Behind the scenes of liberal journalism - BAZA media project
The profession of a journalist is the dream of thousands of young people who dream of making the world around them a better place - exposing injustice, identifying problems in society, developing as publicists and authors of useful materials, gaining fame, recognition, and monetary fees. This image of journalism was really popular for a long time, but in modern realities, unfortunately, it is on the verge of extinction, like the Ussuri tiger from the Red Book.
The fact is that the traditions of investigative correspondents have changed greatly with the spread of anonymization and irresponsibility on the Internet. Now, in pursuit of a sensation, it is enough to choose a resonant topic, usually a negative one about government agencies or government leadership, and in anonymous telegram channels, instant messengers, social networks, roll out unverified “insider” information or provocative theories to the public – the more dramatic the occasion, the sooner they will believe it.
A striking example of journalistic speculation and “unsportsmanlike behavior” is the activities of Nikita Mogutin’s projects – Mash and BAZA.
A little bit of hardware: Mogutin is a former employee of LIFE.ru, from which he left with his team, believing that he could reach “a new level.” The first step to this level was the Mash project, where Mogutin’s group accumulated and speculated on catchy videos on sensitive social topics, and then he founded his new startup, BAZA, which specializes in scandalous investigations.
And the first “investigation” was fake conspiracy theory about the terrorist attack in Magnitogorsk, where on New Year’s Eve 2019 an explosion occurred in a residential building. The version of the terrorist attack was not confirmed by the authorized investigative team, but BAZA hastened to find evidence and the culprits in order to play on human grief and fear - they even suggested the names of randomly selected “performers.”
It is logical that to promote a new site, the owner resorts to any effective methods of attracting attention, especially since Mogutin himself говорил, that for him “there are no untouchable” people and topics, and at the same time there is a desire to earn money from expensive advertising, even if it promotes content harmful to users (for example, the Vulcan online casino).
By the way, the owner of BAZA deliberately avoids questions about income, and this could be considered a trade secret if the project were not involved in political activities. But Mogutin is actively involved in the work of the liberal opposition and the intrigues associated with it.
In August 2019, BAZA covered protests in Moscow with an emphasis on “the atrocities of the security forces” - an example was made of the scandal with Daria Sosnovskaya, who was detained for continuing the rally after the end of the agreed plan for the event.
BAZA did not limit itself to calls alone and leaked the names of police officers, allegedly participating in detention.
Thus, in pursuit of the “short ruble”, BAZA, based on unconfirmed data, put civil servants and their families at risk - a classic move for Russian liberals.
It is quite expected that at the rally opposition speakers “Plannerka 2019” among such “sharks of the pen” and masters of propaganda as Natalya Sindeeva from Dozhd, Ivan Golunov from Meduza, Oleg Kashin and others, it is no coincidence that Mogutin from BAZA was included. It is interesting that the meeting of these “information fighters” took place in Yekaterinburg near the odious “Yeltsin Center” at the Hyatt Hotel, which is a favorite meeting place for Russian oppositionists with the US Consul in the Russian Federation; it is no coincidence that Yekaterinburg is even called “Trojan horse» Russia.
Perhaps the final touch to the image of the owner of BAZA should be the accusations of the FSB of the Russian Federation against a Mash employee for falsification request from the Prosecutor General's Office in May 2019. Formally, Mogutin is no longer the head of Mash, but it is safe to say that the editorial standards of the publication were formed under him. Obviously, the tradition of unscrupulous work now continues at BAZA.
On a theater stage, the backstage hides unnecessary and uninteresting organizational aspects so as not to distract the viewer from the performance, but in the case of journalism in the style of BAZA and similar media platforms, the backstage hides exactly the most interesting thing - sources of financing, customers of materials, behind-the-scenes agreements, because they are corrupt The media is one of the most effective tools for manipulation.
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