By "Smoy"
Shanghai, May 16.
Do Russian newspapers differ in] any" respect from" newspapers other languages? This question must answered in the alirmative—Russian newspapers, ike newspapers of any other nationality, carry their own distinctive stamp, "There is not only.a different lay-out of material, But there are several different fcadures, and a different relation between the paper and its readers. addition to items of universal: in- yearly terest, readers make several speciflcally Russian demands on the papers ay buy and subscribe to, "First and foremost, of course Russian newspapers, like newspapers the world over, serve as sources of information on foreign and local events, Like newspapers in other countries, they are moulders of public opinion and may serve as media for propaganda. Among them! there are serious newspapers and Night newspapers, political journals and yellow-sheets, party organs and purely commercial concerns. In these respects they are identical to periodicals in all countries and at "Russia, it is true, never boasted such journalistic leviathans as the highly capitalized newspapers America; but before the revolution there existed in Moscow the] "Russkoye Slovo," with a daily cir culation of 1,500,000 and correspond. ents in every capital of the world, ind in literally every city in Russia, all of whom sent. their information cly telegraph. 'The most famous journalists worked on this paper, andi its publisher was that amazing' self-made man I. D. Sytin, who started his career by peddling books. from village to village and in time built up the nation's largest book-pubbs ing concern, also owning the largest ud most influential newspaper in Russia—completely independent the Government," During the Great War, Mr. Sytin went to London where he carried on negotiations with the famous publisher of "The Pimes," Lord Northeliffe, for jointly establishing a powerful centre of newspaper and telegraphic. informs tion serving the needs of both Europe: and Asia—but the Russian revolution and the untimely death of Lord Northeliffe prevented the realization of this' gigantic The Differences To return to the opening question of these lines, however, how does Russian newspaper—even here " in Shanghal—differ from a non-Russian one? Firstly, a Russian newspaper has only one editorial—there are. Yeaderettes—and secondly, the department of letters to the Eaitor leads a very spasmodic sort of] existence, Tt) usually contains counts of charitable organizations or letters of appreciation—when it containg anything at all—and while, like! in English periodicals, letters dealing' with specific subjects occasionally appear, polemics seldom wage around it, Tt they do, they quickly die down; while sometimes they assume so personal a character that the Editor is forced to put an end to them himself, 'Russians do not especially like 10} discourse with the Baitor of a ne\ paper, but they do like to discourse With its feuilletontet—or, rather, the Jeullietnist kes to alécourse with them, a newspaper, this man enjoys 5 prestige' and influence often no} smaller than that of the Baitor him self, Tt would be dimeult: to say, who is more necessary: whom starting successful newspaper—a Eaitor or a lively feuilletonist, "The feullleton, although existing in the French press as well, must be acknowledged the offspring of Russia. The editorial is the editorials but the entre of interest is) always the feuilleton, The feuilleton is a mix. ture of polities and public Ife. Tt must be written with imagery, in a colourful, brilliant. and sparkling style, and must always tackle a sub-Jeet of topical interest, An affluent paper may have two or even three Jeultletonists, but the leading role is played by the Number One, who each takes the most vital topical] problem—sometimes political,' sometimes general, sometimes even literary philosophical—and) writes on. Wt colour fully, freshly, wittily, efferveseently and, most important of all, boldly and freely. A Russian's love of feuilletons can perhaps be best compared with ax Bnglshman's Tave of cartoons, A Combination Now and again the talent of a feuilletonist and the. talent of an 'Baitor are combined in.one man and then he is the most influential personage in town, Such: was Buvorin, proprister of the. largest paper in St, Petersburg, the "Novoie Vremia"—a' paper always loyal to the Government. Suvorin was its publisher, Editor and. Star feuilleton. ist, Inthe early "70's he purchased a small newspaper with a low circulation and.a systematic deficit; and jit was his feuliletons that made it first the most popular in the capital, and in time the most officially. infvential in all Russia, At the marriage of one of hie daughters he presented her with but one column of obituary notices, and this in itself constituted so large a sum in the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.