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Is this a genuine New York Times job ad?

International Opportunities
Russia Correspondent
Moscow, Russia
Job Description
Vladimir Putin’s Russia remains one of the biggest stories in the world. It sends out hit squads armed with nerve agents against its enemies, most recently the opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. It has its cyber agents sow chaos and disharmony in the West to tarnish its democratic systems, while promoting its faux version of democracy. It has deployed private military contractors around the globe to secretly spread its influence. At home, its hospitals are filling up fast with Covid patients as its president hides out in his villa.
...
We are looking for someone who will embrace the prospect of traversing 11 time zones to track a populace that is growing increasingly frustrated with an economy dragged down by corruption, cronyism and excessive reliance on natural resources.

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  • I'm wondering notability of this, however. It's a self referential implicit claim that this is genuine. We can make questions like that all day and chase geese. Is anybody making a fuss about this? In other words, there needs to be evidence people believe it's genuine.
    – user11643
    Nov 21, 2020 at 15:44
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    @fredsbend RT.com now has an op-ed about it; I'm pretty sure that's good enough. It seems fairly likely the NYT will respond at some point so maybe it's too early to answer the question.
    – benrg
    Nov 21, 2020 at 17:32
  • Another, older, shorter and more focused RT op-ed about that ad is at rt.com/russia/507238-nytimes-moscow-job-posting I guess they can't get enough bilking that story.
    – Fizz
    Nov 22, 2020 at 8:32
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    genuine but barely notable. Russia's anti-West/NATO/etc. activities are naturally of interest to the NYT, and it wants a correspondent to report those topics.
    – Colin
    Nov 23, 2020 at 20:31

2 Answers 2

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This is genuine.

A google search for "new york times jobs" results in the New York Times Career page which includes the advert under "Explore International Opportunities".

Job advertisement

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  • FWIW, there's an official-looking company number associated with the job posting, which could be used for further inquiries: REQ-008536. Interesting that a similar job posted almost simultaneously for China REQ-008378 does not contain any country-specific bashing/preamble.
    – Fizz
    Nov 23, 2020 at 19:54
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    Interesting that they include Russiagate conspiracy theory adherence as part of the job description ("[Russia] has its cyber agents sow chaos and disharmony in the West to tarnish its democratic systems").
    – einpoklum
    Jan 29, 2021 at 10:58
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The New York Times jobs section links through to the their international opportunities. There, when filtering on "Russian Federation" you can find a direct link to this job advert which reads, in full:

Vladimir Putin’s Russia remains one of the biggest stories in the world.

It sends out hit squads armed with nerve agents against its enemies, most recently the opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. It has its cyber agents sow chaos and disharmony in the West to tarnish its democratic systems, while promoting its faux version of democracy. It has deployed private military contractors around the globe to secretly spread its influence. At home, its hospitals are filling up fast with Covid patients as its president hides out in his villa.

If that sounds like a place you want to cover, then we have good news: We will have an opening for a new correspondent as Andy Higgins takes over as our next Eastern Europe Bureau Chief early next year.

We are eager to hear from those interested in taking on one of the most legendary postings at The Times, a seat occupied by the likes of Bill Keller, Serge Schmemann, Hedrick Smith, Clifford Levy and Ellen Barry. We are looking for someone who will embrace the prospect of traversing 11 time zones to track a populace that is growing increasingly frustrated with an economy dragged down by corruption, cronyism and excessive reliance on natural resources. This posting offers the chance to chronicle the continuing reign of one of the world’s most charismatic leaders, President Vladimir V. Putin. This beat also covers the incredible diversity and variety of the lands of the former Soviet Union. The correspondent can range from Estonia (with its close ties to Scandinavia) to Kyrgyzstan (which has close ties to China).

Not to mention, Putin ushered in changes to the constitution, so he will likely stay in power for many years to come.

And, of course, we are on the cusp of a new, less Putin-friendly president in the US, which should only raise the temperature between Washington and Moscow.

The successful candidate should have:

  • Experience covering a beat
  • Excellent writing skills
  • Knowledge of Russia and the former Soviet republics
  • Fluency in Russian is preferred
  • Self driven, trustworthy, independent and intrepid
  • Collaborative
  • Excellent news judgement
  • A good digital sense with a knack for different types of storytelling
  • Those interested should apply via Workday.
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