History of Russian Media Model

Professor Elena VartanovaFaculty of Journalism

Moscow State University/Aleksander Institute, Helsinki University

What do You Know about Russia?

Basic Data on Russia 146 693 300 Inhabitants (1999) Russian Federation = 21 Republics + 6 Territories + 49 Regions

+10 Autonomous Districts + 1 Autonomous Region + 2 Cities = 89 Administrative ‘Subjects of Federation’

51 Nationalities Variety of Languages 4 Major Religions + Variety of Small Confessions Largest in the World is Terms of Territory Sparsely Populated Uneven in Terms of Economic Development

Main Periods of History

Kiev Russia (860-1689)

Imperial (1689-1916)

Soviet (1917-1991)

Post-Soviet (1991 to the present)

Romanovs 1613 - National council elects Michael Romanov as tsar 1689-1725 - Peter the Great introduced reforms 1772 - 1814 - Russia extend territories (Crimea, Poland,

Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia) 1814 Russia defeated Napoleon's Army 1861 - Emancipation Edict ends serfdom; rapid

industrialisation, growth of working class movement and revolutionary ideas

1897 - Social Democratic Party founded and in 1903 splits into Bolshevik and Menshevik factions.

1904-05 - Russian war with Japan and in 1905 revolution, which forced Tsar Nicholas II to grant a constitution and establish a parliament, or Duma

1914 - outbreak World War I, Russia fought alongside Britain and France

The Soviet Union

1917 October - Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government of Alexander Kerensky

1918 - Treaty of Brest-Litovsk:end of the war with Germany, but at the cost of Russia ceding large tracts of territory

1918-22 - Civil war between the Red Army and White Russians aided by Britain, France and the US

1926 - creation of the Soviet Union 1941-1945 - Great Patriotic War as a Pert of the Second

World War Since 1953 (Stalin’s death) drive to the Thaw 1964 - Khroushev dismissed, Brezhnev era

Russia

1985 - Gorbachev’s policies of acceleration, reconstruction (perestroyka) and glasnost

1991- dissolution of the USSR 1992-1993 - liberalization of economy 1996 - re-election of Eltsin 1998 - financial crisis 2000, 2004 - Putin elected as President

Tsars as Founders of Russian Media: ‘Political Weapon’

Peter the Great (I): initiator of the first Russian newspaper ‘Vedomosti’

Katherine the Great (II): friend of Voltaire and publisher of ‘Miscellaneous’ magazine

Pavel I: the philosophy of censorship

Journalism as Creative Literary Profession

Karamzine, Zhoukovsky: working as editors Poushkine: the first Russian journalist Nekrasov, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy: essays as

journalism content Russian modernists as magazine publishers

Russian Media History as the History of Censorship

Nikolas the I (1825-1855): strengthening of the state bureacracy, privilegies for noble people

The III Department of the Chansellor: preliminary censorship = lack of modern newspapers

The Censorship Reform of 1826: standartisation and detalization of censorship

1828 г. – the 3d Censorship Rules: short and clear formulations, simplification, division of religious and secular censorship

Emergence of numerous departments with censorship obligations - Ministry of Education, Foreign Office, the Tsar Court, etc.

History of Censorship: History of Censorship: Further StepsFurther Steps

Alexander the II (1855-1881): reforms as a reaction to crisis in economy and social policy

1865 г.: abolition of peasantry registration and the start of capitalism in Russia

The required condition - media development, creation of basis for the newspaper market

But: until 1870 only 12 Russian cities had private newspapers, the rest were owned by municipal auithorities

Lack of technologies: undeveloped postal distribution

Reforms in Russian Society Mid of the XIXth century: heavy political control over

daily press, high role of official publications (‘St Peterbourgskiye Vedomosti’, ‘Moskovskiye Vedomosty’, ‘Severnaya pchela’, ‘Rysskyi invalid’)

1856-1857: growth in number of political dailies (55 new), lesser censorship pressures (poet Tyutchev as Chairman of foreign censorship committee)

1863: the Interior Ministry took the control over the system of censorship

April 6, 1865 – Temporary censorship rules, the subsequent censorship

Since September, 1865, newspapers in St-Petersbourg and Moscow were published without censorship

Russian Press in the Period of Economic Growth

Alexander the III (1881-1894): development of industry, urbanization, increase in the level of education, emergence of middle calss intellectuals,

Rise in number of periodicals: 1880 – 482 titles; 1895 – 841 titles

Minister Pobedonostsev: Professionalization of censorship, support for loyal publications including boulevard press and dissemination of false news

Development of publishing houses producing pocket books as economic basis for mass press (Souvorin, Marx, Sytin)

Repressions for unloyal newspapers: economic pressures (prohibition of retail and advertising)

Last Years of Empire Nikolas the II (1894-1917) The beginning of the ХХ century – ‘Silver Age’ of

Russian press: growth in number of dailies, emergence of popular press, development of book printing

Struggle for press freedom: revolution of 1905 – 1907 17.10.1905: The Imperial Decree (a set of individual

freedoms including that of conciousness, speech, press, meetings, etc.)

1907: Temporary Rules on Publications: limitations of freedoms

But in 1907-1917: economic growth of Russian press (advertising)