History of ‘Naša Niva’ from 1906 to the present day — выбираем лучший вариант перевода
19.09.2017 / 13:04
Мы обратились к читателям с просьбой перевести на английский язык краткий очерк об истории «Нашей Нивы». Откликнулись многие! Мы попросили перевести того, кто отозвался первым. Еще два человека выполнили и прислали свои переводы по своей инициативе. Что ж, давайте коллективно выберем, чей перевод будет редактировать Джим Дингли. Именно этот известный британский лингвист предложил себя в качестве редактора перевода. Вот три версии. Прочитайте и проголосуйте (опрос внизу текста).
1 (Перевел читатель из Лондона)
‘Naša Niva’ was founded in 1906 and then re-established in 1991. An internet platform nn.by has been operating since 1997, which, as of today, is the most visited website in the Belarusian language.
In 1906—1915 the newspaper was circulated once a week. In the period of 1991—1995 the circulation was monthly reverting back to weekly in 1996 and then fortnightly in 1997—1999. In 1999 weekly circulation was re-established until 2016 when the newspaper began to be published monthly due to the its evolution into a major internet portal.
History of the newspaper
In Belarusian historiography the years of 1906—1915 are often called ‘Naša Niva period’. The date of 10th (23rd) of November 1906, when the first issue of Naša Niva was published, became the starting point of a whole epoch in the development of Belarusian society.
In the beginning of the 20th century Naša Niva developed standards of the Belarusian literary language followed by creation of the Belarusian classical literature within its circuit and ideas of the Belarusian statehood. Having positive enlightenment goals at its focus, the newspaper became the centre of intellectual life. The newspaper published of numerous intellectuals including Janka Kupała, Jakub Kołas, Anton Łuckievič, Maksim Bahdanovič and Vacłaŭ Łastoŭski.
Naša Niva covered a wide range of political, economic and cultural issues. Newspaper’s main task was to consolidate Belarusian nation politically. At the same time, as was noted by contemporaries, Naša Niva was the first source of information unaffected by government’s interference.
National civil society rallied around the newspaper with numerous agricultural initiatives, youth groups and publishing houses using it as their tribune.
From the first days of its existence, a strong interactive relationship with the readers became newspaper’s characteristic feature. The newspaper had more than three thousand of permanent and temporary correspondents who sent information to the editor. Involvement of large number of authors from various regions of Belarus in literature and journalism created an opportunity to re-establish literary language by consolidating the most common linguistic phenomena as its norm. The very adopted norms of the modern Belarusian language such as spelling, grammar rules and word-formation types were developed through its live use in the newspaper.
Subscribers and correspondents of the newspaper became central figures of national political and intellectual life such as Ciška Hartny (real name Źmiecier Žyłunovič), one of the early-days leaders of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic or Branisłaŭ Taraškievič, political leader of the western Belarusians and the author of the first Belarusian grammar book.
For a long time Alaksandr Ułasaŭ, a landowner of Mihaŭka farm near Minsk, was newspaper’s publisher and editor.
Minsk native Ivan Łuckievič, founder of the famous Belarusian Museum in Vilnia and sponsor of numerous political and cultural projects was one of the publication’s main ideologists.
Working alongside him was his brother, Anton Łuckievič, the ideologist of the Belarusian Socialist Society and Prime Minister of the future Belarusian People’s Republic (BPR).
Vacłaŭ Łastoŭski, another future Prime Minister of BPR, became newspaper’s secretary in 1909 and in 1912 — 1913 was its de facto editor.
Anton Łuckievič, Alaksandr Ułasaŭ, Branisłaŭ Taraškievič and Vacłaŭ Łastoŭski all perished in the Soviet imprisonment.
Jakub Kołas, a literature classic, collaborated with Naša Niva. It was also Naša Niva that discovered the works by Maksim Bahdanovič and Źmitrok Biadula, which today are known to every Belarusian student. Janka Kupała, the national poet, became the newspaper’s editor in February 1914 and continued in this role until the autumn of 1915 when Vilnia was occupied by Germans and normal life in Belarus came to an end.
