The eXile

In 1997, Ames was editor of the English-language Moscow newspaper Living Here. The concept of Living Here was first proposed by Manfred Witteman, who convinced his partner Marina Pshevecherskaya to provide $10,000 of start-up capital.[11] Citing Manfred and Marina's "incessant petty squabbles over money and title" Ames quit Living Here and began planning his own publication. Ames convinced most of the intermittently paid staff of Living Here to defect to the newly conceived newspaper, the eXile, including sales manager Kara Deyerin, and his replacement editor Kevin McElwee. Manfred and Marina hired Matt Taibbi to counter this rebellion, but he became disillusioned after producing one issue of Living Here. Taibbi also defected and became co-editor of the eXile.[11]

Some of the contributors, including Ames, Taibbi, Alexander Zaitchik, and John Dolan (using the pseudonym Gary Brecher), previously worked for the New York Press.

Articles published in the eXile have focused both on Moscow- and Russia-related topics, as well as issues of more general interest. Investigative reporting, reviews of Moscow nightlife, concerts, and restaurants, commentary on politics and culture in Russia and America, film and book reviews, and mocking replies to its readers' letters appeared in most issues. The eXile was known for its descriptions of Moscow life. Andrew Meier, who served as Time magazine's Russia correspondent from 1996 until 2001, was quoted by Rolling Stone as saying: "No one describes expat life in Moscow better than the eXile. They hit it right on its ugly head." [3]

"The '90s in Moscow were a great time," Ames told The New York Observer, "like what they say about the 20s in Paris or the early 30s in Berlin. It was completely hedonistic and nihilistic and full of crime... A lot of [Taibbi's] prose was written on smack and a lot of mine was written on speed... We wrote a whole bunch of editorials about the size of Putin's penis."[12]

According to John Dolan, the eXile publishes articles from perspectives not often heard or read elsewhere.[13] He referred to eXile columnists as "subaltern," claiming they have been discounted from mainstream discourses as "sinful," irrelevant, disgusting, misogynistic, or otherwise too objectionable to be heard. As an example, Dolan referenced Gary Brecher:

Brecher's sensibility...has found hundreds of thousands of fans online. Every day devoted followers write to the War Nerd, giving homage to the only online voice they trust. Yet Brecher's sensibility could never be admitted either to mainstream journalism or to academic writing.

Dolan cited the eXile's audience as a reason for leaving academia and what he called its "starchy sensibility," and proclaimed a central role for his concept of sin in the eXile's ideology:

By contrast, the eXile was conceived in sin - "and proud of it," as Bart Simpson would say - by refugees from the moral world of the American academic. Its editor, Mark Ames, fled Berkeley to set up his own paper in Moscow, then the sin capital of the world. In 1997, when the eXile began publishing, Moscow was without law - especially libel law.

Additionally, the eXile aims to publish articles about Russia from outside the perspective of mainstream western journalism. According to editor Jake Rudnitsky western reporting on Russia is often biased: "Western newspapers have an agenda, to show that everything in Russia is related to oil prices, and that Putin's this competent but quasi-fascist leader. They don't have the freedom to go out and actually find out what's going on."[1] Rudnitsky has also stated that the eXile aims to give a more detailed view of Russia than is available in the western press: "We can write about things that Western journalists are too lazy or apathetic to write about...what makes this country fascinating is the details, and that's something we're allowed to focus on."[1]

Former editor Matt Taibbi has said that operating a periodical in Russia was much easier without the burden of American libel laws.[14] Similarly, Ames asserted in his article “Democracy Sucks” that “we'd be sued out of existence within a few weeks of appearing in any Western democracy, but here in Russia, in the so-called kleptocracy, the power elite has been too busy stealing and killing to give a fuck about us, allowing us to fly around the capital beneath their radar, like a cruise missile. A real democracy would never let us get off the ground.”[15]

The eXile regularly published columns by the political activist and avant garde writer Eduard Limonov. Limonov is the founder and leader of Russia's banned National Bolshevik Party.[17] In 2002, Limonov was imprisoned on felony charges of purchasing automatic weapons and explosives, but was released halfway through his four-year sentence at the request of several members of the Russian Duma who protested that the case was politically motivated.[18][19] In his eXile column, Limonov described several violent episodes from his personal history.

The eXile's website apparently published an article claiming that Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani is behind the death of former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Dr.Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.[20] An Indian television channel aired a news story based on eXile's conspiracy theory which resulted in violent protests across the state.[21] The Reliance Industries plans to file a legal complaint against these media sources for instigating violence.[22]

In a July 2004, an eXile article entitled "We Dunnit! the eXile Prank Hits Halls Of Domer" claimed authorship of the "Kiriyenko letter", a forged document purportedly from five U.S. Republican Congressmen which expressed concern over Russia's "democratic transition," and accused former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko of stealing IMF funds. After claiming to have forged the letter, Ames was condemned by U.S. Representative Henry Bonilla (R-TX), who demanded that Ames be "prosecuted" and "punished" for forgery.[23] Some US media outlets also believed that the eXile had sent the letter.[24] After the letter was printed verbatim by Novaya Gazeta, both it and the eXile's claim of responsibility were covered by Russian news media.[25] [26][27] Kiriyenko won a libel suit against Novaya Gazeta on the grounds that the paper had not fact-checked properly.[28] The episode also earned the eXile a "website of the week award," from the Philadelphia weekly City Paper,[29] while the Moscow newspaper Kommersant Vlasti, which believed Ames' claim of responsibility, called him a "hero of Russia."[30]

In the next issue, Ames claimed that the contentious article was a joke, saying it had been inserted as filler on production day.[31] In columns for the eXile and Metroactive, he wrote that he had been followed and harassed as a result of the claim, and that he feared arrest or violent reprisal.[23]

On June 5, 2008, the Moscow Times reported that the eXile claimed it was under investigation by the Russian Federal Service for Mass Media, Telecommunications and the Protection of Cultural Heritage.[5] Ames said: "I get the general sense that they have decided it's time to shut us down, that they're not going to tolerate us anymore." Ames claimed that The eXile's investors were scared off, leaving the paper with no funding. The initial visit by the auditors took place without incident, but shortly thereafter the staff made the decision to leave Russia for the United States.[2]

People close to the eXile, including some investors, claim Ames was using government pressure as a scapegoat because he was tired of publishing. The eXile's lead investor, Alex Shifrin, whom Ames accused of abandoning him, was quoted as saying, "There are a lot of half-truths as to what happened." Another investor claimed that the officials were simply looking for a bribe. However Ames denies this.[32]

Content was republished as The Exile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia.

• Mark Ames
• John Dolan
• Edward Limonov
• Matt Taibbi
• Thierry Marignac
• Yasha Levine
• Alexander Zaitchik

• The Hungry Duck
• Gonzo journalism
• The Beast (newspaper)
• Moskovskaya Komsomolka

• "Lost Exile: The unlikely life and sudden death of The Exile, Russia’s angriest newspaper", by James Verini, Vanity Fair "Web Exclusive", February 23, 2010.