15min () is one of the largest news websites in Lithuania, and is owned by

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n media company

Postimees Group AS Postimees Grupp (also known in English as Postimees Group), formerly known as AS Postimees and AS Eesti Meedia, is an Estonian media holding company headquartered in Tallinn. The company is currently owned by MM Group (an investment company ...

. The website attracts over one million unique users per month and is led by CEO Ramūnas Šaučikovas. 15min was founded in 2005 as a free daily newspaper published in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, Kaunas, and

Klaipėda Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuania ...

and was distributed in public buses, streets, and some

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non ...

s. In December 2011, it became a weekly newspaper circulating in seven Lithuanian cities. The newspaper was closed in 2013 as the company decided to concentrate its operations on digital platforms only. In May 2016, 15min disabled anonymous comments, starting an "Internet Hygiene" movement. In 2016, 15min introduced a paywall to ad-blockers. 15min is known for its explanatory journalism and

investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years res ...

and was an official partner of the Panama Papers investigation team. In March 2019, in conjunction with the Sarajevo-based

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a global network of investigative journalists with staff on six continents. It was founded in 2006 and specializes in organized crime and corruption. It publishes its stories through ...

, 15min broke a story regarding a nearly $9 billion global money laundering scheme allegedly constructed by

Sberbank CIB Sberbank CIB is a multinational investment banking and asset management firm headquartered in Moscow, Russia, and a subsidiary of Sberbank. It was founded in Moscow in 1991, and was formerly known as Troika Dialog. Sberbank CIB's core lines of ...

(formerly known as "Troika Dialog"). The scheme is known as ŪkioLeaks or Troika Laundromat. In October 2020, several reporters at the website resigned in protest against planned restructuring of the editorial team which would see several editors including Raimundas Celencevičius, the chief editor of the outlet, removed from their desks. The resigned journalists accused the management of editorial interference. 47 workers at the news portal have founded a new

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

to challenge the management.

References

External links

* Daily newspapers published in Lithuania 2005 establishments in Lithuania Free newspapers Newspapers established in 2005 {{lithuania-newspaper-stub