Reform, Development and Audience Analysis of Russian Newspaper Industry
The victory of the October Revolution in the Soviet Union overthrew the rule of the Russian bourgeoisie and established the first socialist country in the world. Created a huge socialist press and publication system. By the end of 1986, there were more than 8,000 newspapers in the Soviet Union. Among them, there are 7 1 3 kinds of daily newspapers with circulation exceeding1100 million copies.
, ranking among the top in the world. With the disintegration of 199 1 Soviet Union, the press and publication system of the former Soviet Union disintegrated rapidly. Russian news media began to be managed by the Ministry of Press and Publication. Due to the changes in Russian political system and social system, a new press and publication system has gradually taken shape. Russia's democratic and free press and publication concept is well received by the public. From the disintegration of the Soviet Union to today, although the news publishing industry has experienced many bumpy roads, it still draws lessons from the collision and continues to develop.
Newspaper reform under the new political system
In February 65438, the Russian Federation passed the Law on Mass Media. This law has brought "democracy" and "freedom" to the Russian newspaper industry and broadened the scope of its activities. But the so-called "free" publishing does not mean that newspapers and media can express their views completely freely and without any worries. Because newspapers and periodicals must have a strong financial and economic foundation to survive. In the Soviet era, party newspapers and organ newspapers relied on the financial allocation of the Soviet Central Committee. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, newspapers and periodicals no longer enjoyed financial support, but were responsible for their own profits and losses. Therefore, the party newspaper and the organ newspaper were changed into private independent newspapers to seek social economic support. They struggled to raise funds by themselves, and their business was bleak; Other professional newspapers and periodicals are struggling in the market economy. Financial problems have become the biggest obstacle to the free development of Russian news publishing industry.
The economic difficulties encountered by the press and publishing industry began to form during the Soviet period. During the Soviet period, although there were great profits in publishing newspapers and periodicals, their profits flowed into social organizations such as party organizations, youth leagues and trade unions, and finally remitted to the state financial department. The Soviet government did not invest in developing the economic infrastructure of mass media. The economic problems have dragged on and on, and they have never been completely solved. At present, Russian news publishing industry is in a state of lack of information capital and no financial guarantee. At present, Russian economic development faces many difficulties, which naturally affects the mass media industry. Due to insufficient investment, high prices of paper and printing, and slow development of advertising market, it is difficult for the newspaper industry to make a profit. However, these are only objective factors. The subjective problem is that many newspapers blindly expand the newspaper layout in order to have more readers, while the quality standard has dropped. There are many empty and superficial news in the journal. They hope that the news published in magazines will arouse strong repercussions among readers, but these news are often untrue. In a word, the free development of Russian news publishing industry is facing not only economic problems, but also news ethics standards.
The book inspection agency has been abolished, and publications can be published freely. This is a severe test of journalistic professional ethics. Many journalists can't strictly abide by professional ethics, which often leads to inaccurate reports. These reports make readers lose trust in publications. Readers' disappointment with publications deepened the crisis of newspaper industry. Losing the trust of readers means reducing the circulation of newspapers. This problem appeared in the first year of Russian democratic development.
It is worth noting that while the circulation of newspapers has declined, the types of newspapers have obviously increased. There has been a unique "quantity explosion" in the development of Russian newspaper industry. In the late 1980s, there were only a few hundred newspapers and periodicals in the Soviet Union. In the early 1990s, more than 8,000 kinds of publications were published throughout the Soviet Union. Among them, there are more than 4,863 newspapers and more than 3,353 magazines. Today, more than 27,000 publications are distributed in Russia (excluding CIS countries). The central newspapers and periodicals in the Soviet era have basically been preserved. However, great changes have taken place in content, form and management.