Defence of national interest provoked attacked by the colonial censorship throughout newspaper’s existence. Even a debate on the agrarian issue including an article on ‘Agricultural business in New Zealand’ organised in 1907 was found ‘seditious’ and ‘disrespectful for the government’. The editor, Alaksandr Ułasaŭ, was tried and imprisoned. Several times newspaper’s circulation was confiscated and the editors had to pay fines.
The newspaper was destined to experience similar kind of pressure under the authoritarian regime of Alaksandr Łukašenka in 1990’s and especially in 2000’s. In 2006 — 2008 the newspaper was circulated by volunteers because the authorities banned its distribution by ‘Belsajuzdruk’ and shops (book shops and kiosks) as well as subscription by ‘Bielpošta’ (Belarusian Post).
Naša Niva has been tried in court and fines on many occasions with KGB conducting searching in the newspaper’s office and the editors. In 2006, newspaper’s Chief Editor, Adrej Dyńko, just like his predecessor Alaksandr Ułasaŭ, had to go through prison.
Despite allegations of revolutionary spirit made by the authorities, Naša Niva remained an essentially tolerant and progressive publication both 20th and 21st century.
This is exactly the reason why the newspaper has attracted readers of various political persuasion to one national banner. Naša Niva has always advocated a peaceful and gradual progress through democratisation of central and local authorities and constantly reminded of the necessity to respect human rights and dignity as well as appreciate culture and heritage.
Naša Niva’s cultural openness was emphasised by its publication in two alphabets adopted in the Belarusian language, Cyrillic and Latin. This practice was continued until October 1912 when editorial-readers referendum decided to opt for the Cyrillic alphabet. Naša Niva used classical spelling from 1991 to 2008 when it moved to the school one in order to ‘improve communication between intellectuals and the public’ as it was written in an editorial on the matter.
Autonomous cultural and social projects appeared around the newspaper.
Naša Niva had a coordinating function of a publishing centre. Especially popular were the annual Belarusian Calendars, anthologies, in which readers could find not only the usual information or references but also works of art. The publishing centre also produced individual titles, original and translated works. A satirical magazine ‘Krapiva’ (Nettles) was published in Vilnia in 1912, and the agricultural department of Naša Niva grew into an independent ‘Sacha’ (Wooden Plow) magazine published in Minsk from the end of 1913.
Under the newspaper’s auspices, one of Naša Niva’s founders, Ivan Łuckievič, started a collection for the future Belarusian National Museum. Most of it is currently stored at the National History Museum of Lithuania.
Newspaper staff helped the formation of the first Belarusian theatre troupe of Ihnat Bujnicki.
The newspaper focused its attention on promotion of economic, legal and agricultural knowledge. The scale of the accomplished work allowed historians and researchers of culture to define the early 20th century Belarusian culture as ‘Naša Niva period’ referring to the quantitative and qualitative changes in development of modern culture and society.
The first attempt to revive the circulation was made in Vilnia in 1920 where the first issue of socio-political and literature daily newspaper Naša Niva was published on 28th October. In December 1920 the newspaper was banned again by the Polish military censorship.
The Present
Collapse of the Soviet Union and development of the independence movement in Belarus made it possible for the newspaper to be re-established. Naša Niva started circulated again in Vilnia in May 1991 with Siarhiej Dubaviec as its editor.
The now revived newspaper has taken a special place among other Belarusian periodicals. Naša Niva abandoned ‘defensive strategy’ and self-isolationism inherent to much of the Belarusian speaking media of the Soviet times. The newspaper offered its pages to discussions on universal subjects and hosted numerous translations. The focus of attention was the heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and a possible model of relations between the nations of the region.
Belarus was going through a complex process of national construction and authoritarian model took the upper hand. The time demanded presence of appropriate mass media. Therefore, in 1996 the newspaper decided to move its editorial office to Minsk.
