Andrey Petrov on Vesti.FM speaks about healthy image of national relations in media

The creation of a healthy image of national relations, that is, of an international peace or, in other words, of national unity, feeling of that ‘we are all together’ - this work of the media should be based, first of all, on the propaganda of civil ideas, the analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza, Andrey Petrov, said in a live broadcast of the National Question program on Vesti FM.

The National Question is a program on Vesti.FM, during which various aspects of national relations, primarily in Russia, are discussed. Today's program was dedicated  to the role of the media in the national issue.

First of all, the expert pointed out that, as statistics shows, the main problem of the news about the national relations is a small readership. "The level of reading the material, the title of which emphasizes the national or geographical components, is determined only by a narrow circle of interested readers," he said.

Thus, propaganda for a model that emphasizes nationality is not very effective, primarily because of its low readability. "Of course, this does not mean that we should not talk about the peoples inhabiting Russia - it is necessary, because in order to understand each other, people should know the history and culture of their neighbors," the expert drew attention, recalling that earlier Vesti.FM had a wonderful program ‘Peoples of Russia’, which was corresponding to this aim.

"This educational work should be conducted as broadly as possible, while ensuring equality of both peoples and regions in the information field - so that everyone feels at home in the equal conditions," he stressed.

In parallel with the educational work, the model "we are all good fellows" should be promoted, the adoption of which by an individual eliminates hostility on the basis of nationality. 

So the main rule of propagating a healthy image of the national relations in the media is the equality and brotherhood of peoples in the information field. The National Question, by the way, does a lot in this respect, " the leading analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza concluded.