Between mission and media: Orthodox media in Russia

[edit] Russian media

Between mission and media: Orthodox media in Russia

We are publishing a summary of the regular Tuesday “Open Seminar” of Polit.ru and the Institute of National Economic Model, created to discuss the position of our expert circle and community.
The topic of the seminar this time was the question of Russian Orthodox journalism, its main problems and place in the media system. The discussion centered on messages from the editor-in-chief of the Neskuchny Sad magazine, Yulia Danilova, and the editor-in-chief of the Foma magazine, Vladimir Legoyda. Participants in the discussion (except for Polit.ru itself) are Vitaly Naishul, Olga Gurova, Alexey Peskov, Mikhail Arsenin, Tatyana Malkina, Grigory Glazkov, Oleg Mudrak, Konstantin Sutyagin. Beginning
Until the mid-1990s. In fact, there was no system of Orthodox media in Russia. There was the magazine of the Moscow Patriarchate and the newspaper “Moscow Church Bulletin”, there were post-dissident and emigrant publications, there were experiments by nascent business corporations in the field of PR through short-lived Orthodox media projects.

In the mid-1990s. Sergei Chapnin organized the Orthodox information agency Metafrasis. It was a breakthrough. At the same time, the first publications were born, which have survived to this day. There were four main publications: the newspaper “Tatyana’s Day”, published at the Moscow State University temple, the magazine “Foma” (published since 1996), around the same time the magazine “Vstrecha” appeared, published by students of the Moscow Theological Seminary, and the theological and cultural almanac "Alpha and Omega", which appeared a little earlier.

Everything was new, there was no one to “do life.” Having appeared first, these publications set the model for the possible existence of Orthodox media in Russia. Turning to Catholic and Protestant journalism, publishers understood that, due to the specific cultural and historical situation of post-Soviet Russia, there was no experience that could be adopted. The emigrant Orthodox media also could not help (although the magazine “We” has recently followed in their footsteps).

None of the first Orthodox projects began as a business project. The magazine "Foma" appeared as samizdat. Its creators did not even think in professional terms. As its editor, Vladimir Legoida, said, “We just wanted to share our joy.” However, at some point it became clear that it was necessary to either close down or move to a professional level. There are inexorable laws of the market. For example, it is very difficult for a magazine that is published less than once a month to exist - people no longer remember it.

All of the listed publications were different from each other, but they all saw the problem of language as their main problem. After initial unsuccessful attempts to “work in the old fashioned way,” Orthodox journalism began to align itself with professional standards. Gradually they stopped speaking in pompous, moralizing language. We moved away from quoting the holy fathers on every occasion and using the Old Church Slavonic font. Texts have become more readable. Secular media, sensing this shift, began to attract representatives of Orthodox publications as experts on issues related to their sphere of competence, and this cooperation turned out to be quite fruitful.

Today

Over the past five years, Orthodox journalism has seen rapid growth. New publications are being born. In 2001 there were much fewer magazines than now. In 2005, there were about 800 registered Orthodox publications out of about 18,000 publications in total.

Modern magazines are very different, but they all gravitate towards large-format illustrated publications. The magazine “Grapes” appeared with a circulation of 7,000 copies; over the last two years, the magazine “Heir” has been successfully developing with a large circulation of 10,000. New publications have also appeared that can be called “niche”. This is the women's magazine "Slavyanka" with a circulation of 20,000. There is a children's magazine "Ladybug". This project is unique in its own way, since it has so far managed to stay on the market (predecessors similar to it disappeared very quickly). There is a magazine called Noah's Ark, which positions itself as missionary. In addition, a network of Orthodox Internet sites has developed that respond very quickly to news topics.

At the same time, it should be noted that most of the Orthodox media have remained within the framework of the formats proposed by the founders in the mid-nineties. The ones that stand out from the crowd are “Neskuchny Sad”, which managed to expand its format, and “Vinograd”, which is unlike anything else, but the rest follow a more or less beaten path. Magazines vary in the degree to which their audiences are “churched.” For example, “Neskuchny Sad” is addressed to a probably more church-going audience than the “Foma” magazine.

In general, today we can distinguish four types of publications: diocesan, “niche”, cultural and educational and conceptually Orthodox publications. The latter are magazines that do not claim to be Orthodox, but are created by Orthodox people within the framework of their ideas about what should be done. So far there are almost none, but it is this last direction that is perhaps the most promising.