Naša Niva once again became a proper newspaper that pays considerable attention to the political, social and cultural events in Belarus and around the world.
In 1998 the newspaper achieves a symbolic victory in the Highest Commercial Court that allowed it to continue being published using classical spelling.
Adrej Dyńko took over as Naša Niva’s editor in 200 (Chief Editor in 2000—2006) and the newspaper returns to the weekly circulation. Naša Niva gradually transformed from a literature and culture periodical into a media with the focus on society, politics and culture.
In 2002 the volume of the paper increases from 12 to 16 pages weekly, and in 2005 to 24. At its peak the readership reached 8,000.
In 2005 the authorities banned distribution of the newspaper through ‘Bielpošta’ and ‘Bielsajuzdruk’. However, the newspaper survives thanks to creation of its own distribution network. It changes to a pocket format and increases the number of pages to 48. The circulation decreases to 2,200 copies.
Nonetheless, the newspaper turns the problem into a chance and focuses its attention of development of its internet version nn.by In 2006 Naša Niva’s web page turns into an internet platform adapting to the era of electronic mass media.
In 2010 Naša Niva website became the most popular internet resource in the Belarusian language and has remained so ever since. According to the statistics by Google Analytics for 2006 — 2017 monthly unique visits to NN average about 600,000 looking at 7,000,000 pages. Approximately 84% of the visitors are from Belarus and 49% are from Minsk.
In 2006 Andrej Skurko (2006—2017) joined the editorial team. Andrej Dyńko becomes the editor of nn.by website. In 2011 Źmicier Pankaviec becomes the editor of the paper weekly edition.
Jahor Marcinovič, a winner of several national awards for journalist investigations, became the Chief Editor in 2017.
Since 2008 NN can be found in major social networks:
VK — vk.com/Наша Ніва (Russian social network)
Facebook — facebook.com/Наша НіваTwitter — twitter.com/Наша НіваOK — ok.ru/Наша Ніва (Russian social network)
Youtube — youtube.com/NNVideo
Tradition of Naša Niva edition has existed for over one hundred years, which is unique for Belarusian press.
It is notable that Naša Niva has always been a private publication (de facto public). It has never been controlled by the government thus keeping itself free from interference from authoritarian or totalitarian regime.
In all the periods of its existence the newspaper has been the newspaper of the national interest.
Facsimile restoration of the editions of 1906—1915 began in 1990’s along with publication of the ‘Naša Niva Language Dictionary’.
Readers’ private donations remain the main financial source for newspapers development. In this regard NN is reminiscent of the public media already in existence in various developed countries. Naša Niva is both a cultural symbol and a live tradition and an information internet portal.
2 (Перевел читатель из Нью-Йорка)
«Naša Niva» was founded in 1906 and it's publication was renewed in 1991. From 1997 there is a web-based platform nn.by which today is the most visited website in the Belarusian language.
In 1906—1915 the newspaper was published once a week; in 1991—1995 once a month; again weekly in 1996; every two weeks in 1997—1999; weekly from 1999 to 2016; and once a month from 2016 because by then the internet-portal has become the major form of publication.
The history of the newspaper
In Belarusian historiography, the years1906-1915 are called the «Našaniŭny Period» because with the publication of the first issue of the weekly «Naša Niva», on November 10(23), 1906 in Vilnia, a whole new era had begun in the development of Belarusian society.
In the early twentieth century «Naša Niva» had developed standards of Belarusian literary language and, within the paper's environment, a Belarusian classical literature was developing. An idea of Belarusian statehood had arisen. Because of it's enlightened atmosphere and positive educational work, Naša Niva became a center of Belarusian intellectual life. On it's pages, a whole galaxy of Belarysian intellectuals printed their works - among them, Yanka Kupala, Yakub Kolas, Anton Luckievič, Maxim Bahdanovič, Vaclaŭ Lastoŭski.
