History of Ruissian 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








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:
Further 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)