- Atmoda
"Atmoda" ("Awakening" in Latvian) was a weekly newspaper in
Latvian SSR andLatvia issued during 1988-1992. It was an organ of thePopular Front of Latvia and the first independent, opposition paper in the Latvian SSR. The name of the newspaper is a reference to Latvian revival movements known asLatvian National Awakening .The newspaper was issued in the Latvian and Russian languages. In fact, many Russian people of culture and science in Latvia supported the PFL. The newspaper was popular not only in Latvia, but among progressive population of the
Soviet Union , and Russian edition peaked to 100,000 in curculation.Ironically, "Atmoda", as a token of recognition of rights of
Russians by PFL, was a ground of insinuations by competing more radical nationalist political parties, such asLatvian National Independence Movement , that PFL was ridden with MoscowKGB spies to control the national movement in Latvia.On January 1991, Communist functionaries occupied the national Print House claiming it was Party property, and "Atmoda" had to be printed in
Šiauliai .In 1993, a dispute erupted about the fate of
mass media in the new independent state. PFL wanted to see "Atmoda" as an organ of party, while journalists stood on freedom of the press. This resulted in a court suit for the division of assets.References
*Bruce J. Evensen, "The Role of Mass Media in a Newly Emerging Democracy: The Latvian Case Study", 1994
AEJMC Proc. pp. 47-71.
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