Pravda, the central organ newspaper of the Soviet Union, cooperated with a Greek company (Steelite Holdings Ltd) after the disintegration of the Soviet Union to establish Pravda International Limited. The Greek company owns 55% of the shares and the newspaper only owns 45%, so Pravda survived. However, the newspaper and the Greek company soon had conflicts, and the newspaper split into two. Pravda Co., Ltd. is still called Pravda. It is a newspaper of Russian * * * production party and left-wing forces, and is supported by some large Russian commercial and enterprise institutions. Pravda International AG published a newspaper called Pravda -5. Pravda -5' s liberal political tendency is still supported by foreign financial capital.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Izvestia, the original organ of the Supreme Soviet, received financial support from Lukoyle, Russia's largest oil company. The company purchased the shares of Izvestia 4 1%. It is the largest shareholder of Izvestia. With the financial support of Lukeyre Company, the publication of Izvestia has been relatively stable. The influence in the audience is also relatively large.
Pravda of the * * * Youth League, the central organ of the * * * Youth League in the Soviet period. Great changes have taken place in its content, form and style. The only constant is the name of the newspaper.
Moscow Youth Daily is the most popular metropolis newspaper in Moscow at present. Its predecessor was the organ newspaper of Moscow Communist Youth League Committee.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a large number of new publications emerged. Newspapers that have a great influence on modern Russian audiences include Independent, Today and Kommersant. Magazines include summaries and the like. The Independent and Today mainly analyze and comment on current affairs, politics and economy. Kommersant is a commercial newspaper, which is deeply loved and recognized by people in the business and financial circles.
The development course of Russian newspaper industry
The development of Russian newspaper industry can be roughly divided into several stages in the case of unbalanced overall social and economic development in Russia.
1989- 199 1 year, the news publishing industry began to break away from the old traditional form. Before that, publications used to be a tool for the Soviet Union's * * * production party. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the news publishing industry was free from external pressure. This indicates that a new news form has been formed. During this period, publications became a tool for bureaucrats and administrative departments to comment. The press and publishing industry has some freedom, but the national political parties have maintained a dominant position. On June 1990, the new press law was passed. The Soviet production party has no right to interfere with the free press. The press and publishing industry got rid of state institutions and gained independence.
199 1- 1993, the Russian press and publishing industry experienced a golden age of freedom. During the Soviet Union, the newspaper industry was managed vertically. Under this vertical management mode, newspapers and periodicals are generally divided into several levels-central; Join the Republic of China; Border areas, countries, autonomous regions and China; General cities and regions; Enterprises and institutions such as mining, schools and farms. Under the unified leadership of the Soviet Central Committee, newspapers and periodicals at all levels accept the management and supervision of party committees at all levels (or enterprises and institutions led by the party). All-Soviet news agency-Tass news agency provides news for these newspapers, and major central newspapers are sent to cities all over the country by fax. Now this pyramid structure doesn't exist. Every newspaper puts its own interests first, and they don't have to obey any outside orders. The main problem in the development of newspaper industry is the need for new investment. After Russia's economic monopoly, the price of paper is too high, and the printing cost is relatively increased. It is difficult for this newspaper to make a profit. Even some newspapers are not profitable at all. The state tries to provide subsidies to newspapers and printing industries as aid. But even this would not be enough In order to survive in the competition, many newspapers have to advertise a lot and strive for foreign investment. 1993 13 In February, the Parliament of the Russian Federation amended the Law on Mass Media to make news dissemination more democratic and free. And embarked on the road of commercialization.
1995- 1996, on the eve of the Russian presidential election, the oligarchs of the news industry United to support the presidential candidate Yeltsin. In this way, Russia once again has the privilege of press and publication. It used to be controlled by the Soviet regime, but now it is controlled by big consortia. However, the United front did not last long, private ownership destroyed the United front of journalism, and the monopolist of the press had to launch an information war. Such a political war has been going on.
1998- 1999, the new presidential election has intensified the war among news monopolists to some extent. From the end of the presidential election in 2000 to the present, with the development of journalism becoming more and more commercialized and politicized, the reputation of publications in the hearts of Russian people has once again declined. President Putin put forward the requirement of strengthening the national news communication. In order to strengthen the state's supervision and management of the news and communication industry, departments have been set up to manage publishing, radio and television and mass communication. And established a news organization-"National RU" which represents official views and opinions on the Internet. At present, newspapers and periodicals published in Russia are not only controlled by the state, but also part of them are public opinion tools of political parties.
