Izvestia
Encyclopedia
Izvestia is a long-running high-circulation daily newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. 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
Petrograd Soviet
The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies , usually called the Petrograd Soviet , was the soviet in Petrograd , Russia, established in March 1917 after the February Revolution as the representative body of the city's workers.The Petrograd Soviet became important during the Russian...

 of Workers Deputies
on in Petrograd. Initially, the paper expressed Menshevik
Menshevik
The Mensheviks were a faction of the Russian revolutionary movement that emerged in 1904 after a dispute between Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov, both members of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party. The dispute originated at the Second Congress of that party, ostensibly over minor issues...

 and Socialist-Revolutionary Party
Socialist-Revolutionary Party
thumb|right|200px|Socialist-Revolutionary election poster, 1917. The caption in red reads "партия соц-рев" , short for Party of the Socialist Revolutionaries...

 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 News of the Soviets of People's Deputies.

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

1917–1991

During the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 period, while Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....

served as the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...

, Izvestia expressed the official views of the Soviet government as published by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was a Soviet governmental institution – a permanent body of the Supreme Soviets . This body was of the all-Union level , as well as in all Soviet republics and autonomous republics...

 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).

1992–present

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...

 Izvestia, describes itself as an "all-national" newspaper of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. The newspaper was owned by a vast holding company of Vladimir Potanin
Vladimir Potanin
Vladimir Olegovich Potanin is a Russian businessman and oligarch. His partner has been for many years Mikhail Prokhorov...

 which has close ties with the government. Control stake of Izvestia was purchased by state-owned Gazprom
Gazprom
Open Joint Stock Company Gazprom is the largest extractor of natural gas in the world and the largest Russian company. Its headquarters are in Cheryomushki District, South-Western Administrative Okrug, Moscow...

 on Friday 3 June 2005, and included in the Gazprom Media
Gazprom Media
Gazprom-Media is the largest Russian media holding founded in 2000 as a subsidiary of Gazprom. In 2000 it acquired NTV, the only nationwide state-independent television in Russia of the time, as well as other media assets of Vladimir Gusinsky's Media Most group, which raised a major controversy...

 holding. According to the allegations of the Committee to Protect Journalists
Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent nonprofit organisation based in New York City that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.-History:A group of U.S...

, 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
Beslan school hostage crisis
The Beslan school hostage crisis of early September 2004 was a three-day hostage-taking of over 1,100 people which ended in the deaths of over 380...

. 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 Izvestia. As of 2005, the circulation of Izvestia is 240,967. Until October 1, 2008, the chief artist was Boris Yefimov, the 107 year-old illustrator who worked as Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

's political cartoonist.

In 2008, Gazprom Media sold Izvestia. The newspaper is currently owned by National Media Group.

External links

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