History of Russian Media Model Professor Elena Vartanova

History of Russian Media Model Professor Elena Vartanova Faculty of Journalism Moscow State University/ Aleksander Institute, Helsinki University

What do You Know about Russia?

Basic Data on Russia l l l l 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 l Kiev Russia (860 -1689) l Imperial (1689 -1916) l Soviet (1917 -1991) l Post-Soviet (1991 to the present)

Romanovs l l l l 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 l l l l 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 l l l 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’ l l l 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 l l 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 l l l 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 3 d 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: Further Steps l l l 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 l l l 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 l l l 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 l l l 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)