About at Zakazukha: "What is Zakazukha?
When Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc reconciled back in 1998, the image of the Berlin Wall tumbling down was not the only media opportunity that was reported around the world.
The opening up of former communist countries to western ideals also created a zeal for new opportunities, and none more so than in the world of media and advertising.
What evolved was an industry based around placing paid articles in newspapers and magazines, a practice called
zakazukha, a Russian word meaning payment for favourable editorial coverage.In 2001 a Russian public relations agency exposed the practice by offering a number of Moscow newspapers cash in exchange for editorial coverage of a store opening. Sixteen publications entered into negotiations, with 13 running the story. The agency later revealed that no store actually existed.
Now lets call a spade a spade – someone has to get paid to generate the news stories businesses rely on to gain publicity as part of their overall marketing efforts (in fact Australia had its own cash for comment scandal in 1999 concerning paid advertising on radio masquerading as editorial commentary).
But don’t get us wrong, we’d never condone the practice of direct payment to media outlets for this sort of exposure (this caper is best left to the legitimate realms of advertising).
However if as much as 80 per cent of media content is derived from public relations material, then you’d be hard pressed to find a reason not to engage in an active media relations campaign."
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