---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 12:29:22 -0700
From: Kirsti Thomas <kst@PAUL.SPU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Need a new Russian newspaper

Allen Williams wrote:

>     We are interested in purchasing a new 'Russian' newspaper [in the
>     Russian language] and need some suggestions.
>
>     We currently subscribe to Pravda and Izvestiia, but have had some
>     complaints from faculty/patrons that these newspapers are high in
>     propaganda.  However, no one has been able to suggest a better
>     alternative.  Any titles that you would suggest?

A few years ago (1995) when I had responsibilities as the Russian
bibliographer at the University of Wyoming, I too had to deal with this
issue.  I was lucky enough to receive input from a Poli-Sci faculty member
who had just returned from spending a year in Russia.

What he told me was that Pravda and Isvestiia had become the newspapers of
the reactionary conservatives.  Basically, Pravda had gone from being a
general newspaper to a political opinion newspaper (the rough equivalent
of National Review (conservative Republican magazine) or New Republic
(liberal Democratic magazine) in terms of being ideological rather than
informational in scope).  The newspaper he suggested, that he preferred
above any of the others, was Segodnia.  We did order that and used
Harrasowitz as the vendor.  Also, if you're interested in a
satirical/social commentary type title, you might also want to consider
adding Krokodil.

There's also a mailing list for Slavic librarianship.  (At least, I hope
it's still around)  I'm sure the listmembers would be happy to provide
their opinions.  Here's the subscription info I have:

send a message to:
LISTSERV@library.berkeley.edu

with no subject line and the following in the body of the message:
subscribe SLAVLIBS

To send messages to the list address mail to:
SLAVLIBS@library.berkeley.edu

I also found this on an altavista search for SLAVLIBS:

SLAVLIBS (Slavic Librarians list)

     Subscription limited to persons who actively work with Slavic
     materials; contact Lyonette Louis-Jacques, llou@midway.uchicago.edu,
     for subscription information

If that doesn't help try getting in touch with the American Association
for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, or the Association of College and
Research Libraries, Slavic and East European Section and ask their
opinions. The email address I have for the former is from the 1994 member
directory: ab.cde@forsythe.stanford.edu.  The latter has a web page at:
http://www.unl.edu/sees/sees.html

Hope this helps.

Kirsti S. Thomas
Technical Services/Reference Librarian
Seattle Pacific University
Seattle, WA 98119
(206)281-2790
kst@paul.spu.edu