Today journalists are celebrating the Press Day. We met Andrey Glushkov, the editor-in-chief of newspaper Technopolis, discussed the current condition of Russia’s press, and tried to figure out the history of this professional holiday.
– Do you know the history of the holiday? Why do some people celebrate it on May 5th, and the others – on January 13th?
– This day, on May 5th of 1905, the first issue of Pravda newspaper was published. Professional holiday of printed press was first established in the USSR by the Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR and had been celebrated till 1990 inclusively. As you probably know, for the country it was a time of reforms (the Perestroika); many things were changing in people’s lives, including professional holidays. So on January 13 of 1991, the first President of Russia, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, established the Day of Russian Press, but the Press Day of the 5th May has remained a holiday, as it is celebrated not only by Russian journalists, but also by print media workers of other countries.
– How had the press changed in the last decades?
– Previously, all newspapers were organs of a particular party and the mission of the Soviet press was to maintain the slogan “Workers of the world, unite!” Nowadays party newspapers still exist, for example, the Pravda newspaper. But if previously they all used to have one mission, today each edition has one of its own, because aside from party newspapers there are also commercial, in-house, advertising, and other types of newspapers and magazines. They all cover the news and events in our lives, depending on the forms of property, format, and its intended purpose. At all times, it was hardly possible to call the press “free”, mostly because of economic reasons; this tendency is still present.
– Do many people believe that sooner or later printed media will become outdated?
– I remain a believer in the fact that print media will never die, it will live forever. However, there will be a reduction in circulation. Now we still can speak about commercialization. Of course, there is no profit in publishing printed newspapers; besides, they can’t keep up with the speed of coverage of events. But one of my favorite newspapers, the “NewYorkTimes”, keeps publishing prints, moreover, Sunday editions can contain up to 100 pages. It means that the work is possible to be done if it’s done professionally. Such newspapers will remain. Along with those, which are closer to the people living in small towns and suburbs. They tell the readers about their life, and it will always excite interest. In-house newspapers, such as our newspaper Technopolis, will also remain. This year, we celebrated the 60th anniversary of our University’s newspaper. All these years the newspaper served as the University’s speaker and helped creating image of SUSU as the leading center of education, science and culture of Russia.