Newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" and its role in the development of advertising in Bessarabia

The present article is based on the study of newspapers “Novaya Gazeta” from the collections of NMAIM and the library of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, the only institutions in the country where you can find this publication. The purpose of this study is to elucidate its specific features and role in the development of newspaper advertising in Bessarabia. In the period of time from 1910 to 1916, the number of newspapers published in Bessarabia, particularly in the capital of the province – the city of Chisinau, significantly increased. We focus our attention on more detailed information regarding the occurrence of a newspaper, which was “more special”, in our opinion. It is the weekly newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” (The New Gazette) published in Chisinau by G. Kalmanson from 1911 to 1913. We call it “more special” because it was intended mainly for the publication of advertisements. Few feuilletons or sections of local and foreign news, which occupied a small place and had ordinary subjects, in fact, just masked the real purpose of this newspaper. Merchant G. Kalmanson managed to publish a newspaper which had a fairly large circulation among the wealthy public, providing space for advertisements. There have been placed advertisements of the most famous trading houses, shops, restaurants, hotels, hairdressers, photographic workshops, banking offices, factories, and so on, both from Chisinau and abroad. In this newspaper G. Kalmanson himself was advertising his goods: cars, bikes, traditional and roller skates, phonographs, carbide. The newspaper successfully resisted the onslaught of competition and censorship, and was published for two years.