The Effects of the Economic Crisis on Non-State Press in Russia
Document No. 1 (available at http://www.npi.ru/NEW/business/crisis/9812report_e.htm) is the National Press
Institute's most recent report on regional non-state newspapers' response to
the crisis, which details the major findings:
- The crisis has profoundly changed the environment in which commercial
newspapers must do business, exhausting their available reserves and creating
conditions that threaten the very existence of a non-state press in Russia over
the long term.
- Commercial newspapers have so far responded to the situation with
reasonable
and well-considered crisis-management measures, although most of them will have
a very hard time bearing further shocks and recovering from the present one
without assistance.
- Real opportunities now exist for recreating the environment for commercial
newspapers in the regions of Russia in a way that is more stable and
profitable. Managers are open to assistance as never before - one southern
Russian publisher noted, "There is no point in waiting for state support or
subsidies. I have to rely on myself and actively seek out market-oriented
solutions to my problems."
Document No. 2 is a Newspaper Crisis Recovery Program (available at
http://www.nyu.edu/globalbeat/pubs/NPI1198.html), which describes an approach
that will assist Russia's regional newspapers surmount the current crisis in
the short term, and will help secure their political and financial independence
well into the future.
The Newspaper Crisis Recovery Program, also developed by the National Press
Institute (NPI), addresses the need of the papers to increase their income, to
cut costs, to improve the management of existing resources, and to further
develop journalistic professionalism.
The program lays out 29 separate but mutually reinforcing initiatives proposed
by NPI, which together present a comprehensive response to the problems
Russia's newspapers currently face. The 29 initiatives described in the
Recovery Program vary greatly in their complexity and cost and have been
designed to be implemented with resources of varying magnitude. A strategic
combination of the individual projects, undertaken on the requisite scale,
could contribute significantly to the revitalization of the regional newspaper
industry.
Last updated: January 8, 1999
