Omsk Pravda: "Keeping up with the company"

The “Omsky kauchuk” newspaper began to be published almost immediately after the start-up of the plant. The history of the newspaper reflects the history of production itself, Omsk city and the entire Russia.

I’ve known about the synthetic rubber plant since I was a child. In that time you could get from the railway station to the plant by bus No.40.  And then it seemed to me that it was somewhere incredibly far away. In 16 years, when I became a radio correspondent at the plant, I found out how far it was. 

A little bit of history

In the Soviet times there were no such things as “corporative press” and press services, but every plant always had an editorial office of a newspaper which contained information on the plant’s achievements, the best workers, and interesting events. The majority of Omsk industrial associations that began their work in 40-60s were part of the petrochemical or defense industries. For obvious reasons, such companies were rarely mentioned in regular papers. This is why employees of enterprises were always happy to read in a paper about themselves, their colleagues, or how successfully their plant or factory was operating during a current five-year production plan.

Thus, “Omsky kauchuk”, which produced the first briquette of synthetic rubber in 1962, started its own newspaper. It had the same name as the plant. The first issue was published on January 1, 1963. In that time it was customary to focus multiple editions on the city, regional, and all-union press, and the “Omsky kauchuk” newspaper reflected all these tendencies. On the 31^st of May the plant employees listened to the first episode of the plant’s radio news.

In the 60s it was difficult to talk about information transparency of a strategically important enterprise – there was no such thing. And the plant’s employees were happy that the newspaper wrote not only about the workshops which had been built or commissioned, but also about the social and cultural life of the plant.

 
We can say that from the very beginning the plant had a high level of corporate culture, which is maintained to this day.

For instance, on the pages of the newspapers one could find a lot of information about sports competitions and creative amateur performances. For example, in August 1963 the results of the plant's soccer championship were summed up.

Years later

Journalists did not miss anything – neither important party conventions nor the birthdays of the best employees. For example, the employees came up with touching poems when a note on the space flight made by Valentina Tereshkova and Valery Bykovsky was published on the first page of the newspaper. The important thing is that workers were often among the editors. We should say that the Soviet-style school provided equally brilliant education for physicists and lyricists. This is why workshop correspondents did their job perfectly: a good writing style, imagery and interesting headlines. This was also confirmed in the results of competitions among multi-circulation publications held by the Union of Journalists.

One of the leading correspondents of the “Omsk Pravda” (Omsk Truth) Pavel Sergienko was appointed by the Party Committee as the first editor of the “Omsky kauchuk” newspaper. As the history shows, our editorial offices have always been tightly connected. For example, a photo reporter of the “Omsk Pravda” (Omsk Truth) Yevgeny Karmaev started working for the plant newspaper in 1982 and has been on friendly terms with many plant’s employees for over 30 years.

“I remember that Vladimir V. Yudin was director of the plant in that time. Frankly speaking, it was a bright page in my creative and professional biography. We were young, fun, interested in different things. I became part of the team,” Evgeny Karmaev said. Yevgeny Karmaev worked for editor Vladimir Bystritsky. Then the plant's editorial office was headed by Lyudmila Gorovaya. Then it was headed by Tatyana Sorochenko.

Age of Change

In the 90s production capacities decreased. However the employees of the plant were not upset. Of course many people were fired, but not from the editorial office team. The radio news stopped coming out. But in the early 2000s, articles and notes appeared in the pages of the newspaper: “Second Stage of the Plant’s Rebirth”, “Situation is changing”.  The employees were told about advantages of the company corporatization. The industrial giant, one of the largest taxpayers in the region, continued its operation. And in a contest of the Regional Union of Journalists 

And in the competition of corporate press of the regional Union of Journalists in 2003 "Omsky kauchuk" became the owner of awards at once in several nominations: "Variety of topics and genres", "Publicist", "Freelance Reporter".

Workshops were being revamped, product range was expanding. Contracts appeared, which brought the company stable profits. And on the eve of the 45^th anniversary of the plant the management decided to resume the plant's radio broadcasting.

Radio center is on the air

As a young journalist at the university newspaper I was sent by my editor to the plant to be interviewed. This is how I entered “the world of three Tatianas”: Tatiana Sorochenko, Tatiana Ivashchenko, and Tatiana Zhuravok. They did everything they could to make me fall in love with plant life. Within a week I was already inside a radio shop with the fourth Tatiana - Tatiana Beloglazova.

An article in the printed publication was devoted to the radio resumption at the plant. Tatiana Ivashchenko told me: “You will write your name in history of the plant’s radio broadcasting”.

I published short stories about life and achievements of the workers and voiced announcements. I also congratulated the workers on different occasions and I think those moments were long awaited. It was “the thing” of our radio. Listeners called to the editorial office and asked us to congratulate their colleagues on birthday, birth of a baby, wedding and other remarkable events. The radio news used to come out twice a week.

So, I was in charge of a small Q&A section in the newspaper, but I got familiar with all the heroes. I attended presentations of new production facilities and sports competitions, and went to a camping trip. Social life inside the plant had entirely swallowed me. I even remember that on the 45^th anniversary of the plant, the labor union announced a competition among young mothers called "Plant Madonna".

On the anniversary day, the plant’s radio news broadcast was on the air for an hour. This broadcast was repeated the next day.

And for me it was an invaluable experience working with a co-host (Vadim Vshivtsev, one of the company's employees), as well as my first big interview with Mikhail Sutyaginsky, General Director of Titan Group of Companies.

After the jubilee, I started working for a federal newspaper, and a lot of things changed in the plant's newspaper team. "Omsky kauchuk" began to look more modern, new authors appeared, there were more photos, and texts appeared in new genres.

But the corporate focus of the newspaper remains unchanged: every employee of AO “Omsky kauchuk” needs the newspaper, people are still waiting that they will be mentioned in the newspaper, and cherish the cuttings about themselves.

Author: Tatiana Masterskikh

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