Izvestia

For the Thoroughbred racehorse see Izvestia (horse)

Izvestia (Известия ) is a long-running high-circulation daily newspaper in Russia. The word "izvestiya" in Russian means "delivered messages", derived from the verb izveshchat ("to inform", "to notify"). In the context of newspapers it is usually translated as "news" or "reports".

Origin

The newspaper began as the News of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers Deputies on 13 March, 1917 in Petrograd. Initially, the paper expressed Menshevik and Socialist-Revolutionary Party views.

In August 1917 it took the title News of the Central Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. By October 1917 it became News of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Working and Military Deputies, and was eventually retitled Izvestiya Sovetov Narodnykh Deputatov SSSR.

After the Second All-Union Congress of Soviets, Izvestia became an official newspaper of the Soviet government (Central Executive Committee of the Supreme Soviet and Sovnarkom).

Soviet history

During the Soviet period, while Pravda served as the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party, Izvestia expressed the official views of the Soviet government as published by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The full name was Izvestiya Sovetov Narodnykh Deputatov SSSR (in Russian, Известия Советов народных депутатов СССР, the Reports of Soviets of Peoples' Deputies of the USSR).

Recent history

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Izvestia, describes itself as an "all-national" newspaper of Russia. The newspaper was owned by a vast holding company of Vladimir Potanin which has close ties with the government. Control stake of Izvestia was purchased by state-owned Gazprom on Friday 3rd June, 2005, and included in the Gazprom Media holding. According to the allegations of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Raf Shakirov, editor-in-chief of Izvestia, was forced to resign because the government officials did not like the paper's coverage of the Beslan school hostage crisis . Other sources informed that Potanin had asked him to leave for fear the Kremlin would be riled by the explicit photographs of the massacre published by "Izvestiya." As of 2005, the circulation of Izvestia is 240,967. Until October 1, 2008, the current chief artist was Boris Efimov, the 107 year-old illustrator who worked as Joseph Stalin's political cartoonist.

See also

• Pravda

References

External links

• The Izvestia website