Many mass media, declaring themselves "independent", began to interpret this status exclusively in their favor. The interests of society, the state, and the army are often simply not taken into account. Coverage of recent events in Chechnya is an eloquent example of this.

Meanwhile, the historical experience accumulated by both the Russian and foreign armies shows that properly established cooperation between the command and the media allows us to successfully solve many issues: ensuring favorable public opinion, strengthening the morale of our troops, exerting psychological influence on the enemy and its disinformation, etc. In this regard, the study of both foreign and domestic experience of such work, which dates back to the last century, cannot but be of some interest.

Despite the fact that the journalistic profession belongs to "one of the ancient ones", nevertheless the position of "war correspondent" appeared for the first time only during the Eastern War of 1853-1856 in the British army. It was an employee of the Times newspaper, W. Russell, who became famous for his reports from the Crimea. But the Russian press at that time was forced to be content only with official reports. The current censorship rules prohibited editors from publishing military information obtained from any sources other than the Russian Disabled central military newspaper.

Distinctive badge of a war correspondent during the Balkan War

However, after the war, in the course of large-scale reforms, the Russian government made some changes in censorship policy. On May 12, 1862, the "Provisional Rules on Censorship" were published, according to which the boundaries of publicity were expanded when discussing various public and political issues. At the same time, the document noted: "In articles relating to the army and military administration, do not allow anything at all contrary to the importance that our army has under the laws of the state; nothing that can weaken the public's respect for our military estate."

Expanding the boundaries of glasnost in the post-reform period required the command to take measures to inform the public about the activities of the armed forces, especially in wartime. During the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878, the commander - in-Chief of the Russian army in the Balkans, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, issued Order No. 87, in which correspondents of Russian and foreign magazines and newspapers were allowed to" accompany the army during the war " if they had the right to do so.:

"a)...a special outer badge on the left sleeve: a round plate made of sheet copper with an eagle stamped on it, a number and the inscription "correspondent", with the seal of the field administration of the army; b).?your photographic portrait provided with a written identity card." Two months later, the brass armband was replaced with a tricolor armband (black, yellow, and white) with the words "correspondent", number, and seal. During the Balkan campaign, a large number of representatives of the Russian and foreign press already worked in the Russian army, among them - V. Nemirovich-Danchenko, V. Krestovsky, A. Ivanov, N. Maksimov, J. Carrick and others. Many of them, despite the status of "non-combatant", took an active part in the fighting and were awarded military awards. It is noteworthy that from the very beginning, no restrictions were planned for them. So, in the memo of Colonel M. Gazenkampf, who was engaged in organizing the work of journalists, it was reported:

"Preliminary censorship should not be established at all, but only oblige all correspondents in general: not to report any information about the movements, location, number of our troops and upcoming actions." At the same time, on the territory of the Russian Empire, all editors were obliged to publish information only from official sources. At the General Staff and headquarters of military districts, special commissions operated to review military materials received in the press. In addition, all private telegrams coming from the Caucasus and the Balkans were monitored.

Cooperation between the Russian military command and representatives of the press continued during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. To send a Russian or foreign correspondent to the Far East, a request was sent to the General Staff "on the editorial letterhead and signed by the editor who was responsible for the sent correspondent", after which a request was made to the commander-in-Chief of the troops in Manchuria.

It should be noted that Adjutant-General A. Kuropatkin, who held this post, was extremely negative about the presence of press representatives in the troops. However, the journalists themselves often violated the established rules. According to the memoirs of Major General A. Ignatiev, who performed the duties of a press officer in those years, his wards repeatedly tried to send their correspondence bypassing the military censorship authorities. In addition, the Manchurian army published its own newspaper, which regularly published soldier's search ads for "dear and intimate comrades", where fellow countrymen openly indicated the numbers of units. From the reports of some issues of this publication, which were openly sold at the stations of the CER, the attentive reader could easily get an idea of the composition and movements of Russian troops, and regularly printed orders on inspections of newly arrived units allowed them to judge the approach of reinforcements. Only from June 25, 1905, when a censorship department was formed at the army headquarters and an officer of the General Staff was put in charge of it, did the printing of information constituting a military secret stop.

On January 24, 1914, the first "List of information prohibited for publication for military reasons"was published. It consisted of 10 points and included everything related to changes in the armament of the army and navy, the formation of new units, the construction of ships, fortresses, and so on. On July 12, 1914, a new list consisting of 18 items was developed and adopted, which, along with military information, included information about the state of the country's economic potential: roads, telegraph lines, enterprises. On July 20, the "Temporary Regulation on Military Censorship" was issued, which established several levels of censorship for wartime.

Thus, the entire management of the press for wartime was transferred to the hands of the military command. The "temporary situation" also established a number of administrative measures against violators of the censorship regime. For anti-war speeches in the press, imprisonment for a term of 2 to 8 months was provided. An editor who failed to submit the required number of copies of a newspaper or magazine to the military censorship commission on time was fined from 50 to 500 rubles.

An analysis of the censorship policy of the Russian command shows that with the beginning of the First World War, along with information of a military and economic nature, the publication of information that could negatively affect the morale of the army and society was also prohibited.

Another direction in the activities of the military command to guide the work of the press was the organization of correspondents ' trips to the front. Back in 1912, a special "Regulation on war Correspondents in wartime"was developed and approved. This document provided for the admission of 20 (10 of them foreign) correspondents and 3 photographers to the active army. Candidates for correspondents were approved personally by the Chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff. The selected individuals reported to the head of the military censorship department at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief for the duration of their work on the fronts. Frontline journalists were required to wear a white armband with a number and letters ("VK" - a war correspondent or " VF " - a military photographer). When sending a journalist to the front, the editorial board had to issue a certificate of trustworthiness (this certificate was provided to foreign citizens by a diplomatic mission) and a cash deposit: 25 thousand rubles for a Russian journalist and 75 thousand rubles for a foreign one.

The work of journalists at the front was coordinated by a special military body-the Press Bureau. He was charged with the following tasks: transmitting information from the Stavka to Russian newspapers and telegraph agencies; conducting weekly briefings with Russian and foreign journalists accredited at the Stavka; organizing trips of war correspondents and military photographers to units and combat areas.

Thus, the organization of media interaction was an important direction in the activities of the Russian military command in the late XIX-early XX centuries. The press, as a kind of mirror reflecting reality, was used for the benefit of the military cause, and not to its detriment. And now, at the end of the XX century, when the Russian army is going through the next stage of reforms in its history, an objective and balanced position of the mass media can be a good help in implementing changes in military affairs.

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