Pages are regularly dominated by huge grey blocks of long text. These responsible secretaries are often senior figures of considerable power within their papers. They are often highly conservative in their approach. Publishers often treat then gingerly, fearing the consequences to the newspaper's production process if they are upset. This can severely impede change.
Most newspapers have some computer capability, which usually centres around the design team.
In fact many computer set-ups are equal to or superior to equipment on equivalent newspapers in the west. In fairness it should be said that design and pre-press is often hampered by a lack of powerful enough computers or by the press itself. Print quality is often poor. Hot metal is not unknown in smaller centres. Having said all that, many newspapers in the CIS could do with a radical shake-up in the design and production areas.