The Weekly and the Daily are the biggest, if not only, general-coverage English newspapers in Moscow. There are a couple more niche expat papers, like the bitterly humorous Exile and the culturally-focused Element (where Orange just started interning, and did a hilarious interview with Aubergine about his DJing...I just scoured the website and couldn't find it. If they put it up later I'll post a link).

The Daily is free, and you can find it in stacks all over the city. It's independently run, and the bylines are an even mix of Russian and English-sounding names. The Russians, in particular, are fairly harsh and brave in their criticism of the government. They articulate exactly what they find wrong with it and never just spout stuff about Democracy. Yesterday I sent my career profile of the American venture capitalist to Edna, the editor of the Daily's city section. Hopefully it'll appear this Monday or the next.

The Weekly has been around since the early 20th century (the Daily only since 1992). It started as an English-language purveyor of Communist propaganda, had a rocky history through most of the last century, and is now owned by a government news agency. (Seeded Grapes, when she found this out, sent me an alarmed text message--"Are you sure you want to write for a government rag??" Ed admits that he's had to develop a sense of what will and won't fly in terms of political slant, but the articles I plan on writing are apolitical enough that I don't think it'll be an issue. Interestingly, one of my most pro-Putin students, a guy about my age, told me he hoped my articles for the Weekly wouldn't criticize the government like Weekly's articles often do).

The Daily seems to run a tight ship, and has launched successful careers of journalists in the States. Their efficiency and organization means the assignments they'll give me as a freelancer are pretty strict in terms of content and word limit. The Weekly is less well-known, and seems to be taken less seriously by people who know journalism, but it'll give me a lot more leeway in what I write.

In a couple weeks, this huge oil and gas technology conference is being held in Moscow and I really want to write about it. I was trying to decide whether to pitch it to the Daily or the Weekly. The Weekly would probably let me write about it however I want, but the Daily offers better editorial guidance, plus an editor that doesn't creepily hit on me. Details to follow unless I get sick of the thought of it.