region.nnov.ru is the website of the Nizhny Novgorod information agency "RegioN". The agency was based in Nizhny Novgorod[1] and supplied media outlets with news about the economic, political and social life of the Nizhny Novgorod region, describing its own page as "a special page on the international INTERNET network," to which a block of the agency's news arrived daily[1]. The earliest snapshot of the home page available to us is dated 3 December 1998[1], the next — 25 January 2002[2]; the web archive's last access to the address was 17 August 2007[4]. The domain is no longer active.

What the site looked like

In both snapshots available to us, region.nnov.ru was a single business-card page with the heading "Information Agency 'RegioN' (Nizhny Novgorod)" and a description of itself. In the 1998 snapshot the description was supplemented with a list of publications receiving the agency's news[1]; in the 2002 snapshot, with a description of a separate project and contact details[2]. The news feed itself is not present in the preserved text.

As the home page stated, "RegioN" was "a young, dynamically developing participant in the information market of the Nizhny Novgorod region," which had established itself as a "reliable partner, steadily supplying trustworthy, for the most part exclusive news"[1]. Its independence was specifically emphasized: the agency "is not a mouthpiece for the interests of this or that financial-industrial group or governmental structure, but an independent player in the information field"[1]. At the same time, "close cooperation" was stressed with governmental structures at all levels, industrialists, entrepreneurs, political parties, public organizations and citizens' associations[1].

The snapshots speak indirectly about when the agency was founded: in December 1998 the page stated that "just under 2 years" had passed since its founding[1], meaning the agency arose around 1997. By January 2002 the wording had changed to "more than two years" since its founding[2] — the count of years since founding was never clarified on the page, though the self-description text was otherwise edited: the promise of "trustworthy, for the most part exclusive" news changed to "the most important"[2].

Who the agency supplied with news

The 1998 home page listed the recipients of the daily news block by name, with circulation figures. Print publications: 52 district newspapers of the Nizhny Novgorod region with a combined weekly circulation of 650,000 copies, the newspaper "Gorod i Gorozhane" ("The City and Its Citizens") — 15,000 copies weekly, the newspaper "Metro" — 70,000, the newspaper "Zakon. Finansy. Nalogi" ("Law. Finance. Taxes") — 6,000[1]. Radio: "Radio 101" and "Prestizh," both broadcasting in Nizhny Novgorod[1]. Television: the broadcaster NNTV[1]. In addition, the news block was sent daily to the heads of the region's district administrations[1]. Looking ahead, the agency planned to establish cooperation with media outlets of the Volga-Vyatka region[1].

"RegioN" described its own standing as exceptional: "the only information agency in N. Novgorod that produces and supplies news to 52 district newspapers of the Nizhny Novgorod region"[1]. In the 2002 version the number of district newspapers became more cautious — "more than 50" — and among those the agency "closely cooperated with," alongside "Radio 101 – Nizhny Novgorod" and "Prestizh," the radio station "Feliks" was added; the same passage named the broadcaster NNTV and "a number of leading Nizhny Novgorod publications"[2].

The "Skvoz Asfalt" project and contacts

The January 2002 snapshot was devoted for the most part not to the news feed but to a separate project. As the home page stated, "RegioN" was "at the present time" carrying out a project to support domestic producers called "Skvoz Asfalt" ("Through the Asphalt"): a separate website, www.production.nnov.ru, a section of the same name in the newspapers "Monitor," "Trud-7," "Kommersant" and "Reklamny Vestnik," a radio program on "Radio Rossii Nostalzhi – Nizhny Novgorod" Monday through Thursday at 9:05, and a segment on NNTV on Thursday evenings[2]. "For this reason, temporarily," the same passage said, visitors were offered information blocks about the main events of the region's life, compiled "using materials from leading Nizhny Novgorod print publications"[2] — that is, in place of its own news feed stood a digest of other outlets' publications.

The contact block from the same snapshot: telephone and fax (Russia code 8312, regional code 22) 30-25-90, pager 30-30-30, subscriber No. 1840, email vls@pressing.nnov.ru, correspondence address — 603000, N. Novgorod, Central Post Office, P.O. Box 325; the contact person listed was managing editor Olga Gordeeva[2]. The page gave no street address for the editorial office: only a telephone, pager, a P.O. box at the Central Post Office and an email on the pressing.nnov.ru domain were listed for contact[2].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet and closure

The site remained on the periphery of the measurable part of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet: it entered our sample via the nn.ru directory, with a brief note "participant in the Nizhny Novgorod information project," and no rating figures from Counter.nn.ru are recorded for it in our data (see the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating). In the final voting table of Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day 2004, neither the domain region.nnov.ru nor the agency "RegioN" appears[3]. Judging by the surviving pages, the site was not designed for a mass readership: it was a business card for a wholesale news supplier, addressed to editorial offices and partners.

The web archive index lists 36 captures for the address, the last dated 17 August 2007[4]. We have no snapshots later than January 2002; neither an announcement of closure nor a move to another address appears in the pages available to us, and no redirect to another domain is recorded in our data either.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 1998 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Voting results of Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day, 2004 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Snapshots of region.nnov.ru in the web archive (archive)