Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2018 number

The article analyzes the place of Siberian journalists among the regional intelligentsia of Siberia in the second half of XIX - early XX centuries based on sources of personal origin. The historiography of the issue includes studies on the history of local intelligentsia, Siberian journalism, as well as works reflecting the activities of certain members of intelligentsia in the periodical press. Accepting the researchers’ conclusions, the author notes that representatives of local intelligentsia, namely teachers, doctors, lawyers, officials, artists, fell into the ranks of journalists. At the same time, journalists belonged to other professional groups, which was a characteristic feature of the local press. Journalists contributed to forming social and political views of the reading public, constructing a picture of the world and a system of values. Their task was to study the region, to identify its “imperfections”, as well as to find possible ways to transform the local life. Journalists uncovered the arbitrariness of the administrative apparatus, and linked the local society to Russia and Europe through publishing news in newspapers. The periodicals were a platform for joint activities of journalists and intellectuals. Their editors invited representatives of the society’s educated layers to cooperate that allowed readers to acquaint with the texts of various thematic areas. Journalists developed behavioral strategies with the authorities like the Governor or censors in order to approve the edition’s direction and to save it. Through the communicative practices, the members of the press acted as intellectual leaders, initiated organizing cultural institutions, bringing together local intellectuals.