«Naša Niva» covered a wide range of political, economic and cultural topics. It's main task, however, was political consolidation of the Belarusian nation. At the same time, as was noted by contemporaries, «Naša Niva» was the first source of information which was not tainted with official influence.
Around «Naša Niva» rallied the national civil society. Agricultural initiatives, youth groups, publishers - they all used the rostrum of «Naša Niva».
From it's first days, a characteristic feature of the newspaper was a strong interactive relationship with it's readers. The newspaper had more than three thousand permanent and temporary correspondents who were sending information to the editor. Appearance of such a large number of authors, from different areas of Belarus, in the fields of literature and journalism, had created an opportunity to develop a literary language using as norms, for the most part, the most common linguistic expressions. The very type of modern Belarusian language, basic spelling, grammatical rules and word-formation, all were developed through practice with the living language at the newspaper.
Many subscribers of and contributors to the newspaper later emerged as central figures in the national, political and intellectual life of the country. Such as: Ciška Hartny (real name - Dzimitry Žylunovič); one of the future leaders of the Byelorussian SSR; Branislaŭ Taraškievič, a political leader of western Belarus and author of the first Belarusian grammar.
A long time publisher and editor of Naša Niva was Aleksandar Ulasaŭ, a landowner from a farm Mihaŭka near Miensk.
One of the ideologists of the publication — Ivan Luckievič from Miensk, was also a creator of the famous Vilnia Belarusian Museum and founder of many political and cultural projects.
Along side with him worked his brother Anton Luckievič, an ideologist of the Belarusian Socialist Society (Hramada) and the future Prime Minister of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR).
In 1909 a historian Vaclaŭ Lastoŭski became secretary of the newspaper, and in 1912—1913 it's editor. Lastoŭski was later Prime Minister of the BNR.
Anton Luckievič, Ulasaŭ, Žylunovič, Taraškievič and Lastoŭski will later die in Soviet prisons.
With «Naša Niva» collaborated the classic of Belarusian literature, Jakub Kolas. Known to every student, works of Maksim Bohdanovič and Źmitrok Biadula were also popularized at «Naša Niva». National poet Janka Kupala became it's editor in February 1914. He ran the newspaper until the autumn of 1915, when «Naša Niva» stopped its publication because of occupation of Vilnia by the Germans and cessation of normal life in the frontline Belarus.
Defending Belarusian interests at that time, provoked attacks by colonial censorship which lasted for the duration of the existence of the newspaper. Even in 1907 in a discussion of an agrarian question in an article «Land questions in New Zealand,» «contempt» and «disrespect for the government» were found. Editor Aleksandar Ulasaŭ was tried and imprisoned. Several times copies of the newspaper were confiscated and the editorial board paid fines.
The newspaper had to endure similar pressure from the authoritarian regime of Aleksandar Lukašenka in the 1990's and especially in the 2000's. In 2006-2008, the newspaper had to be distributed by volunteers, as the authorities had banned it's sale in «Belsajuzdruk» stores and banned subscriptions through «Belpošta».
Several times «Naša Niva» was sued, fined and the KGB conducted searches in it's editorial offices and of editors. In 2006, Andrei Dynko, editor in chief of «Naša Niva», just as Ulasaŭ previously, was jailed and passed through the prison system.
Despite allegations of revolutionism made by the authorities, «Naša Niva» in the XXI century just the same as in the XX century, is essentially a tolerant, progressive publication.
That is why «Naša Niva» always gathered under the national flag the readers of different persuations. «Naša Niva» advocates a peaceful and gradual progress through democratization of central and local authorities, is constantly reminding us of the need to respect human rights and dignity of people, and to appreciate one's culture and heritage.
Cultural openness of «Naša Niva» is also evident in the fact that at the beginning the newspaper was printed using two scripts - Cyrillic and Latin. It was not until October 1912, when the reader's-publisher's referendum opted for the Cyrillic alphabet. From 1991 «Naša Niva» was published using the classic Belarusian orthography. In 2008 the newspaper switched to the school orthograpy «to improve communication between the public and the intellectuals», as it was stated in an editorial at that time on the subject.