Mission

If the task of traditional secular media is to inform, analyze, form public opinion, entertain, etc., then all current Orthodox publications recognize themselves as missionary publications. For secular media, food is news that occurs against the background of everyday routine, while for Orthodox magazines, food is all Orthodox topics. The tradition has been interrupted, and all issues, from the smallest to the institutional, are, in a sense, news.

Church media essentially writes about how to build a Christian life at the level of daily routine. All media formulate this task in their own way, but this task is still set. This is a kind of preaching through journalism. Each Orthodox publication has to decide what means to use and which of them are acceptable. One of the standard moves is an attempt to talk about Orthodox life through the appeals of people already known to the reader in some other form. Another way is to show pockets of activity: active people. Each of these paths has its own difficulties.

The editors of “Thomas” believe that the main criterion of an Orthodox magazine is “Christ’s Neskuchny Garden”; it adds a more practical orientation to the missionary orientation, as directly indicated by its subtitle “Orthodox magazine about works of mercy.” He is trying to act as a collective organizer of charitable activities, using, among other things, Internet resources. The magazine does not just invite people into the fold of the church. He calls them to specific deeds. For example, there is a website “Miloserdie.ru”, completely dedicated to charity; it directly connects people who need help with those who can provide it. A whole community of volunteers has already gathered around the site.

Between customer and consumer

The editors of Thomas thought for a long time about whether it was worth writing about it as an Orthodox magazine or whether it was worth, for example, simply indicating that it is a magazine that gives meaning to life, etc. They chose “Orthodox,” which imposes certain restrictions. Including the potential audience. One of the possible readers, belonging to the Armenian Apostolic Church, directly said that the first thing that makes it difficult to perceive the magazine is the word “Orthodox”, because it immediately takes him out of the circle of readers.

Another problem that secular publications either do not have or is not present in this form is relations with the official church. Having declared that the magazine is Orthodox, the publishers must navigate their ship between the Scylla of close church criticism and the Charybdis of reader taste. If this balance cannot be maintained, then the journal has no future. And the task of editorial policy is to find this balance.

Interaction with the church inevitably gives rise to certain “censorship” restrictions. Actually, any magazine has internal censorship, but in Orthodox media it has its own specifics. In the editorial office of Neskuchny Sad, ideas that arise in the editorial office at the stage of planning the issue are discussed in the format of a general discussion. They are then discussed with Fr. Arkady Shatov, who acts as a kind of confessor to the magazine. They subsequently read all publications. If something seems theologically unacceptable, it is removed.

In "Thomas" a somewhat more complex scheme is adopted. The spiritual director of the publication is more likely to be the confessor of the core of the editorial staff than the person who looks at the publication, perhaps because he appeared later than the magazine began to be published. At some point, a feeling arose in the editorial office that it was very bad when there was no confessor in the editorial office. And it arose naturally. This is a person who performs the “function” of inspiration. The presence of a confessor for a publication does not remove the issue of expert assessment. The magazine has an agreement with specialists from the St. Tikhon’s Institute, who are shown all the theological texts in the editorial portfolio. Reaction from experts comes in different forms. They may object on principle, or simply give advice. In this case, much depends on the author of the material itself. If this is an experienced priest-theologian, then, of course, the form of advice cannot be too harsh.

Magazine editors rarely have the opportunity to gain sociological insight into their audiences. Usually, based on general ideas, it is assumed that the main target group is people with at least a higher education and over 25 years of age. These are readers who have entered the age of social activity. These are young families who take an active position when it comes to building their lives.

If “Neskuchny Sad” is just about to take a closer look at its audience, then the editors of “Foma” have already managed to conduct their own research. They surveyed all editorial subscribers (several thousand people). About five hundred responded. The result was a picture that approximately coincided with expectations. Among the respondents, the following ratios were observed. Gender composition: 36% men, 64% women. Age: under 30 years old - 28%, 31-40 - 32%, 41-50 - 21%. Education: higher education - 73%, incomplete higher education - 7%, secondary education - 9%, academic degree - 5%. Economic education - 19%, technical - 18%, pedagogical - 13%, theological - 5.5%, etc. Social status: management - 20%, civil servants - 18%, science, culture, medicine - 15%, housewives - 13%, pensioners - 11%, 10% consider themselves managers.

The dispersion in both age and profession is very large. The gender structure is also relatively balanced. “Niche” highly specialized magazines, for example, “Slavyanka”, created specifically for Orthodox women, cannot boast of this. The situation is different at Neskuchny Sad and Foma. They try to touch on issues that may concern a person at any age. At the same time, it seems that niche Orthodox magazines have no future. Secular niche magazines rely on advertising tailored to specific target audiences. Since advertising in an Orthodox magazine seems something alien and unthinkable, the prospects for niche magazines look extremely doubtful.