The main newspapers published in Russia are: Pravda has a circulation of 654.38+0.9 million; 665,438+00,000 copies of Izvestia; 56,000 today's newspapers; 57,000 copies of The Independent; 654.38+0.58 million labor force; 530,000 Russian newspapers; 1.66 million copies of * * Youth Pravda; 260,000 literary newspapers.
Audience analysis of Russian newspaper industry
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Russian newspaper industry has experienced ups and downs and has come to this day step by step. Driven by the market economy, Russian newspaper industry is gradually moving towards a commercial development model. Analysis and research on newspaper market and audience has also become a compulsory course for modern newspaper industry.
Russia has a land area of 1 165438+ 10,000 square kilometers, which is a country with a vast territory and a sparse population, with a low average population density. Population148.5 million. We can divide Russians into five generations by age. 1) the generation of democratic revolution (born in 1900- 1923). They experienced the October Revolution and the Great Patriotic War of 19 17. This generation is the builder of the early Soviet Union. They have a strong sense of responsibility and self-sacrifice for the country. 2) The Silent Generation (born in 1923- 1943). They experienced World War II, which brought huge losses to the Soviet economy. Most of this generation abides by the law and discipline, silently enduring the lack of material things. 3) Positive generation (born in 1943- 1963). They are active, decisive and enterprising. It has made great contributions to the post-war reconstruction of the Soviet Union. A typical example is astronaut yuri gagarin. 4) 1963- 1983 generation. They experienced the cold war between the Soviet Union and the United States and the replacement of a new generation of leaders by the Soviet government. 5) Generation born after1983. This generation was born in the Soviet period and experienced the decline and disintegration of the Soviet Union. What they are facing today is the new social system in Russia. At present, the newspaper audience is mainly concentrated in the third, fourth and fifth generations. Let's analyze these audiences one by one.
After great changes have taken place in the social system, the concepts and behaviors of Russian newspaper readers have also changed considerably. The primary factors affecting audience behavior can be said to be cultural factors and age differences.
Russian people are highly educated. The Soviet Union basically popularized seven-year compulsory education as early as 1952. In the early 1970s, eight-year compulsory education was popularized. Since 1980s, Russia has been trying to popularize compulsory education for citizens. Up to now, 1 1 year compulsory education is basically universal.
Because of the age difference of the audience, the newspaper consumption behavior is also very different. 1943- 1963 The generation born is relatively conservative. They lived under the socialist system of the former Soviet Union for a long time and experienced great social changes from the Soviet Union to Russia. They don't accept changes in the country's political system. Facing the rapidly changing society, they expressed doubts and dissatisfaction with the new social system. This kind of audience has the habit of reading newspapers, but they are not interested in the reports of modern newspapers, especially all kinds of social news, anecdotes and gossip. What they can accept is news reports with patriotic tendencies. 1963- 1983 Russians are more open. They all received socialist basic education from primary school to middle school in the Soviet Union. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, it accepted westernization and capitalist higher education. This generation is an active audience of newspapers and periodicals. They are interested in newspapers and magazines about politics, economy, diplomacy, current affairs news and comments. And often subscribe to trade publications related to their majors. They generally yearn for the western way of life and pursue perfection. I hope to get the information I am interested in from the media reports. Russians born after 1983 are a generation of young news audiences. Generally speaking, this kind of audience has strong ability to accept new things, thinking and acting. They are enterprising and especially like to receive a lot of news and information. However, a small part of this audience likes to talk about ostentation and extravagance and blindly pursue a luxurious lifestyle. They are not sensitive to political, economic and international news and comments, but are interested in the life news of celebrities, artists and sports stars. This kind of audience often buys expensive magazines about the life of stars and imitates them.
Facing newspaper audiences of different ages, occupations, economic conditions and lifestyles, with the increasingly fierce competition in the Russian newspaper market, modern Russian newspapers pay more and more attention to the investigation and analysis of the audience. And carry out reform and innovation according to the survey results.
Today's Russian newspaper industry is facing many new topics and challenges under the market economy system. Newspapers and periodicals must focus on the interests of the audience and face the masses fairly. Attract the audience with diversified means of expression. Give full play to the propaganda role of the media