Specificity of Censor Overview of Private Periodic Press of Tomsk at the End of the 19th Century

Abstract

Purpose. The aim is to identify the features of censorship of Tomsk private newspapers at the end of the 19th century - in the 1880s, when the city did not yet have a special censor, and its functions were assigned to the chairman of the Tomsk provincial government. The research material is archival files stored in the Russian State Historical Archive and the State Archive of the Tomsk Region, as well as reviews and letters from Siberian Newspaper journalists about the period of their cooperation with the publication. Results. As a result of studying a document entitled “Note on the difficulties with censoring private periodicals in Tomsk”, which is part of the case “On publishing a Siberian Newspaper in Tomsk” (storage location is the Russian State Historical Archive), stages of preliminary censorship of Tomsk publications, the organization of activities for censoring newspapers was revealed, the conditions in which Tomsk censors worked were described. The content of the document indicates the absence of a clear organization of interaction between the censor and the newspaper, as the Tomsk censor was not relieved of his duties as chairman of the provincial board. Censorship was carried out to the detriment of the official’s core business, and therefore articles were often passed to the press that were criticized by the Main Press Directorate, local authorities and private individuals. Conclusion. The study concludes that the absence of a separate censor was a serious obstacle to the further development of journalism in Tomsk.