In addition to the questionnaire survey, which allowed us to sketch a kind of social portrait of the reader, the editors communicate with the reader through other channels, trying to find out meaningful wishes. All communication opportunities during personal meetings are used, letters are being analyzed. There is a hotline. Every week the manager sends the chief editor a list of calls. Analysis of this information allows you to catch some trends. It is necessary to understand how much the declared central characteristic of “Christian Orthodox gloss” worries publishers. And you have to listen to them addressed to you quite often. Particularly because famous faces are often on the covers. But the cover serves an important function. In the beginning, the editorial office strictly observed the taboo on faces. It was believed that there should not be any faces on the cover. Over the years, publishers tried almost everything - flowers, elephants, cameras, but nothing good came of it and they had to return to faces. A “common man”, passing by a kiosk, does not specifically look for the same “Thomas”. He will only pick up a magazine if something interests him. Therefore, the face of a famous person should be there.

Due to double restrictions - on the part of the main “ideological customer” and on the part of the not fully clarified image of the intended reader, the presentation of many topics turns out to be associated with insurmountable difficulties. For the magazine “Thomas,” for example, communion and the schism of the Christian church became very difficult topics. All attempts to write about the history of the schism led to the creation of texts of a rather anti-missionary nature. Moreover, the problem was not that it was impossible to write an interesting and historically literate text about the divergence of confessions (after all, the history of the church is accessible to secular historians). But the editors do not set themselves the task of simply publishing an article written in good language. There is a strict internal criterion: “What does this give to Thomas?” The intended reader is Thomas, a believer, but doubting and strengthened in his faith only by personal experience. If the editor believes that the text does not give anything to Foma, then the text does not work. And all attempts to write about the split for Foma ended, from the point of view of the magazine’s editor-in-chief, in failure. It just doesn't work. From all that is brought to the editorial office on this topic, the average secular reader will make only one conclusion: “I thought so. For them, everything revolves around politics and human ambitions.”

At the same time, it cannot be said that pressure from the audience strictly determines the content of the magazine. There are, of course, quite obvious predictions. For example, it is known that the appearance of a large number of advertising pages will irritate the reader. However, the editors hope that they can afford to write and do what is interesting to the team of authors and at the same time be interesting to the reader.

Commercial component

There are three main models of media existence. Through sales, advertising and targeted funding, “which lights up this star because someone needs it.” Orthodox media is basically the third option. The magazine must have “friends” who believe that such a magazine simply should exist. The costs are generally very high: rent, fees, etc. In any case, they significantly exceed the amounts that can be obtained from the sale. This creates a certain tension in the financial situation. As a rule, a journal does not have one source of funding. There are a number of small donors, grants, and indirect sponsors.

Sponsors, businessmen themselves, are able to help not only with money. They can give advice on pricing policy and provide valuable organizational assistance in promoting the magazine to readers. For example, one day one of the magazine’s friends, inquiring about how the magazine was doing, advised almost doubling the price at which “Foma” goes to wholesale buyers. The editor-in-chief tried to prove that raising the price would lead to the disappearance of the magazine. However, the sponsors insisted. Prices have risen, but, amazingly, sales have also increased along with them. Another example: one of the friends of Foma magazine is the owner of a recruitment agency, he has about 650 regular clients. This year, at his own expense, he signed them all to Foma. The only thing left to do now is to call them in September to ask if they are receiving the magazine, and in December a second time to ask if they will renew their subscription. According to his forecasts, this action could result in 60 additional subscriptions. This is quite a bold move, and also requires certain resources. A move in normal marketing logic, but which simply did not occur to publishers focused on their subject. Sponsors of such publications usually do not try to influence the content of the magazine, and if they do, it is usually quite easy for them to refuse.

Some part of the money invested in such magazines is returned (about a third). More than three-quarters of the magazines are sold (about a sixth of which are by subscription), the rest is distributed as charity. The main distribution channels are the same as those of secular magazines. They are sold in kiosks at churches, at metro stations, in ordinary kiosks, some are distributed by subscription, some are sent through the church network to the provinces. Part of the subscription is corporate, sometimes entire organizations subscribe. Some sign entire organizations.

Sometimes, however, due to the specifics of the magazine's distribution environment, interesting incidents happen. When in 1995, representatives of the editorial office of one of the magazines came to the church to collect money from the sale of the magazine, they were told that the proceeds were donated to the restoration of the iconostasis.

https://www.polit.ru/author/2007/10/12/pravoslavniesmi.html

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