Preparing Independent Russian Media for the 21'' Century:

Final Reuort on Coouerative Agreement 1 18-A-00-97-00274-00, December 2000 page 40
4.3.3 Building a Community of Non-State Publishers
"We have become allergic to the word 'association' because over the
last few years everyone except the extremely lazy has formed at least
one 'association.' . But now [at NPI S conjerence], for the first tzme
ever, I have met with a drive to unite efforts that has emergedfi-om
pzrbluhers themselves "
Boris Klrshin, Chelyabznsky Rabochy
One of MDBS's original goals was to accelerate the crucial process of
bringing like-minded newspaper publishers together in order to understand and
advocate their interests on the national level - especially to government. Given
Russia's size and the varying degrees of professionalism among newspaper
managers, this was a daunting task, but one that is critical to the success of media
assistance efforts and the larger goal of press freedom.
MBDS's electronic listserv, mentioned in section 4.3.1 above, has been a
crucial nexus of communication among independent publishers. Other activities
aimed at achieving this goal include the following.
Newspaper Publishers' Conferences
MBDS hosted national newspaper publishers' conferences in 1997, 1998,
and 1999 (a program from the 1998 conference is attached as Appendix 9). Each of
these events - at which publishers shared innovative ideas, openly discussed
challenges they faced, and discussed ways to improve their common situation - was
attended by approximately 70 regional publishers. After the 1998 conference, Ivan
Bentsa of Pravda Severa in Murmansk wrote: "During this conference, I've begun
to think that we might make it after all. Now we know exactly what we need to do:
we must rely on ourselves, increase our independence and learn how to make
money by increasing advertising volume and managing our resources more
effectively."
Sharing of Ideas
MBDS encouraged regional publishers to visit and learn from one another, a
practice previously unheard of in Russia. As an example of what began to occur
through NPI's efforts, in April 1999, the publisher of Krestyanin in Rostov sent
some of his managers to Astrakhan and Volgograd to visit publishers that he had
met earlier at NPI conferences. He wrote, "The trip was so fruitful that we decided
to arrange regular meetings of this sort to exchange experience. I want to thank NPI
for rallying us and convincing us that interaction and exchanges are a very
important step on the path to success."
Center for War, Peace, and the News Media - N W Chapter 4: Media Business Development Service