THE RUSSIAN PRESS-CENSORSHIP.

Bush Advocate, Volume V, Issue 354, 16 August 1890, Page 6

THE RUSSIAN PRESS-CENSOR-SHIP.

" BLACKING-OUT v OBNOXIOUS MATTER. To u the May number of the Century, Mr. George Kennan, the author of the papers upon Siberia, which have attracted so much attention, communicates an article upon the Russian press-censorship, and upon the method of "blacking-out" objectionable references to Russia which appear in foreign newspapers and magazines. THE DAILY EDITOEIAL FLURRY. In the office of a Russian daily newspaper (writes Mr. Kennan) the last proof-sheota are received from the censor between 12 and 1 o'clock at night. The whole night staff usually assemble in response to the cry, " C-e-n-s-o-r !" and one of the editors looks over the slips and announces to his ooworkers the nature of the changes that have been made by the official guardian of the public mind and morals, and reads aloud tho titles or headings of the articles that have been forbidden altogether. A hasty consultation is then held with regard to tho course to be pursued. If the very vitals of an editorial article have been cut out by the censor, the night editor must decide whether tho remains can be patched up by means of a skilful surgical operation so that they will have semblance of organic life and unity, or whether, on the other hand, they are so mutilated that nothing: can be dono with them except to bury thorn iv the waate-papSr basket If the censor has merely suggested unimportant changes or modifications, the editor must pass judgment upon them and return every article to its author for such corrections as may bo ne cessary. A largo quantity of matter that lias already been submitted and approved is kept standing in type, and with it are filled up the gaps left by the striking out, at the last momeut, of items or editorial articles that are declared by the censor to be *' out of place" or " pernicious in their tendency." When the revised proof-s hare been again examined and the censor has gone homo, the work of the editors and reporters is ended for tho day. Moscow may burn to tho ground or the tear may be a>Haasiuated ; but after the censor has retired to hi 9 couch not a line ot new matter caa be put into tho columns of the paper, a rnAOTicAt PEorsax'i On the 9th of May, 1881., Mr. Adrtanof, tho editor and publisher of the newspaper ftnown as tho Siberian Gazette, received from the censor in Tomsk a set of proof-sheets in vhich more than half of the reading matter intended for tho next number of hia journal had been wholly or partly stricken out. Irritated and disgusted, he resolved to g« to presa withdUt eubatitutmjr any ° approved" matter for that which bad been prohibited. la other words* he - determined simply to leave blank spaces where, the censor had crossed out objectionable matter, . and let tho pnblio draw its own conclusions. He- did co, and tho Siberian Gazette that appeared on the morning oi tho l Oth of May, 1881, w«s perhaps tho most extraordinary looking newspaper that ever went into tho hands of a gabsDriber. In ono place might be seen a blank space of half a column^ fol-» lowed by the remains of a beheaded and mutilated editorial } in another appeared a stray, meaningless paragraph, without beginning or end; just below that were two or three headlines calling attention to a rectangular vacancy ; and on ono page only a few small islands of pint had been left ! in a miniature gea of white, paper. Tho i appearance of the Gazette on &lq street that m&suing naturally created a sensation. The demand for it was onpseoedeated. Everybody understood fee significance of tho blank > spaces, and everybody wanted a oopy. The attention of the police, however, was 6oon attracted to the paper, and- aa order was promptly issued to seizß and destroy the whole edition. So thorough was the search i made for copies of that number of the ffaifite j that hardly one escaped, " IB&BUGIora" AT>VKBtI3EatKtTB. In tho summer of 1888 Mr. Holi, an [ American gentleman, travelling in Rnssia, l received from the postal authorities a oopy of the Geitiiir-y, from which, had beea torn not j only the Siberian paper for that month, but j nearly all of the leaves that oontainea advertisements. Carious to know why the CcntukYtj advertisements were regarded as objectionable, Mr. Holl oalled upon one of tho \ police officials in tho town whore he happened to bo, exhibited the mutilated magazine, and asked fur an explanation. He said that he was not particularly surprised at. the tearing out of th® article upon Russia, but be could, not understand why the advertisements had been removed. He then added — as a mild American joke — that it migM, perhaps, bo attributable to the fact that many of the udvertasenients sot forth tho virtues of American soap, and &at, from such observe- 1 tions as he had been able to make in his jonrnoy through tho empire, ho had already reached the conclusion that soap must be a prohibited arbiclo, and in that caso, of oonrso, it was only nataral and proper that the censor should tear out and destroy all soap advertisements in foreign magavrinea. Tho police offioial, whose intelligence had not bean cultivated up to an appreciation of American jokes, tocok ofienee tub this innoconfc bit of raillery, and Mr. Holl had some diffioaky in placating him. When, however, his ruffiod dignity bad been smoothed down, he informed tie Areerioau traveller, wrbh an air of severs condemnation, that the (2/antotnj advert isemente had been tors out "bocaase tfooy Goutouned notices ©f ; irreligious books !" HOW IT 13 DONE. \ The removal of objectianabk articles ar '■■ itoins from foreign pcriodiaals in Russia is ' accomplished in two ways. If thoy are long and bulky they are tora or out onb bodily. If they are brief they aro blacked out by mea-as : of a rectangular stamp, which haa about the ; width oi ; an ordinary ua a'spaper oolumn, and wliioh in ' < ai"<»3-h;iioho<k" in suah a way that j when hike .1 and pressed upon tho paper It 1 makes a olo.so network of white lines and black diamonds. Tho peouliar mottled or grained appearance of a page of prin* that has been blacked out with this stamp has suggested to Rusaiuu raiders a descriptivo slang torm for it-— namely, "caviaro." Anyono who hot ovl'i- seen tho black salted oaviaro of Russia njiiuuil upon a slice of bread «ud butter will approoiato the felioity of the metaphorical coinpimson. From the norm a verb has been formed, and every Raesifta now understands that "to caviare" moans to "blaok out" an objectionable page or paragraph by pressing upon ie the censor's stamp. ETery one of Mr. Kennan's artioleß in the &>nftny has been "ciiviarod," but he points out that Che Rossmwi reader who is curious to n?ad them tuts only to ask a, London newsdealer to -mt out the artiste and nerm\ it t*» him in a rarwtored letter . The futility <rf this peooliarly Russian method oi enforcing ignorance- is almostas striking to an American o-s are its cool impudenco and audacity. For reasons that are perfectly obvioiw, it does not uocomplish, and cannot oooomplish, tho objocfc that its authors have in vioiy. Ah long a<* tlie Russian (JoYerament permits letters to eomo into tbo empire without censorial examinntiop, any aitizon of St. Petersburg or Mosoow can writu to ;i dealer in perioJioals in Berlin, Paris, or London, and ask hrn* to enfc out and forward in a sealed envelope cither a particular orfeiole thn* has alroadj' beou ••oaviured," or all articles relating to Russia thut may appear in any specified newspaper or inaguzino, Ihoa tW the effort) that kwe been nvade by the Russian preea censors to exelode from the oountry the Siberian papers of tbo Cmktry have utterly fwled. The " Wockedout r ' ortudea not only have made ttieir way into Russia, but have there been translated and heotoffrftphed, and aro now ciroulfttiag from hand to hand throughout) tho empire. Many of theoa have even reached politi«a-l exileu in tho remotest pax-ts of Siboria. I regret to say, however^ that eomo of them have brought dittaster upon the veoipietitß, and that at leaafc one young Russian is now lying in prison for having them ia. hia possession,