Provincial newspaper as a cultural phenomenon (based on the material of the Novgorod periodicals of 1838–1916)

The article analyzes the cultural mission of Novgorod newspapers, which at the provincial level sought to provide the public with a variety of information that had an undeniable educational character. The development trends common to provincial newspapers are traced, and aspects of the continuity of private periodicals from the first printing body of the Novgorod gubernia, Novgorodskiye Gubernskiye Vedomosti, are revealed. Private periodicals of the 19th - early 20th centuries are characterized. The history of the newspaper business in Novgorod shows the following trends in its development. Firstly, the Novgorod intelligentsia was interested in establishing a local press organ with a broad universal program for the realization of publishing cultural ambitions and for the implementation of an educational mission. Secondly, the desire of Novgorodians to publish a local universal newspaper in the 19th century was not supported by the authorities: a large number of petitions from Novgorodians were rejected by the Main Directorate for Press Affairs (N. Shukhvostov’s Ilmen, N. Bogdanovskiy’s Novgorodskiy Listok, A. Fedorov’s Novgorodskiy Vestnik, etc.) Thirdly, the newspapers published in Novgorod in the 19th - early 20th centuries (from Novgorodskiy Listok by Ya. Eliashevich to the short-lived Novgorodskaya Nedelya, Ilmen, and Novgorodskaya Zhizn) became evidence of the high modern culture of the city, which has its own high-quality universal periodicals, as well as an interested public. The employees of Novgorodskaya Nedelya (1906), Ilmen (1906-1907), and Novgorodskaya Zhizn (1909-1911) were doctors, lawyers, teachers, and zemstvo officials. The content of the texts differed in depth and thoroughness, and the style reflected the high intellectual level of the authors. At the same time, the texts were understandable to the reading audience, even with a low level of education, which, undoubtedly, reached the aim of increasing the cultural level of the local readership. The perspective of the study is to turn to the history of the uyezd newspapers of the Novgorod gubernia, since provincial (gubernia) periodicals served as a model for the appearance of uyezd newspapers. The uyezd intelligentsia also had a need for both commercial success and the realization of their cultural potentials and educational ambitions. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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