Why did the editor-in-chief change in the magazine? How will the magazine change? Novaya Gazeta interview with the new editor-in-chief of Psychologies Ksenia Kiseleva.
Друзья, как многие из вас заметили, с мартовского номера в PSYCHOLOGIES сменился главный редактор. Юна Козырева, возглавлявшая журнал 9 лет с момента его появления в России, теперь будет заниматься в нашем Издательском доме новым направлением – кроссмедийными проектами. Новым главным редактором журнала стала Ксения Киселева. Коллеги из «Новой газеты» попросили Ксению рассказать о переменах. Получилось большое интервью. Делимся.
В культовой книге Курта Воннегута «Колыбель для кошки» один из персонажей любил повторять, что, «если ученый не умеет популярно объяснить восьмилетнему ребенку, чем он занимается, значит, он шарлатан»… У нас в стране таких «шарлатанов» огромное количество, и особенно часто с этим сталкиваются журналисты, потому что мы должны просить специалистов прокомментировать какие-то резонансные ситуации. И часто превращаемся в «восьмилетних детей», потому что не можем знать всех узкопрофессиональных терминов, а на просьбу объяснить одно непонятное слово получаем в ответ еще три непонятных новых.
Psychology in this sense is one of the most striking examples of the problem. For quite a long time, there were two extreme poles in it: on the one hand, academic experts who obviously know everything well, but are completely incomprehensible. Their books are on the shelves of bookstores, but few people dare to read them. On the other hand, there is psychological “pop”, inviting headlines, for example, such as: “How to become a millionaire.” Such books were sold out, although for the most part they had nothing to do with psychology as such and have nothing to do with it. There was no middle ground: either correct, but boring and incomprehensible, or catchy pseudo-psychology. And this long gaping niche was completely occupied by Psychologies magazine.
New Newspaper: The March issue of Psychologies is out, signed for the first time by you as the new Editor-in-Chief. Ksenia, you headed the magazine at a good moment, when it firmly consolidated its position, became readable and revered. What do you intend to change?
Ksenia Kiseleva: Psychology does not need a revolution. The magazine has a unique concept that affirms the priority of a person as an individual, the right of each of us to understand what is happening to him and other people. We write about the most important thing, about what worries any of us always and under any circumstances: about fears, emotions, our feelings and behavior. And we answer the request of those readers who are looking for answers to existential questions, who want to free themselves from the power of stereotypes, to live a meaningful and harmonious life. And it is this absolutely new format for the media market, created almost 9 years ago (the first issue of Psychologies came out in December 2005. – G.M.), I think, proved that it works. The new task today is to expand the space of Psychologies, to create a powerful and high-quality platform on the Internet. And this new digital format is an ambitious and exciting task for me and the Psychologies team. We want to be read in different “carriers” and that everywhere we can guarantee the quality of what we do.
The Russian magazine is part of the world brand PSYCHOLOGIES, which originated in France. As far as I know, at the beginning of the journey it was tracing paper from the French edition.
No, the Russian version has never been tracing paper. The concept of the publication, its format, principles and style of communication with the audience – yes, all this turned out to be very close to us. While working in the magazine, I was convinced many times that despite the difference in culture, history, social circumstances, people feel, behave, and build relationships in the same way. But the magazine cannot be a copy of the original, because we have different realities, different social experience, different characters who tell us their stories. The widespread idea that we only translate French texts, I think, is primarily due to the unusual nature of the magazine itself, the special style, the language of Psychologies. We are looking for words to describe feelings, explain the mechanisms of experience, character traits, habitual ways of responding, but at the same time we protect our readers, do not bring down excessive information on them, do not speak arrogantly and, of course, do not teach anyone anything. We conduct an honest, calm and clear conversation – without simplifying or complicating anything. The topics of our articles – “I love two”, “Should teenagers have sex in our house”, “Why do we lie to doctors …” – are in great demand. In addition, the magazine popularized the very idea of the importance of psychological knowledge for life. We offer to find yourself and live better with the help of psychologists, and Psychologies journalists become intermediaries between them and readers.
Are you a psychologist by training?
Нет, я даже не могу сказать, что меня прежде сильно интересовала психология: я заканчивала отделение структурной и прикладной лингвистики филологического факультета МГУ. Но задача говорить доступным и грамотным языком на сложные темы, всерьез, но без научного жаргона, небанально и увлекательно, показалась мне интересной и важной. Я в журнале уже 7 лет, последние годы работала заместителем главного редактора, придумывала вместе с коллегами темы. Чтобы тема оказалась точно востребованной, мы ее обсуждаем между собой и с друзьями, читаем то, что пишут у нас на сайте и на форуме, стараемся замечать, какие вопросы повторяются чаще других, о чем ведутся дискуссии. Следим за публикациями в научных изданиях, ездим на конференции, читаем книги о психологии и вокруг, встречаемся с психотерапевтами и психологами, пытаясь почувствовать то, как меняется настроение людей, понять, о чем сегодня спрашивают, чего хотят или боятся… Еще мы с удовольствием сотрудничаем с социологами. Например, осенью по нашему заказу и при участии наших экспертов-психологов был проведен социологический опрос. Мы захотели выяснить, насколько наши сограждане чувствуют себя свободными и от чего это ощущение зависит. Оказалось, что 43% опрошенных склонны отказаться от свободы слова и гражданских прав (в частности, от возможности ездить за границу), если государство обеспечит им достойную зарплату и пенсию. Ни на что не обменяют свою свободу у нас всего лишь 20%. А вообще никогда не чувствуют себя свободными – 23%, из них почти две трети – женщины.
Do they have a chance to change by reading your magazine?
I think so, because we are read by those who are interested in introspection, who have a desire to develop, change, better understand what is happening to them. The total audience of each issue of the magazine (if we summarize the paper and digital versions) is more than 2 million people. We know that it is mainly women who buy the magazine. Men do not have such a habit – to buy a glossy magazine, and outwardly Psychologies, of course, is glossy. But a woman, having bought a magazine, leaves it at home on the table or brings it to work, and then everyone reads it: men of mature age, and the older generation, and even teenagers. So about a fifth of the readers are men. They sometimes even complain on our forum that the magazine does not take them into account enough, although we try to make our texts “bisexual”. If we talk about geography, then large provincial cities have practically caught up with Moscow in terms of the number of readers. They often write to us, just to say that every time they buy a room, they find something important for themselves at this particular stage of their life, at this moment. And this is very valuable for us. Not everywhere you can find a good psychologist, not everyone decides to go for an appointment: this is still unusual. Many still think that seeking psychological help means showing weakness, admitting that you cannot solve your problems yourself. To decide on a consultation, you must at least be sure that psychologists do not correct us, do not educate, do not force or condemn us.
Какие темы станут главными в ближайших номерах?
In May, a special issue will be published, which will be completely devoted to various types of psychotherapy, such as family therapy, existential, Gelstalt therapy, psychodrama, psychoanalysis and many others. We will show you what the advantages, disadvantages or limitations of each method are, for whom they are best suited and why. It will be an extremely useful issue, full of opinions of different experts and personal experiences, it will contain a directory of psychologists and psychotherapists whom we recommend in different cities of Russia. And in the anniversary issue – the 100th issue of the magazine will be released this summer – we will summarize all the most important things about relationships: with loved ones, loved ones, children, friends, with ourselves. Today we feel that we have developed our own style and language, gained a lot of experience, found our audience. But at the same time, this means that we must constantly look for new ideas, new genres, new heroes. What is good virtual friendship? Why do we now like to live alone? Where are the family boundaries today? Why do we need to know our inner age? There are many more questions that we hope to answer.