Inna Sosnova
President of the Interjournalist Center
The "Interjournalist Center," a St. Petersburg non-profit organization, was founded in April of 2001 by enthusiasts who refused to be apathetic to the Russian and international mass media. Our center works to raise the level of public discourse in Russia and to facilitate professional exchanges for journalists from around the world, promoting cultural and political understanding. We focus on journalism exchanges, which include seminars, master classes, training sessions, and face-to-face meetings with notable professionals in politics, public service, culture, science, and business.
Our methods are simple:
we find interesting learning opportunities and suggest them to our journalists;
we conduct journalism competitions, the winners of which travel abroad to investigate topics of their interest;
we work with international foundations and journalism associations, and call their attention to the talented journalism community in our country;
we assist international journalists in contacting Petersburg officials, businessmen, and prominent figures in culture and science.
Noteworthy journalists from Russia and more than ten other countries have spoken at our seminars. We consistently work with such well-known journalists as Nikolai Donskov, Editor-in-Chief of "Novaya Gazeta" in St. Petersburg, Arkady Sosnov, former columnist for “Literaturnaya Gazeta” and current Editor-in-Chief of “The New Mecenaes”, Dmitry Tsilikin, broadcast journalist and author of several books and noteworthy articles on cultural and social issues, Norwegian journalist Tom Hatland, Dutch journalist Alexander Munnenhoff, and others.
Though we are in large part funded by grants, Interjournalist undertakes several commercial projects for additional financial support. In our commercial capacity, we specialize in PR support for events in science, culture, and society, and for small and mid-sized businesses. We run conferences, write media plans, create PR strategies, and provide the full spectrum of public relations services. We partner with other organizations, and actively serve as consultants in the fields of public relations, communications, and management.
Our first public relations client in 2001 was "Baltiisky Leasing," the first and now one of the most successful leasing companies in Russia. Our consistent contact with St. Petersburg consulates and international foundations allows us to demonstrate the quality of our work to the broader global community. This has in turn created opportunities for commercial orders to administer conferences and lead round tables on themes not limited to journalism.
In 2003 the Canadian Consulate General requested that we organize a round table discussion between the St. Petersburg scientific community and Canadian scholars with the participation of the Canadian Consul. More than two hundred people took part, and Interjournalist gained invaluable experience at the level of international governmental protocol.
Among our most successful projects are the "Alferov Teas," with the Nobel-Prize winning physicist Zhores Alferov. One of our closest partners, Arkady Sosnov, brought the idea to Interjournalist, where we turned it into a reality. Seven times over the past four years we have brought together scientists, diplomats, journalists, prominent state officials, and politicians over tea to discuss the most pressing issues of our times. Thanks to dynamic personalities and interesting topics, our "teas" have become so popular that we have been asked to seriously consider selling tickets. However, in accordance with the idea’s original conception, we invite no more than 40 participants in order to encourage lively open discourse rather than parliamentary ramblings. One notable event was the press initiative "IT Centers Outside the Law," which inspired several news stories and general media attention. Its goal was to publicly debate the government's position on IT centers in Russia.
Above all, St. Petersburg journalists value our exchange programs, seminars, and master classes. These types of programs provide the opportunity for journalists to share ideas, to share news, and to learn from each other. Since its creation in 2001, Interjournalist has enjoyed ongoing partnerships with the following organizations:
The Information Bureau of the Nordic Council of Ministers
The Konrad Adenauer Foundation
The St. Petersburg Scientific Center
The St. Petersburg city government's Committee for Resource Management, Preserving the Environment, and Securing the Ecological Safety of Petersburg
The Committee for Information Policy and Telecommunications of the Leningrad oblast
In 2002, with support of the Radisson SAS hotel, we started a press club to encourage active and dynamic discourse with interesting, prominent visitors to our city and colleagues from different cities and cultures. When the survey group RTL stayed at the Radison SAS, in St. Petersburg, it treated our club’s members to an exclusive showing of several clips from the well-known young German comic Bastian Pastewka’s films about different countries. One of the themes,"Foreigners in Russia," provoked a discussion so robust that it was continued during the next meeting about our city's image. Space does not allow us to recount all of Interjournalist’s initiatives, but further details can be found in the news and archive sections of our website. As we move forward, we will work to develop all of our spheres of activity with special emphasis on business support.
Inna Sosnova
