Preparing Independent Russian Media for the 21'' Century:

Final Report on Cooperative Agreement 1 18-A-00-97-00274-00, December 2000 Page 8
2.3 NPI's Media Assistance Strategy: A Sectoral Vision
NPI 's Mission
"Why shouM a government which is doing what it believes to be rlght
allow itself to be criticized7 It would not allow opposition . . by lethal
weapons. Ideas are much more fatal things than guns Why should
any man be allowed to buy a printing press and disseminate pernrcious
opinion calculated to embarrass the government7"
Vladimir Lenin
"The organization of ourpress has truly been a success. Our law
concerning the press is such that divergences of opinion between
members of the government are no longer an occasioiz for public
exhibitions, which are not the newspapers' busmess We've eliminated
that conception ofpolitical freedom which holds that evetybody has the
right to say whatever comes into hzs head "
Adolf Hltler
"Freedom of conscience, of etlucatzon, of speech, of as~embly are
among the ve~yfilndanzentals of democracy and all of them would be
nullgfied shouldji-eedom of the press ever be successfidly challenged "
Franklin Roosevelt
The National Press Institute's mission statement for the period of the Cooperative
Agreement, elaborated in 1996, fit very well the strategic and intermediate objectives of
the United State Agency for International Development in Russia, with specific reference
to the crucial role played by local newspapers:
The National Press Institute of Russia is a permanent, nationwide, non-
profit organization dedicated to the emerging independent and
professional mass media as a pillar of a stable, democratic civil soc~ety
The Institute promotes the professional standards and the economic and
legal cond~tions necessary to support a reliable, vltal media sector
servlng the needs an informed and engaged citizenry.
Throughout the period of the Cooperative Agreement, the National Press Institute
worked to realize this mission on a national scale in the context of several key inhibiting
factors: Russia's long tradition of a closed society, the active opposition of local and
national politicians, apathy and lack of understanding on the part of the public, and a
shortage of professionalism on the part of journalists. In addition, Russia endured during
this period political and social turmoil and economic chaos that repeatedly threatened
media development and independence.
The Sectoral Approach
In this environment, the CWPNM and NPI developed, for the first time in the
history of international media assistance, a sectoral approach to media assistance. This
approach requires that problems or obstacles to media development be analyzed and
Center for War, Peace, and the News Medla -New York University Chapter 2: Introduction