The Press: Odnako

Western newsmen have long known that the Russian press, which is one of the biggest in the world (more than 7,100 newspapers and about 1,500 magazines), is also the worst. But it is a rare day in May when the Russians themselves agree. The current issue of Kommunist, the official magazine of the Communist Party's Central Committee, decided that there was no ducking that dreary fact any longer. Soviet papers, said Kommunist in a candid piece of selfcriticism, all sing the same dull tune in the same dull way. "If it were not for the titles and the names of districts, enterprises and collective farms, any one of these papers could be replaced by another one, and neither the reader nor even the editorial employees would notice. The majority of the articles are written in a stereotyped fashion and in dry, bureaucratic language."

Why is the Russian press so bad? Answered Kommunist: "Most of the local papers use propaganda articles sent out by the press bureau in Moscow, and very few employ their own authors." Even when they do, the writers so closely ape Moscow that they write "like twins whom it is difficult to tell apart." The magazines are as bad as the newspapers. Most of them are "dull and featureless." Even the overriding concern of the Russian press with serving the party line fails, says Kommunist. "Propaganda articles are as a rule devoted to the past," and filled with official statistics and statements strung together by writers who are "superficial dilettante journalists."

The editorials in the papers, concludes Kommunist, follow a rigid pattern. They begin by discussing a problem, such as agriculture. "Then follows the inevitable odnako" which means "however," and which automatically signals in every editorial the switch from praise to criticism. Says Kommunist, quoting a typical editorial: "Odnako, not everywhere is genuine concern shown . . . Such a situation is intolerable. Party and Soviet organizations must . . ."