Soviet and Russian Press Coverage of the United States : Press, Politics and Identity in Transition

This book examines changing Soviet and Russian press coverage of the US from the emergence of Mikhail Gorbachev through the re-election victory of Boris Yeltsin as Russian president in 1996 and onward to the Putin era. Jonathan A. Becker argues that due to the absence of a language to support the reform strategy, the Soviet press presented positive images of its chief ideological and military opponent, the US, as a means of supporting political, social, and economic reform. He suggests that the end of the Cold War and the emergence of a more self-confident Russia means that the symbolic and discursive significance of the US for Russia has diminished.

JonathanA. Becker is Dean of International Studies, Bard College.