Mass media in Russia

Russia has close to ninety officially registered television companies, 25,000 newspapers, over 1,500 radio programmes and 400 news agencies—over half of them independent, the rest entitled to full or partial government financing.

The Mass Media Act, passed in December 1991, regulates their activities.

Judging by opinion polls, 82 per cent of the Russian public see television as the principal information source, and prefer it to the press. Radio comes next with 24 per cent.

The total number of subscriptions to publications exceeded 61~5 million in 1994, with newspapers accounting for 43.8 million. 78 per cent of Russians are regular readers of local periodicals whose total circulation accounts for 25.2 million copies, while that of national papers is 18.1 million copies.

The weekly Argumenty i Fakty leads the national press, with 36 per cent of the polled readership, and is the most popular among people with college and university degrees and those in managerial occupations. Moskovsky Komsomolets, a Moscow daily, is second in popularity, with a huge number of subscribers and sells like hotcakes on the newsstands. The youth weekly AIDS-lnfo and the daily Trud (Labour), a favourite with trade union bosses and blue collar workers, come after these two.

The respectable daily Izvestia (News) is a pronounced preference in cultural, research and business circles, 35 out of a hundred political activist pollees are also its regular readers. Of the Russian dailies, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Commersant Daily, Moskovsky Komsomolets, Rossiiskaya Gazeta and Pravda are also popular among political leaders, as are the weeklies Finansovaya Gazeta and Moscow News.

Opinion polls highlight the most popular TV programmes-"Wonderfield Quiz," "Topic," with its social and political charge, news programmes, and foreign serials.

The Mir (World) interstate television and radio company, established in the middle of 1992, is jointly sponsored by Russia, Armenia, Tajikistan, BelaNs, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and some other Commonwealth countries.

Mayak (Beam), a round-the-clock radio station, which broadcasts news every thirty minutes, is most popular. Private radio stations—Europe Plus, Radio 101, M Radio, Moscow Echo, Radio Nadezhda (Hope), Nostalgie and others also have huge audience. They broadcast information, the analysis of the most important events and music. The new radio station Auto-Radio telling the audience about the situation in the Moscow traffic and about everything connected with cars has rapidly gained popularity.

ITAR-TASS and RIA Novosti, the two national news agencies, are followed by private and joint-stock agencies: Interfax, Postfactum, and IMA-PRESS.

The Russian Information Agency "Novosti" (former APN) has 50 offices in foreign states, seventeen in the CIS countries and receives information from correspondents and stringers from about 40 cities in Russia.

The agency daily transmits up to 150 telegraph communications to almost 500 subscribers. More than 3,000 subscribers receive thematical bulletins covering the reforms in Russia, its economy, science, culture, international life and so on. An illustrated "Russia" magazine and Russian press digest, "Sputnik," are circulated in Russia and abroad.

RIA Novosti has its own news analysis service, a television company, a photoservice, and a radio station.

Tasks:

1. Make up a list of words and phrases that can be used dealing with the Russian Media.
2. Identify the sentences which are generalizations and translate them into Russian.
3. Share with your partner what new information you derived from the text above.

THE MEDIA: JOURNALISM AND THE PRESS

TEXT 1

Journalism

Journalism is the collection, preparation, and distribution of news and related commentary and feature materials through such media as pamphlets, newsletters, newspapers, magazines, radio, motion pictures, television, and books. The word journalism was originally applied to the reportage of current events in printed form, specifically newspapers, but with the advent of radio and television in the 20th century, the use of the term has broadened to include all printed and electronic communication dealing with current affairs.

Journalism in the 20th century has been marked by a growing sense of professionalism. There were four important factors in this trend: the increasing organization of working journalists; specialized education for journalism; a growing literature dealing with the history, problems, and techniques of mass communication; and an increasing sense of social responsibility on the part of journalists.

An organization of journalists began as early as 1883, with the foundation of England's chartered Institute of Journalists. Like the American Newspaper Guild, organized in 1933, and the Fédération Nationale de la Presse Française, the institute functions as both a trade union and a professional organization.

Before the latter part of the 19th century, most journalists learned their craft as apprentices, beginning as copyboys or cub reporters. The first university course in journalism was given at the University of Missouri (Columbia) in 1879–84. In 1912 Columbia University in New York City established the first graduate program in journalism, endowed by a grant from the New York City editor and publisher Joseph Pulitzer. It was recognized that the growing complexity of news reporting and newspaper operation required a great deal of specialized training. Editors also found that in-depth reporting of special types of news, such as political affairs, business, economics, and science, often demanded reporters with background training in these areas. The advent of motion pictures, radio, and television as news media called for an ever-increasing battery of new skills and techniques in gathering and presenting the news. By the 1950s, courses in journalism or communications were commonly offered in colleges.

The literature of the subject—which in 1900 was limited to two textbooks, a few collections of lectures and essays, and a small number of histories and biographies—became copious and varied by the late 20th century. It ranged from histories of journalism to texts for reporters and photographers to books of conviction and debate by journalists on journalistic capabilities, methods, and ethics.

Concern for social responsibility in journalism is largely a product of the late 19th and 20th centuries. The earliest newspapers and journals were generally violently partisan in politics and considered that the fulfillment of their social responsibility lay in proselytizing their own party's position and denouncing that of the opposition. As the reading public grew, however, the newspapers grew in size and wealth and became increasingly independent. Newspapers began to mount their own popular and sensational “crusades” in order to increase their circulation. The culmination of this trend was the “yellow journalism” (q.v.) competition between two New York City papers, the World and the Journal, in the 1890s.

The sense of social responsibility made notable growth as a result of specialized education and widespread discussion of press responsibilities in books and periodicals and at the meetings of the associations. Such reports as that of the Royal Commission on the Press (1949) in Great Britain and the less extensive A Free and Responsible Press (1947) by an unofficial Commission on the Freedom of the Press in the United States did much to stimulate self-examination on the part of practising journalists.

By the late 20th century studies showed that journalists as a group were generally idealistic about their role in bringing the facts to the public in an impartial manner. Various societies of journalists have issued statements of ethics, of which that of the American Society of Newspaper Editors is perhaps the best known.

Tasks:

1. Comment on the following:

a reportage of current events

to be marked by a growing sense of professionalism

specialized education for journalism

an increasing sense of social responsibility

in-depth reporting

an ever-increasing battery of new skills and techniques

gathering and presenting the news

journalistic capabilities, methods, and ethics

to mount their own popular and sensational “crusades”

2. Make up 15 sentences for translation from Russian into English.

3. How do you personally understand “press responsibilities”?

4. Discuss in groups the main issues of the text.

5. Discussion topics: What makes a good journalist? Advantages and disadvantages of journalism as a profession.

TEXT 2

Read Text 2 and Text 3. Make up a list of words and word combinations dealing with the problems of the present-day journalism.

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