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Media’s influence on public opinion grows greatly, minister says

“We cannot imagine our lives without the Internet or social networks, and being published in the media is considered a criterion of success,” the minister said
Russia’s Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky ITAR-TASS/Alexei Nikolsky
Russia’s Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky
© ITAR-TASS/Alexei Nikolsky

MOSCOW, January 13. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky greeted the Russian media on their professional holiday — Day of Russian Press.

“Historically, the date goes back to Peter the Great’s reforms, where on 2/13 January, 1703, under the tsar’s order, Russia’s first newspaper Vedomosti was published,” the minister wrote in the greeting. “The Russian journalism began due to the efforts from the country’s culture elite, including the outstanding writers and reporters like Sumarokov and Fonvizin, Krylov and Radishchev; and very many great Russian works were published for the first time in literature magazines.”

“Nowadays, in the XXI century, reporters enjoy new opportunities, which only recently seemed to be fantastic; the modern approaches to communications have opened great opportunities for further development of journalism.” The minister is convinced “the media’s influence on formation of the public opinion has grown considerably.”

“We cannot imagine our lives without the Internet or social networks, and being published in the media is considered a criterion of success,” the minister said.

“The Day of Russian Press is a holiday of Russia’s all journalists, on whose work depend both the image of this country and the flow of information towards the nation,” Medinsky said. “I am adamant, Russia’s culture level nowadays depends a lot on the mass media, and thus the words from Hippocrates “Whenever a doctor cannot do good, he must be kept from doing harm” may be used not only to those working with a scalpel, but also to those working with a pen, or rather a keyboard now.”

The minister wished to the journalism community “creative inspiration, and bright, interesting materials and success in life.