Publicistic Reflection Of Russian Entrepreneurship in Second Half of 19th — early 20th Centuries in Context of History of Russian Journalism

Abstract

An attempt to outline the contours of a new research field within the framework of the history of Russian journalism — the history of entrepreneurial journalism of the mid — second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries is presented. The publicistic work of Russian entrepreneurs of this time is interpreted by the authors as the forerunner of modern business journalism. It is shown that the key role in its constitution was played by the Great Reforms of the 1860s — 1870s, during which entrepreneurship became a collective actor in the emerging public (media) space and showed the ability to express and defend its interests, including through the printed word. It is noted that even then an array of non-professional entrepreneurial publications of various genres began to take shape, which subsequently evolved into an independent branch of journalistic creativity. It is pointed out that entrepreneurs-publicists remained primarily practitioners, people of action, which determined the special pragmatism of their texts, closely related to the “guild” and personal business interests. The authors come to the conclusion that when studying the journalistic creativity of entrepreneurs, not only logical coherence should be taken into account, but also the synchronicity of all forms of the author’s verbal creativity and his business activity.