Autonomous cultural and social projects arose in collaboration with the «Naša Niva» editorial board.
«Naša Niva» also acted as a coordinating center for other types of publications. Especially popular were the annual «Belarusian calendars» — almanachs containing not only the usual background and reference information, but also works of art. Also published were books, original and translated. In 1912 in Vilnia emerged a new satirical magazine «Krapiva». The agricultural department of «Naša Niva» had grown into an independent periodical «Sacha» which, from the end of 1913, was being published in Miensk.
At the «Naša Niva» publishing house, Ivan Luckievič, one of the founders of «Naša Niva», began gathering a collection for the proposed Belarusian National Museum. Major part of that collection is now kept at the National History Museum of Letuva.
«Naša Niva» staff helped the formation of the first Belarusian theater troupe of I. Bujnicki.
«Naša Niva» gave much attention to promotion of economic, legal and agricultural knowledge among it's readers. The scope of it's accomplishments as well as the impulse and momentum set in motion then, allowed historians and culturologists to call the period of development of Belarusian culture in the early twentieth century as «Našaniŭski», referring to the quantitative and qualitative changes in the development of modern Belarusian culture and society.
The first attempt to restore the newspaper took place in 1920 in Vilnia where, on 28 October, was published the first issue of the socio-political and literary weekly «Naša Niva». In December 1920 the newspaper was again banned by the Polish military censorship.
Naša Niva Today
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the development of the movement for independence of Belarus, made the restoration of the newspaper possible. Led by Siarhej Dubaŭca as editor, «Naša Niva» again began publishing in May 1991 in Vilnia.
The restored publication occupied a special place among the other Belarusian periodicals. «Naša Niva» gave up the «defensive strategy» of isolation inherent in many Belarsian publications of the Soviet era. On pages of «Naša Niva» considerable discussion took place on universal topics and there was a large number of translations. The focus of attention was also on the heritage of the Grand Duchy of Litva and on the models of relations among the peoples of the region.
In Belarus complex processes of nation-building were at work and the authoritarian model prevailed. The times required creation of trustworthy and credible media, therefore, in 1996 it was decided to move the publishing of «Naša Niva» to Miensk.
«Naša Niva» again became the newspaper which pays a great deal of attention to the political, social and cultural processes in Belarus and in the world.
In 1998 the newspaper achieved a symbolic victory in the highest court, successfully defending it's right to publish using classical orthography.
In 2000 Andrei Danko assumes the editorship of «Naša Niva» (editor in chief in 2000-2006) and the newspaper returns to weekly periodicity. «Naša Niva» transforms gradually from a literary-intellectual publication to one with a socio-political-cultural nature.
By 2002 the paper was printed on 16 pages, up from 12 peviously and in 2005 up again to 24 pages. At its peak, the circulation of «Naša Niva» reached 8000 copies.
In 2005 the authorities had banned the distribution of the newspaper through «Belpošta» and through «Belsaiuzdruk». The newspaper survived thanks to creation of its own distribution system and some changes. Format was reduced to the pocket format, number of pages increased to 48 and circulation was reduced to 2200 copies.
But the newspaper turned the problem around and used the opportunity to develop a website nn.by. From 2006, the online version of «Naša Niva» evolved into an internet platform, adapting modern publishing technology to the era of electronic media.
In 2010, the web site of «Naša Niva» becomes the most popular resource in the Belarusian language and remains so to this day. According to statistics from Google Analytics, in 2016-2017 the average monthly NN site is visited by about 600,000 unique visitors, viewing nearly 7 million pages. Approximately 84% of visitors are from Belarus, 49% from Miensk.
In 2006 Andrei Skurko joins the editorial board of «Naša Niva» (2006—2017). Andrei Dyńko becomes the website editor and Ales Kudrycki creates a video service NNVideo. In 2011 Źmicer Pankaviec becomes editor of the weekly paper edition.
