#12 - JRL 8307 - JRL Home
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2004
From: "Nicolai N. Petro" <kolya@uri.edu>
Subject: Reply to Charles Fairbanks 8305

Charles Fairbanks writes: “Unfortunately, most post-Soviet people cannot afford newspapers, or buy academic books, which are still rather freely written and published in Putin’s Russia. So open political debate stands on the thin pillar of free television . . .”

The debate over the extent of political freedom in Russia is not served by such an obvious exaggeration. According to the latest figures issued by the Russian Press Ministry, in September 2003 there were 23,749 newspapers and 14, 332 journals published in Russia. This represents a 6.6% increase in the number of newspapers and an 11.2% increase in the number of journals over the previous year. (“Lesin poobeshchal zurnalistam krupnye preobrazovaniya,” January 13, 2004. http://www.strana.ru; “Vladimir Putin: glavnaya zadacha rossiiskikh zhurnalistov--sozdat’ nezavismye SMI,” January 13, 2003. http://www.newsru.com.)

The same report estimates that by the middle of 2004 the number of newspapers in yearly circulation will be 8.5 billion, or over 23 million daily. This would place Russia third, after India and Germany, in total newspaper circulation, and 14th in the world in newspaper circulation per capita. (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, March 11, 2003, posted on http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/med_new_cir). By the way, per capita figures for both Belarus and Ukraine are very close. Obviously many “post-Soviet people” can easily afford to buy newspapers and are doing so in ever greater numbers.

Although the latest information I have is for the year 2000, when book production increased by 12.3% over 1999, there is every indication that book publishing of all sorts is undergoing a similar boom (Paul Goble, “Russian Publishing Rebounds,” RFE/RL Newsline, Part I, 5, #47, March 8, 2001). With more than 50,000 new titles a year, Russia stands somewhere between France and Japan.

Meanwhile, far too little is said of the impact of the internet. Though only 12% of the population accesses the internet regularly, internet news and information sources have been estimated to reach as much as a third of the population.

As for television, I for one do not feel that it has much to contribute to political debate. I often find myself arguing vehemently with my television set, and still it blithely continues to spout nonsense at me.

With best wishes,

Professor Nicolai N. Petro
Department of Political Science
Washburn Hall, Univ. of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02881 (USA)
Voice: 401.874.2290 | Fax: 208.693.5200 | Web: http://www.npetro.net My latest book, Crafting Democracy, will be available September 2004.