggression, you did not broadcast German radio, you did not treat the German point of view with respect. And so it is here (in Ukraine) where there is war,” he said.

Lunch with the FT: Matthew Weiner

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2ab92e0c-d85f-11e4-8a68-00144feab7de.html#axzz3WHARikmI

Over salad, soup and profiteroles in New York, the creator of hit TV drama ‘Mad Men’ talks about bringing the show to an end

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Hackers Leak Messages 'Between Kremlin and France’s Front National'

http://www.newsweek.com/hackers-claim-leak-messages-between-kremlin-and-frances-front-national-319442

The head of the National Front’s list in Ile-de-France constituency, Aymeric Chauprade, was an observer at the Crimea referendum last March, although the party denied allegations that he had attended as the foreign policy advisor. Speaking of his decision to attend, Chauprade told Russian News Channel RT: “I think the referendum is legitimate. We are talking about long-term history. We are talking about the Russian people, about the territories of the former USSR.”

In February this year, Le Pen gave an interview to the Polish weekly Do Rzeczyin which she said that France should recognise Crimea as part of Russia.

http://www.economist.com/node/8031597

Sacked Russian media chief takes up keyboard in exile

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3021802/Sacked-Russian-media-chief-takes-keyboard-exile.html

Thankless Job? Try Fighting Graft in Ukraine

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-03-31/thankless-job-try-fighting-graft-in-ukraine

ALL ON A GOVERNMENT SALARY.

 PHOTOGRAPHER: BRENDAN HOFFMAN/GETTY IMAGES

Crimea's independent Tatar TV news channel silenced by 'red tape'

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/01/crimeas-independent-tatar-tv-news-channel-silenced-by-red-tape



Although ATR is not a 24-hour news channel, it has unflinchingly covered many of the problems that have arisen since Crimea joined Russia, including interruptions of utilities and food supplies, huge lines at the ferry crossing to Russia and the second-highest inflation rate in the world. In December, the United States and the European Union placed an economic embargo on Crimea.

EU newspaper’s April 1 joke fools Russian news agencies

https://meduza.io/en/lion/2015/04/01/eu-newspaper-s-april-1-joke-fools-russian-news-agencies

Russian news agencies RIA Novosti, Tass, RT, and Interfax published reports today that one of Mistral-class helicopter carriers built in France for Russia would be transferred to the European Union. The source for this information—an April Fools’ Day joke that Russian media mistook for real news—was the online newspaper EU Observer, which claimed to have learned of the transfer from Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief.

Putin Bootlickers Assemble in D.C. ~ The Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/31/report-from-the-belly-of-the-putin-apologetics-beast.html?via=desktop&source=twitter