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The mass media
is perhaps one of the most developed and effective structures of
civil society in today’s Russia. Its liberalization was initiated by
Gorbachev’s
glasnost
and was finally institutionalized by the Law on the Press of 1990
that, effectively, ended the era of censorship. Freedom of speech,
uncensored thought, pluralism of opinions, and the right to search
for, exchange and publish all the information that is of interest to
citizens – these liberal principles that yesterday were considered
completely unthinkable in Russia are now gradually taking root here.
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Kiosks are full of the widest variety of printed matter – from
serious to comic, political, and erotic —for the most refined taste
and the fattest wallet. The informational panorama is now
incomparably much fuller and broader than it was under communism. At
the same time, however, readers are bogged down with a plethora of
useless, empty and socially insignificant information.
It is hard to
estimate the number of publications accurately, since many
newspapers and magazines die out soon after they appear, while the
circulation volumes of others rise or fall. According to official
statistics, by the start of the twenty-first century there were
about 21,000 newspapers, more than 10,000 magazines, 2,500 non-state
and about 100 state-run television and radio companies, 2,000 radio
stations, and over 630 Russian Internet information outlets.
But the new
horizons that have opened up are not without clouds. New times give
rise to new problems, and freedom of media outlets remains
constricted by their financial dependence on their owners or
sponsors, such as state structures or private financial and
industrial corporations. In the 1990s monopolization of the media by
the government was replaced by monopolization of them by large
financial and industrial groups, each of which wanted to have its
own powerful informational-propagandistic mouthpiece – a press
organ, and sometimes even a television channel. In the harsh clan
fighting over the division of property and power, the press was used
to advertise or discredit, promote or neutralize political figures
and ideological concepts.
Ironically,
printed materials during the Soviet period had often greater clout
and were often more efficacious than the post-Soviet media in
helping citizens to resolve problems. Criticism in Soviet newspapers
was strictly regulated and dosed, but if articles appeared
“revealing isolated shortcomings,” then the authorities always took
measures to severely punish the guilty parties.
Today’s
critical newspaper articles in most cases do not produce any
consequences, with the exception of the problems that arise for
journalists who are forced to defend themselves in court on charges
of calumny and personal insult. Nevertheless, the role of the press
in the reform process is extremely significant, and without today’s
sharp, caustic, and at times shocking newspapers and magazines, with
their sensations and revelations, it would be hard to imagine
contemporary Russia.
Copyrighted material
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