Globalisation, Freedom and the Media after Communism: The Past as Future

This book examines the fate of post-Soviet press freedom and media culture in the context of the growing impact of globalisation. To understand the complicated situation that has arisen with respect to these issues in post-Soviet space is impossible without collaboration between political scientists, sociologists, cultural analysts, media studies researchers and media practitioners. The book is one of the first attempts to bridge the gaps between political and cultural studies approaches, between textual analysis and audience research, as well as between practitioner-led and scholarly approaches to the post-Soviet media The cumulative impact of the essays contained in this section is to reinforce the intuition which inspired it: that the post-Soviet media remain a highly heterogeneous, complex and dynamic field for investigation. With contributions from scholars and journalists across Europe (including the former Soviet Union), the collection addresses such issues as censorship and elections, the legacy of the Soviet past, terrorism and the media, the post-Soviet business press, advertising and nation building, official press discourse and entrepreneurship, and global formats on Russian television. This book was originally published as a special issue of Europe-Asia Studies.

Symposium Editors' Introduction Birgit Beumers, Stephen Hutchings and Natalia Rulyova The Struggle for Press Freedom in Russia: Reflections of a Russian Journalist Nadezhda Azhgikhina The Next General Elections in Russia: What Role for the Media? Daphne Skillen The Neo-Soviet Model of the Media Sarah Oates Mass Media and the Information Climate in Russia Hedwig de Smaele The Local and the International in Russian Business Journalism: Structures and Practices Katja Koikkalainen Official Media Discourse and the Self-Representation of Entrepreneurs in Belarus Galina Miazhevich The Image of the Terrorist Threat in the Official Russian Press: the Moscow Theatre Crisis (2002) and the Beslan Hostage Crisis (2004) Aglaya Snetkov Domesticating the Western Format on Russian TV: Subversive Glocalisation in the Game Show Pole Chudes (The Field of Miracles) Natalia Rulyova Drinking to the Nation: Russian Television Advertising and Cultural Differentiation Jeremy Morris