On January 13, our country celebrates Russian Press Day. This is a professional holiday for periodical employees, media and journalists. This is associated with a historical date – the start of publication of the first Russian newspaper Vedomosti, published by the decree of Peter I on January 13, 1703.
Despite gloomy prophecies of market crisis, pressure continues to exist. It has survived seemingly everything, from the Internet to smartphones, from new philosophy to bloggers on social networks. However, in the spring of 2022, the print media faced an unexpected blow. American publishing houses, the permanent and almost inaccessible leaders of the Russian media market, began to cancel their licenses and suspend their activities.
Condé Nast was the first among its colleagues to announce the suspension of work – the publishing house froze the work of all its sites (Vogue, GQ, Glamour, Tatler, AD, CNX – the former department of CN Creative Studio), canceled the publication We decided on the April issues and told the editors ” We have sent two months of paid leave until further notice. Ksenia Solovyova, former editor-in-chief of Vogue Russia, wrote about an unprecedented case in the history of the publishing house: “In 1998, a difficult year, Vogue came to us with the slogan ‘Finally in Russia’. I hope he stays here.”

Following Condé Nast, on March 10, the American holding Hearst announced its withdrawal from the Russian media market: the company decided to end its partnership with Russian publishers Shkulev Media and Independent Media. The first, together with Hearst, published Elle magazine, which ceased to exist in Russia due to the copyright owner’s refusal to renew the license of the brand in 2023. The licenses of Independent Media projects (Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan and Men’s Health) were also cancelled.
Many of them then outlined their stance on the future work of the publications. For example, Marina Zhigalova-Özkan, the managing shareholder of the Independent Media holding, said in her official statement about the situation: “Independent Media continues to operate in the current operating mode, the digital platforms of all publications are active, April issues are published, May and June issues are being prepared.”

Sergey Minaev, current editor-in-chief of the publication “Rules of Life” (formerly Russian Esquire – Note ed.), also explained his vision of the situation.
“I always told editors: Every issue should be published as if it were the last issue. So that you don’t feel embarrassed later,” he wrote on social networks at the time.
Perhaps later in the history of Russian journalism, in the landmark episode of 2022, this quote will probably be used more than once.

Yes, today the Russian brilliance has found itself at a point on which its future directly depends. And not so much from himself or his decisions.
What will happen to them next? Will print come back? Will new formats emerge?

Even the most experienced people who know all the details of the gloss from their own experience do not risk answering these questions unambiguously.

Tonya Golubeva
“It is difficult to make predictions from where we all find ourselves. I hope that the owners of media brands will find a way to keep key players in the Russian market, for example, within the framework of a franchise. Another question is financial: the brightness depends on advertisers who are suspending their activities in Russia one after another. And here everything depends on how the current situation will develop. The third point is content: Is it possible to create a high-quality media product in complete isolation from the whole world, its reporters and events?” – speaking Tonya GolubevaFormer editor-in-chief of Flacon Magazine.

Laura Dzhugelia
The founder of The Fashion Vibes, the former secular editor of Vogue and Tatler, echoes him. Laura Dzhugelia:
“Conditions change every day, but in my opinion, Condé Nast’s decision to suspend operations seems correct; no project can survive without advertising; this is a business first and foremost.”
Talking about the future of print media, he believes that the biggest players may survive, while the rest will have to adapt to the digital format and social networks, but the shine as a separate media culture will not disappear: “When we wake up in a world where a quiet time has come, we must follow the demands of the market and We will have to adapt to them. The industry will embark on a new round of development, but more on that later. I would like to believe that there will be interesting Russian projects, initiatives, platforms; “This is a good opportunity to prove yourself, bring ideas to life and enter the newly liberated competitive environment.”

Victoria Davydova
Victoria DavydovaThe editor-in-chief of Vogue, who once launched Glamor and Tatler and has been editor-in-chief of Vogue for more than eight years, and is currently developing his own resource SportChic.ru, predicts a disappointing fate for the print versions: “These Blank spaces are either old a market economy where it is instantly populated by competitors or new projects.”
Including potential new projects from publishing houses. “I have my own online project, offered on different platforms, albeit few in number, but generally competitive. I jokingly called it a “boutique hotel” in the media area. Now I’m thinking of expanding; previously there were not enough resources for this, now we need to take advantage of this moment,” says Davydova, adding that the main disadvantage of online gloss is the lack of individuality. There are sites open but they all look the same.” Shooting in magazines was a unique “code” for reading.”

Natalya Arkhangelskaya
It also does not place a big bet on social networks, but it can compete with it in this regard Natalya ArkhangelskayaFormer editor-in-chief of SNC, one of the founders of the Anti-Gloss Telegram channel. He agrees with his colleague about the sad fate of print magazines, but thinks the future of high-quality glossy magazines lies in Telegram rather than websites: “I don’t really believe in websites.
Russian gloss journalism has always lacked the sharpness and speed that appears on Telegram, so I fully accept the emergence of new publications on the platform.
For example, our Anti-Gloss product fits this niche. It’s a different format but the same agenda. Yes, the market is greatly transforming under sanctions, some advertisers are replacing others, but they will remain as long as there is a business in Russia that needs to be developed. Every crisis, including the media market, is a time of opportunity. A holy place is never empty.”

Maria Lobanova
Maria LobanovaThe founder and first editor-in-chief of SNC and now head of LobanovPR Private Consulting says that from their inception in Russia, magazines have rapidly become “commercial products serving advertisers who are no longer trusted”:
“They began to completely lose the competition with bloggers who focused on honesty and non-partisanship, and could no longer find any additional mission or ideology.”
He recalls that once L’Officiel took on the task of promoting Russian designers, both GQ and Esquire had their ideological periods: “But I understand that the ideological value contained in the first issues of the same Vogue carries a completely different meaning. that the cultural and aesthetic layer was abandoned long ago and never returned on a large scale.
What happened now naturally killed something that was already low in capacity.
As the head of a PR agency specializing in the promotion of luxury brands, I understand that the Russian glossy magazine has never managed to become the engine of commerce for all the years of its existence. Not only the publications are responsible for this, but also the market – it did not turn out that way in our country. For most brands, print advertising is not a direct tool to promote sales, but a sign of prestige and part of building a brand image. But what the market is willing to pay for today is not prestige and image.”
In his opinion, whether print will exist is not as important as the ability to create content for different formats – Karina Dobrotvorskaya, president and editor-in-chief of Condé Nast Russia, taught her team in 2008: “ Other media will appear. Maybe someone will repeat the example of The Hollywood Reporter magazine, which eventually turned into KinoReporter and produced completely similar content, adapting it more to the Russian market and focusing specifically on it. At the same time, publishers are reducing licensing costs and reducing the cost of producing Western materials. And this is also an absolutely great future because it will make it possible to be more efficient in the market while reducing costs. And if publications can also find and carry their own mission and ideology, then their importance will increase even more. All that’s left is for advertisers to come back.”

They say desperate times call for desperate measures, and these seem to be exactly what the domestic public needs today, not to survive, but to be reborn and open a new page in media history. Will they be able to cope with the difficulties, which of the possible scenarios will they follow, will it remain in the reader’s memory or not? We will see.
Source: People Talk

Errol Villanueva is an author and lifestyle journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a passion for exploring the latest trends in fashion, food, travel, and wellness, Errol’s articles are a must-read for anyone interested in living a stylish and fulfilling life.