In 2017, Jahor Marcinovič becomes editor in chief of «Naša Niva». Prior to this position, for several years consecutively, Marcinovič had received national awards for the best investigative journalism.
From 2008, «Naša Niva» can be read, watched and listened in the major social networks:
VKontakte — vk.com/Наша Ніва
Facebook — facebook.com/Наша Ніва
Twitter — twitter.com/Наша Ніва
Classmates — ok.ru/Наша Ніва
YouTube — youtube.com/»Naša Niva»Video
The tradition of publication of «Naša Niva» is over a century old. For Belarusian press this is a unique phenomenon.
Please note, that «Naša Niva» has always been a private publication, de facto public, never a state publication. It has never come under control or influence of an authoritarian or totalitarian power.
Throughout it's existence, «Naša Niva» has been a newspaper dedicated to the Belarusian national interests.
In the 1990's a facsimile edition was initiated of the early 1906—1915 editions of «Naša Niva» and a «Naša Niva Language Dictionary» was published.
The main source of funds for the development of the newspaper are money donated by citizens. In this sense, NN is similar to the «public media» that exist in many developed countries. «Naša Niva» — it is a cultural symbol, a living tradition, and an internet information portal.
2 (Перевел читатель из Беларуси)
The newspaper «Nasha Niva» was founded in 1906 and then after a period of ban was reopened in 1991. The Internet-platform nn.by has been available for its users since 1997. Currently it is the most visited web-page maintained in the Belarusian language.
The paper was published once a week in 1906—1915, once a month in 1991—1995, it again became a weekly print in 1996, then it used to come out once a fortnight in 1997—1999, one time per week from 1999 till 2016, and finally it has been printed once a month since 2016 as the Internet platform took over the hard copy version.
Newspaper History
In accordance with the Belarusian historiography the years of 1906—1915 went down in history as «Nasha Niva era». The term came into existence due to the fact that the first edition of the weekly, occurred in Vilna on November 10 (23), 1906, inaugurated and shaped the whole epoch in the development of the Belarusian society.
It was at the beginning of the XXth century when «Nasha Niva» worked out the register of the literary Belarusian language. The classic Belarusian literature was manufactured in the circles sympathizing with the publication. The idea of the Belarusian statehood was initiated at that time either. Aiming at the comprehensive enlightenment of its readers, the paper became the center of a cultural life. The works of the numerous of the then intellectuals, such as Yanka Kupala, Yakub Kolas, Anton Luckevich, Maxim Bahdanovich, Vaclau Lastouski, were published on the newspaper’s pages
«Nasha Niva» covered a wide range of current at the time political, economic, and cultural problems. The consolidation of the Belarusian nation became the main objective of the paper. Nevertheless, according to coevals, «Nasha Niva» was the first source of information not affected by the official political bias.
«NN» (Nasha Niva) exercised the concept of national civil society in its circles. Agricultural initiatives, youth get-togethers, publishing houses — they all extensively used the paper’s platform to communicate their ideas.
An intensive interaction with its readers became a distinctive feature of the newspaper from the very beginning of its existence. The paper was supported by over three thousand permanent and temporary reporters submitting their materials to the editorial office. A big number of authors, originating from different cities around Belarus, got involved in journalism and literature and thereby paved the way for the formation of the literary language by the reinforcement of the most common incidents of the language. The shape of the modern Belarusian language, its main orthographic and grammar rules, word formation types were developed due to live language practice on the newspaper’s pages at that time.
Its subscribers and reporters grew up into central personalities of the national political and intellectual life (such as Cishka Hartny (real name — Zmicer Zhylunovich), later one of the leaders of BSSR), or Branislau Tarashkevich, a political leader of the Western Belarusians and the author of the first Belarusian grammar book).
The first publisher and chief editor was a landlord residing in the suburbs of Minsk (Mihauka household) Aliaksandr Ulasau.
