The Press: A Russian Digest

There is a short article on the problem of overpopulation (“Is It Real?”).

And a lighthearted piece on the follies of human egotism (“The Day I Became a Genius”). The humorous musings of an amateur athlete (“Boxing and Me—the Boxer”). The details on an experimental camera that can shoot film in any light range (“Camera! Action!—What, No Lights?”). And sprinkled throughout are some mild little jokes that carry no sting.

Sound like the Reader’s Digest?

Exactly—only the Russian version. The Novosti Press Agency, a nominally nongovernmental news service, decided that the best way to win American readers is to model a new magazine after the U.S. publication with the biggest circulation. So this month the agency brought out Sputnik, which consists of articles culled, condensed, and translated from the rest of the Russian press. Novosti has sent 12,000 copies of the first issue to the U.S., and hopes eventually to sell 50,000 at 500 a copy.

Slightly larger than the Digest in size, Sputnik contains many pages of color reproductions. The monthly is also chock full of advertisements for Soviet products ranging from caviar to hand-woven rugs to Moskvich automobiles, and it welcomes advertising from abroad. All in all, Sputnik is an uninhibited pitch to U.S. tourists to come and spend their money in Russia.

Much of the magazine is free of cant, though the standard obeisance is paid to Marx and Lenin. And along with a provocative article on the development of human talent is a silly suggestion that Moscow may replace Paris as the fashion capital of the world. Nevertheless, Editor in Chief Oleg Feofanov promises that Sputnik will not turn into another propaganda organ like Soviet Life, the other magazine directed at the U.S.

“We want a commercial magazine,” he says. “We want to be read. Above all, we want to be bought.”