The Siberian Times was an English-language online newspaper founded on July 12, 2012. According to the editor of the website, Svetlana Skarbo,[1] their aim is to challenge stereotypes about Siberia, which she believed were "negative and out of date".[1]
History
The Siberian Times described their organization as a "All about Siberia, in English," with news articles produced by both Russian and Western journalists, alongside researchers.[2]
Mashable once described The Siberian Times's reporting as "allegedly real with a bit of hyperbole/Siberian fan fiction thrown in -- just as it should be."[3]Meduza found that the site was run by an individual named Will Stewart who employed freelancers to rewrite tabloid stories from Russian media outlets.[4]
Nevertheless, some of The Siberian Times's articles have garnered the attention of Western media outlets, such as an article about frozen worms becoming reanimated following the thawing of permafrost.[5] This story was reported by the Smithsonian, although a separate claim was made by the academic journal Doklady Biological Sciences.[6]