Neo-soviet media model (Part 2)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26577/HJ.2023.v69.i3.02Keywords:
Sarah Oates, neo-Soviet media model, media system, censorship, post-Soviet space, content analysis.Abstract
In the previous issue of our scientific journal (Herald of KazNU, Journalism Series, No. 2 (68) 2023,
pp. 16-28) the translation from English of the first part of Sarah Oates’s program article “The Neo-Soviet
Media Model,” published in 2007 in the journal “Europe-Asia Studies” (Sarah Oates, 2007) was first
presented to the readers.
Also the “Foreword by the scientific editor of the translation, professor of National Research University
“Higher School of Economics” in Moscow, S.G. Davydov was published. It contained deeper
scientific understanding and a critical view at methodology of the research, as well as the theoretical and
historical contexts of scientific discussions about normative media theories of the 2000s.
In the current issue, readers are offered the translation of the second (final) part of Sarah Oates’s
article, in which, according to the author’s annotation, “explores the genesis of the neo-Soviet media
model. Based on the results of the study of Russian media in the post-Soviet period, as well as a review
of their activities during elections in the above region, the article concludes that Russian media currently
operate in a “neo-Soviet” manner. Factors shaping this media model include the rejection of a balanced
approach or objectivity; the presence of flaws in the legislation regulating the activities of the media;
self-censorship; state interference and pressure on the media; lack of professionalism in the journalistic
environment; and an atmosphere of violence against journalists. Furthermore, in the transition from the
Soviet to the neo-Soviet model, there is continuity in how the media are perceived by their audience.”
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