One of the publication’s ideologues was a Minsk dweller, the founder of the great Belarusian Museum in Vilna, a sponsor of countless political and cultural initiatives, Ivan Luckevich.
Whereas his brother Anton Luckevich, an ideologue of the Belarusian Socialist Party and a prime-minister of the later-formed Belarusian People’s Republic (BPR), worked side-by-side with Ivan Luckevich.
A historian Vaclau Lastouski, a future prime-minister of the BPR, was the newspaper’s secretary in 1909, and in 1912-1913 served as its actual chief editor.
Anton Luckevich, Ulasau, Zhylunovich, Tarashkevich and Lastouski will later die in soviet prisons.
The then literary classic, Yakub Kolas, used to cooperate with «Nasha Niva». Known to every student writers Maxim Bahdanovich and Zmitrok Biadula were actually discovered by «Nasha Niva», whereas a national poet Yanka Kupala took over the post of its chief editor in February 1914. He ran the newspaper up until autumn 1915, when «Nasha Niva» interrupted its edition on the grounds of the occupation of Vilna by the German Army what deteriorated the living conditions in the frontline region therefore making the edition of the newspaper impossible.
As the newspaper stood up for Belarus’s interests there were recorded numerous attacks against it from the side of colonial censorship all way through its life. Even in an organized in 1907 debate on an agricultural issue, including the article «The land issue in New Zealand», there was found «sedition» and «disrespect» towards the government. The chief editor Aliaksandr Ulasau would consequently stand trials and be imprisoned a number of times.
The equivalent pressure, targeted at the newspaper, will hit the newspaper at the time of an authoritarian regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka in the 1990-ies and especially in 2000s. The paper was distributed by volunteers in the years 2006—2008 as the authorities had banned it out the official street distribution centres «Belsajuzdruk», from shops and annulled its distribution via the postal service «Belposhta».
It used to be brought to court, fined, inspected by the secret police services «KDB» searching both the editorial office and the editor’s property. The chief editor Andrei Dynko was imprisoned in 2006 as back in times was Ulasau.
Even though the newspaper was accused of its «revolutionary content», it both in the XXth and XXIst centuries was actually a consistently law-abiding and progressive publication.
That was the very reason why the paper united the readers of different political backgrounds under a single national flag.
«Nasha Niva» has voted for peaceful and gradual progress via the democratization of the central and local authorities, it has continuously reminded of the necessity to respect a person’s rights and dignity, to value culture and heritage.
The cultural openness of the publication found its reflection in the freedom of a writing system — both scripts, Latin and Cyrillic, has been adopted and exercised all way through the newspaper’s life.
That was the case until October 1912, when the poll of readers and editors opted for the Cyrillic script. Since 1991 «Nasha Niva» was published in the classical spelling, however, in 2008 it adopted the school spelling in order to «facilitate the communication of the intelligentsia and the society», as it was explained in an editorial article on its pages.
Autonomous cultural and social projects popped up in the editorial office now and again.
«Nasha Niva» served as a coordinating editorial center. The greatest popularity was gained by the yearly edition «Belarusian calendars» — almanacs, where the reader not only found common knowledge references, but could also discover the works of literature.
The publishing house used to print out some unrelated books, both authentic and translated. That is to say in 1912 a satirical magazine «Krapiva» was launched in Vilna, whereas an agricultural section of «Nasha Niva» grew up into an independent magazine «Saha» in 1913, which started to be published in Mensk.
One of the newspaper’s founders, Ivan Luckevich, commenced the collection of artefacts in the editorial office; they were meant to fill up holdings of the National Museum in the future. Most of these holdings are currently stored in the National Historical Museum of Lithuania.
The staff aided the development of the First Belarusian Theatre Troupe led by Ihnat Bujnicki.
The paper widely covered economic, legal, and agricultural issues on its papers. The scope of the achievement and the processes triggered made historians and culture experts name the period of the beginning of the XXth century in the development of the Belarusian culture after «Nash Niva», emphasizing qualitative and quantitate changes in the rise of modern culture and society.
