War correspondents of the Russian empire: continuity and traditions (to the 110th anniversary of the outbreak of the World War I)

The article treats the history of the formation of war journalism and the institutionalization of a special correspondent in the Russian Empire in the 19th - early 20th centuries, which as a result acquired a special status in the active army. Due to comparative analysis of the works by N.V. Berg, V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, V.A. Taburin, I.A. Vladimirov, the approaches of war reporters to covering military events are determined, and the understanding of their mission at the front is revealed. The author has identified professional qualities common to different generations of Russian correspondents: exceptional observation, maximum reliability, conscientiousness in the selection of material, capability to objective analysis and generalization, ability to empathize. The article shows that in the war journalism of the Russian Empire of the 19th - early 20th centuries, not only continuity between generations was marked, but also traditions were formed that have been preserved up to the present day. Research methods. Sources. Literature. The study is based on traditional methods of historical research: historical-genetic, historical-comparative, historical-typological. The author follows the principles of historicism and authenticity, conducts a semantic analysis of correspondence to determine the similarity of wording and meanings. War prose and journalistic essays of the most prominent Russian war correspondents was the subject of the study. The article is based on a solid body of foreign and domestic scientific literature of the late 20th - early 21st century, which studied the problem of the formation of war journalism in the Russian Empire.