''Moskovskij Komsomolets'' (''MK''; ) is a

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

-based daily

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with a circulation approaching one million, covering general news. Founded in 1919, it is famed for its topical reporting on Russian politics and society.

History

The newspaper was first published by the Moscow Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (Komsomol) on 11 December 1919 as ''Yunyi Kommunar'' (). Over the next years it changed its name several time, starting a few months after the first issue when it became the ''Yunosheskaya Pravda'' (). In 1924, after

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

, it was renamed to ''Molodoy Leninets'' (). It took its present-day name in September 1929. Between 1931 and 1939, the paper ceased publication. It was revived in 1940, but not for long:

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

interrupted publishing again in August 1941. Publishing resumed only on 2 October 1945. Until 1990, it served as the organ of the Moscow Committee and the Moscow City Committee of the Komsomol. In 1991, it was taken over by its editorial staff.

Editors-in-chief

Since 1983, Pavel Gusev has served as ''MK'' editor-in-chief. Previous editors-in-chief include: * (1951–1958) * (1958–1963) *Alexey Flerovsky (1963-1967) * Igor Bugayev (1967) * (1968–1974) * (1974–1977) * (1978–1983)

The paper specialises in topical social and political material, economic surveys, city news, urban chronicles and diverse information.

ZD Awards

''MK'' is also known as the host of Russia's oldest hit parade ''Zvukovaya Dorozhka'' (). It was founded in autumn 1975 by Yu. V. Filonov. Also called the ZD Awards, it features both Russian and international acts. Since 2003, it has been held in concert halls. It is considered one of the major Russian music awards.

Controversies

Conflict around the article "Political prostitution has changed gender"

On 16 March 2013, an article by Georgy Yans, titled "Political prostitution has changed gender", appeared in ''MK''. In it, Yans wrote about the political careers of three female

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deputies from

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: Olga Batalina, Ekaterina Lakhova, and

Irina Yarovaya Irina Anatolyevna Yarovaya (; born 17 October 1966) née Chernyakhovskaya is a Russian political figure, a List of Deputy Chairmen of the State Duma, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma from United Russia Party and a member of her party's General ...

. On the same day, United Russia State Duma deputy Andrey Isayev promised on

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to "toughly" deal with the authors who allowed themselves to enact a "dirty attack on three female deputies", while calling the bloggers who responded to his tweet "small creatures" who "are indifferent to" Isayev and the deputies. On 20 March 2013, United Russia deputies Sergey Neverov, , Sergei Zheleznyak, Robert Schlegel, Olga Batalina, Ekaterina Lakhova, and wrote requests to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where they asked to check the publication of an advertisement of "dubious nature" in ''MK''. In their opinion, the editor-in-chief of ''MK'' "cannot help but know about the true nature of these advertisements". '' Gazeta.Ru'' associated this move by the deputies with the conflict between Andrey Isayev and ''MK''. On 22 March 2013, United Russia deputies demanded that the building of the editorial office of ''MK'' be returned to Moscow ownership. The initiators were four members of the United Russia faction: Anatoly Vyborny, , , and . In October 2013, unknown persons bombarded the newspaper's editorial office with smoke bombs. Pavel Gusev believes that "some people from United Russia" are behind the attack, and the action itself is an act of revenge for the article.

Circulation

According to a poll conducted in May 2004 by the

Levada Center The Levada Center is a Russian independent, nongovernmental polling and sociological research organization. It is named after its founder, the first Russian professor of sociology Yuri Levada (1930–2006). The center traces back its history t ...

, 9% of the Russians and 33% of the Moscovites who responded, read the paper "more or less regularly". For the year 2000 the poll reports 11% and 40%, respectively. It has a printed circulation of between 700,000 and 930,000 copies.

Notes

References

{{Reflist 1919 establishments in Russia Komsomol Newspapers established in 1919 Newspapers published in Moscow Newspapers published in the Soviet Union Russian-language newspapers published in Russia