Moscow to host international scientific congress to celebrate 300th Anniversary of the Russian Newspaper

October 17-19 the Department of Journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University will host an international scientific congress called "The 300th Anniversary of the Russian Newspaper: from a printing machine to the Internet," the participants of the press-conference to celebrate the anniversary of the Russian press have announced on Tuesday. In 1702 Russian tsar Peter I issued a decree "On printing newspapers to inform people on foreign and home affairs." The Dean of the Journalism Department at Lomonosov Moscow State University, Yasen Zasursky, noted that the program of the congress included topical plenary and sectional sessions "on a wide range of subjects": from the history of the Russian journalism to the present-day transformation of the traditional mass media "in the broad European context." An international scientific conference called "Mass Media and communications in the 21st century e-society: access and participation" will be held on October 18-19, within the framework of the congress. Russian and foreign scientists and researchers in the field of studying mass media from 26 countries will attend the conference. For instance, scholars from the Cambridge University (Great Britain), Sorbonne (France), the Mainz University (Germany) and others are expected to arrive.

Zasursky believes that the forthcoming forum "will be one of the most memorable events in the life of the Department of Journalism" because it is held in view of the 50th anniversary of the Department of Journalism, as well as the 250th anniversary of Lomonosov Moscow State University which will be celebrated in 2005.