Olessia Koltsova

NEWS MEDIA AND POWER IN RUSSIA

Series: BASEES/Routledge Series on Russian and East European Studies
ISBN: 0415345154
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: 05/05/2006
Author's E-mail: Koltsova@hse.spb.ru

About the Book

The end of communist rule in the Soviet Union brought with it a brave new world of media and commerce. Formerly state-owned enterprises were transformed, often through private ownership, and new corporations sprung up overnight to take advantage of the new atmosphere of freedom.

Until now, most research on media and news production in Russia has focused on the scope of government control and comparisons with the communist era. However, extra-governmental controls and the challenges of operating in a newly capitalist environment have been just as important - if not more so - in the formation of the new media climate. Filling the gap in the literature, this book examines the various agents who 'make' the news, and discusses the fierce struggle among the various agents of power involved. Drawing on existing theories and scholarship, the book provides a wealth of detail on the actual daily practices of news production in Russia. Original research is combined with compelling first-hand accounts of news production and dissemination to provide an incisive look at the issues and power structures Russian journalists face on a daily basis.

Olessia Koltsova is currently an associate professor in mass communication in the Department of Sociology of the Higher School of Economics, St.Petersburg. During the last nine years she has been researching news production and post-Soviet media transformation.