The first attempt of the paper’s reopening dates back to 1920 when on October 28th the first edition of a weekly sociopolitical and literature paper «Nasha Niva» was printed after the break. In December 1920 the publication was closed down by the Polish military censorship.
Newspaper’s Modern Life
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the brewing movement for independence enabled newspaper’s reopening. «Nasha Niva» started to be published In Vilna again since May 1991 under the editorial supervision of Siarhei Dubavets.
The upgraded publication secured a distinctive niche among other Belarusian periodicals. «Nasha Niva» declined «a defensive strategy», self-isolation associated with many papers from the soviet era. Both a lot of debates addressing universal issues and countless translations found their space on its pages.
Also both the legacy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the model of relationships between nations in the region came to be in the spotlight. Very hard process of the nation formation was going on in Belarus. The authoritarian model turned out to have won. The situation required opening up full-scale media. Therefore the decision was made in 1996 and the editorial office was moved to Minsk.
«Nasha Niva» regained its status of a newspaper which broadly covered political, social, and cultural developments both in Belarus and around the world.
Symbolically, in 1998 the newspaper won the lawsuit in the High Commercial Court standing up for its right to be published in the classical script.
In 2000 Andrei Dynko took over the post of the chief editor (the years of the office 2000-2006), the paper returned to its weekly status. In the result of the transformation previously literary and intellectual paper gradually changed into a sociopolitical publication.
In 2002 the volume of the newspaper grew from 12 up to 16 pages a week, with a further extension in 2005 up to 24 pages. At the heyday the paper’s readership reached the number of 8000.
In 2005 the publication was banned out of the distribution via «Belposhta» and «Belsajuzdruk». The newspaper survived as it worked out its own distribution scheme. The paper reduced in size into a pocket publication thereby increasing the number of pages up to 48. The readership, however, fell down to 2200.
Strategically, the newspaper transformed a problem into an opportunity and set out to develop its Internet page nn.by. Since 2006 the Internet-publication «Nasha Niva» has been evolving into an Internet-platform adjusting the publishing technology to the epoch of electronic media.
In 2010 «Nasha Niva» Internet site reached the status of the most visited Belarusian language resource and it has successfully been defending the status up to the present day. According to Google Statistics Analytics in 2016-2017 the site was, on average, visited by around 600 000 users, who were opening approximately 7 000 000 pages. Roughly 84% of the visitors originated from Belarus, with 49% of them being Minsk residents.
In 2006 the post of the chief editor was trusted to Andrei Skurko (2006—2017). Andrei Dynko became the editor of the Internet site nn.by. Ales Kudrycki set up a service NNVideo. The position of the editor of a weekly hard copy paper was given to Zmicer Pankavets.
In 2017 Yahor Marcinovich took over the post of the chief editor. He was known to have previously won national awards for best journalist’s investigation for several consecutive years.
Since 2008 NN has been able to be watched, listened to, and accessed via main social networking media.
Vkontakte — vk.com/Наша НіваFacebook — facebook.com/Наша НіваTwitter — twitter.com/Наша НіваOdnoklassniki - ok.ru/Наша НіваYoutube: youtube.com/NNVideo
The publishing tradition of NN exceeds 100 years. That is a unique phenomenon for the Belarusian press.
Notice, «Nasha Niva» has always been a private enterprise, de facto a public one and never ever state-owned, never has it been controlled by either authoritarian or totalitarian regime.
All way through its life the newspaper has served the national interests.
The facsimile edition of 1906-1915 prints was launched in the 1990-ies followed by the release of the «Glossary of Nasha Niva terms»
The main financial aid covering newspaper’s maintenance expenses arrives from citizens’ donations. In this respect, NN resembles «public media» that operate in many developed countries. «Nasha Niva» is a cultural symbol, it is a living tradition, and it is a data Internet-platform.
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