Amateur (magazine)

According to Kartoteka.ru, the founders of the magazine through Diletant LLC are Vitaliy Dymarsky (20%), Interlink LLC (40%), Media-Service LLC (20%) and Education - XXI Century LLC (20%) ) (the company belongs to Alexander Branis, director of investment at the Prosperity Capital Management fund and Aleksey Venediktov, who is its general director), the company’s director general is Aleksey Romashkin ^[1] . The author of the title was Vitaliy Dymarsky, an employee of the radio station and editor-in-chief of the magazine ^[3] , and the publication’s staff members jokingly called themselves and readers ^{[4] [5]} .

On the Rain channel in 2013-2014, a joint program of the channel, the magazine "Dilettant" and the radio station "Echo of Moscow" - "Dilettants" ^[6] . The release of the program was suspended ^[7] in February 2014 after the Rain channel conducted the poll “Should I pass Leningrad?”, Which caused a flurry of criticism ^[8] during the broadcast of the “Dilettantes” program (for more details see the scandal surrounding the survey in the program “ Amateurs " ).

Since February 2014, the historical program "Amateurs", which is a joint program with the magazine ^{[9], has been} broadcast weekly on Ekho Moskvy radio station. The monthly program “96 pages” announces the contents of the new issue of the journal ^[10]

At the end of 2014, Diletant LLC reported a loss of 6.6 million rubles ^[1] .

Since July 1, 2015, the publication has been suspended due to financial difficulties ^{[11] [12]} due to a change in the sponsor and publisher of the project: one of the main investors Sergey Zverev left it (financed the magazine through Interlink LLC). In the same month, Education - XXI Century LLC became the publisher, which continued the publication of the magazine in September ^[13] .

In November 2015, the court made a decision at the request of the Pareto-Print printing house to recover 7 million rubles from the Dilettant, and accounts were seized for payments. According to the director general of this company, Pavel Arsenyev, the magazine ceased to fulfill obligations under the contract since March 2015, but there were problems with payment before. The court materials indicate that the representatives of "Dilettante" asked to reduce penalties due to the difficult financial situation of the company. In the spring of 2016, Pareto-Print filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court to declare bankrupt the Dilettant ^[1] magazine.

The Dilettant suspended the release of the paper version in June after the project sponsor Sergei Zverev refused to finance it because of the crisis. The Dilettanta website continued to work, but moved to another domain: from diletant.ru, owned by Zverev, to diletant.media.

In September 2015, the historical magazine "Dilettant" resumed publishing a printed version. After the two-month suspension on Twitter, the September issue was announced by the founder of the magazine, editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station Alexei Venediktov.

In June 2016, Ekaterina Godlina became the general director of the Dilettant project. The project is gaining momentum, and by the end of 2017, the magazine reaches self-sufficiency. For this year, the magazine team has created a number of projects (Amateur Readings, The Ranger). By the end of 2018, the project begins to be profitable.

The permanent epigraph of the magazine is Socrates' aphorism “I know that I know nothing.”

The authors of the magazine themselves often jokingly call themselves “amateurs” or share their “amateurish opinion” <in jest. According to Vitaliy Dymarsky , the editors classify as amateurs “not so much authors as readers.”

As a rule, in each issue of the journal there is a central, cross-cutting topic, with which articles are somehow connected. The Dilettant project, during its existence, has released four almanacs that collect the most interesting materials selected by readers from twelve issues of the previous year. Readers vote for materials on the journal’s website ^[14] , and also have the opportunity to create their own content within the magazine in the form of historical essays and reviews of a film, book, or theater ^[15] .

Categories

The journal contains several regular sections:

• Frame. In the heading one photograph is presented - a colorful detail from history. The frame is accompanied by a brief description and background of the depicted event.
• News. The heading is a short summary from the world of archeology, genetics, and others about historical sciences: modern finds and research, DNA studies, the fate of historical exhibits today, etc.
• Parallel. Historical comparisons, parallels and coincidences are noted in the analysis of one event, one era or in the context of one historical episode.
• The story is from Andrei Bilzho . Author's note on a free topic. As a rule, this is the author’s reasoning on topical issues or reasoning from the category of “Do you know?”. Next to each note is a caricature of the artist A. Bilzho.
• The theme of the issue. A significant part of the issue is occupied by large-scale historical material, combining several plots within the same topic. The material contains opinions, figures, facts, photographs, analysis.
• Armament. In the heading shows the model of military equipment, its characteristics, famous designers, historical episodes associated with it.
• Picture. This section presents a historical canvas and a reference to the plot depicted on it. Separate elements are highlighted in the picture, each of which is given a description.
• Fiscal. The section describes tax systems in different countries of the world during a certain period, and the historical consequences of tax laws for states.
• Exhibit. The section presents a large photograph of one exhibit, its description and history, traditions and legends associated with it, fate and the “museum” past.
• Mailbox. Letters from readers to the editorial board regarding past articles. Here, the authors personally answer readers their comments, questions and additions.
• Playground with Alexei Venediktov . An interactive section in which the reader is asked several questions about a historical figure (or event) with answers “yes” and “no”. The correct answers are given at the end of the journal.
• Look. To read. To visit. To play. The heading recommends readers movies or TV shows, books and computer games, as well as exhibitions, festivals, museums on historical or popular science topics.
• Thing. Author’s column by Sergey Buntman , which tells about objects that left a noticeable mark in history.
• Process. Author's column by Aleksey Kuznetsov dedicated to the lawsuits of domestic and foreign history.
• Portrait Gallery of Dmitry Bykov . Author’s column describing the life and fate of a historical or literary figure.
• Crossword
• My hero in the story . Under the heading, modern politicians, journalists, artists and public figures choose “their” person in history, who, in their opinion, has made the greatest contribution to the history of mankind.

Journal Authors

• Alexey Venediktov , rubric “Playground with Alexei Venediktov”
• Sergey Buntman ;
• Alexey Naryshkin;
• Andrey Poznyakov;
• Alexey Solomin;
• Andrey Sorokin;
• Dmitry Bykov , rubric “Portrait Gallery with Dmitry Bykov”;
• Maxim Kuzakhmetov;
• Andrei Bilzho , rubric “History from Andrei Bilzho” and caricatures.

Also, they write / wrote:

• George Alexandrov
• Evgeny Anisimov
• Larisa Aerova
• Andrey Dubrovsky
• Ilya Kabanov
• Julia Kantor
• Peter Koryagin
• Daniil Kotsyubynsky
• Alexey Kuznetsov
• Alexey Leshchenko
• Mikhail Loginov
• Alexander Lokshin
• Sergey Nechaev
• Irina Paltusova
• Alexander Pochinok
• Alexey Romashkin
• Tatyana Sizova
• Gleb Stashkov
• Elena Syanova

• I. A. Yakovenko Market of popular science journals. Analytical review (neopr.) . National Circulation Service (August 30, 2012). Date of treatment September 3, 2012. Archived on October 28, 2012.