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Draft:The Current Digest of the Russian Press

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The Current Digest of the Russian Press
CDRP
The Current Digest of the Russian Press
DisciplineHistory of Russia and Soviet Union, Media Studies
LanguageEnglish
Edited byLaurence Bogoslaw
Publication details
Former name(s)
The Current Digest of the Soviet Press, The Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press
History1949–present
Publisher
East View Press, a division of East View Information Services, Inc. (United States)
FrequencyWeekly
Standard abbreviations
ISO 4CDRP
Indexing
ISSN2159-3612 (print)
2159-3639 (web)
Links

The Current Digest is one of the longest-running publications in the field of Soviet/Russian area studies and is used as a key primary source by scholars in the field.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

The journal’s history goes back to 1949, when the American self-taught Sovietologist, Leo Gruliow [6] found support to establish a weekly compendium of translations from the Russian-language press. Gruliow had spent a number of years in Moscow, first as a journalist for Moscow News from 1933-1938, then as an administrator for Russian War Relief after World War II. Gruliow’s fledgling publication, sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council, was called The Current Digest of the Soviet Press (CDSP). According to human rights activist Jeri Laber, who worked as Foreign Editor of The Current Digest of the Soviet Press, the Stalin regime’s information policy was so severe at the time that censors were even cutting quotations of the Soviet authorities’ own official press from dispatches.

Many scholars relied upon CDSP for the only source of current news from the Soviet Union. The journal covered many landmark events in history, including the establishment of NATO, the death of Stalin, the Warsaw Pact, “thaw” under Khrushchev, the Cuban missile crisis, the invasion of Czechoslovakia, Soviet-American arms control agreements, the Chernobyl disaster, perestroika, wave of revolutions in Eastern Europe, and the dissolution of the USSR.

Throughout this time, CDSP published weekly, even as its ownership changed – first to the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (now known as ASEEES), and then to the CDSP’s own self-supporting nonprofit corporation. In 2006, the Current Digest was acquired by East View Information Services, which continues to publish 52 issues a year under the imprint of East View Press.

Unlike in Soviet times, journalism for today’s Russian-speaking audience takes on many forms and viewpoints – from staunchly pro-Kremlin (Izvestiia, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, to moderate (Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta) to fiercely oppositionist. The opposition media themselves are quite varied, covering a spectrum that represents Communism, various right-wing ideologies, pro-Western liberalism and more. The present-day Current Digest draws from over a dozen of the above outlets, even some that have been forced to move abroad, such as Novaya Gazeta (edited by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov.

In keeping with Leo Gruliow’s original vision, the Current Digest presents its English translations as documentary materials without commentary or extraneous details, just the facts, opinions and views of the original authors. However, annotations and occasional factual corrections are provided at the publishers’ discretion, and each issue also opens with a “Letter From the Editors” that summarizes the contents of that week.

Historical Details

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During its publication history, the name of the journal has changed twice.

The title Current Digest of the Soviet Press was used from 1949 through January 29, 1992 (Volumes 1-43). The ISSN was 0011-3425.

The venue of publication, which started in New York City, changed to Columbus, Ohio in 1969.

The title Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press started with Issue #1 of Volume 44 (February 5, 1992). The ISSN for this publication was 1067-7542.

As of the start of Volume 58 (January 2006), ownership of the journal transferred to East View Information Services, which through its imprint East View Press still produces and distributes the publication.

East View Press changed the journal title to Current Digest of the Russian Press starting with Issue #3 of Volume 63 (January 17-23, 2011). At this point, the online ISSN changed to 2159-3639, which is still in use.

Publishing Frequency

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The Current Digest of the Russian Press is published weekly, 52 issues a year, under the imprint of East View Press.

Abstracting and Indexing

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The Current Digest of the Russian Press is abstracted and/or indexed by EBSCO and the Modern Language Association.

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References

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  1. ^ https://www.academia.edu/90474450/The_Soviet_Press_on_Soviet_Foreign_Policy_A_Usually_Reliable_Source The Soviet Press on Soviet Foreign Policy: A Usually Reliable Source, from Academia.edu originally published in British Journal of Political Science, 1981
  2. ^ https://www.jstor.org/stable/24355486 The Soviet Press: 'Propagandist, Agitator, Organizer' by Leo Gruliow in Journal of International Affairs, found in JSTOR
  3. ^ https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/probscmu5&div=18&id=&page= How the Soviet Newspaper Operates, originally published in Probs. Communism in 1956, found in HeinOnline
  4. ^ https://www.jstor.org/stable/2752837 found in JSTOR, Recent Soviet Writings on the Far East, Pacific Affairs, Nov. 25, No. 1 (Mar 1952), found in JSTOR
  5. ^ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/016344389011003005 Glasnost and restructuring in the Soviet media, originally published in Media, Culture & Society, Volume 11, Issue 3, found in SageJournals
  6. ^ Leo Gruliow is Dead at 84: A Self-Taught Scholar, New York Times, July 20, 1997
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