The role of the Orthodox press in the inclusion of "The bases of orthodox culture" into the school curriculum in the 1990s and 2000s

The article analyzes the context and stylistic features of publications on teaching "The Bases of Orthodox Culture" in Russian schools. The analyzed publications were printed in the 1990s and 2000s in the Orthodox periodicals both locally and country-wide. The main attention is paid to the evolution of the Moscow Patriarchy's informational policy, elevated from irregularly publications on the subject in the 1990s to a well-planned campaign in the first decade of the 21st century. The main attempts of the Church are strategically aimed at establishing contacts with local and federal governments, NGOs and various social communities to support the new school subject. As a part of informational policy, there are different types of the Orthodox mass mediato maximize the audience. "Populist" periodicals, orientated to mass readers, used mostly emotional impact tactics and appealed to patriotism and conservatism. At the same time, "analytical" mass media with some sort of "thoughtful citizens" as a key audience made an accent on argumentative interviews with opinion leaders. As a result, by the end of the analyzed period,the Orthodox press has become not only the mirror of the Churchand society opinions, but also an instrument of influence on the reading audience and has helped the Russian Orthodox church to win the battle of the inclusion of the subject to the school program in 2011 (as a part of complex discipline "The Bases of Religious Cultures and Civil Ethics").