Sirp Attempts to Restore Status Quo Ante Bellum
The embattled state-funded cultural weekly Sirp pulled further back from the brink on Thursday, announcing that it would attempt to rehire the section editors who were fired several weeks ago during an editorial shake-up.
"I offered all four editors a chance to return to work under service contracts - until a new editor in chief arrives," said Toomas Väljataga, director of publisher Kultuurileht, in Eesti Päevaleht.
The editors are all prominent names in Estonian intellectual circles: Veronika Valk (architecture), Marek Strandberg (science), Tarmo Teder (film) and Doris Kareva (literature).
Valk and Strandberg accepted the offer while Teder declined and Kareva said she would think about it.
The scandal at Sirp looks to have claimed the current culture minister's seat, as Rein Lang said he would resign after being criticized for his role in hand-picking an interim editor-in-chief whose vision clashed with that of the journalists.
As the outcry over perceived government meddling mounted, that interim editor, Kaur Kender, himself said he would resign after just a week at the helm.