Political Criticism From the Soviet Kitchen to the Russian Internet: A Comparative Analysis of Russian Media Coverage of the December 2011 Election Protests
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online April, 2014
Political Criticism From the Soviet Kitchen to the Russian Internet: A Comparative Analysis of Russian Media Coverage of the December 2011 Election Protests
The election protests in Moscow in December 2011 signified an important moment for Russian society. Political dissent, historically reserved for the private domain of Soviet kitchens and in recent years to the regulation-free space of the Russian Internet (RuNet), entered the public space of Moscow streets. Just like the protests revealed the long-held tension between the political discussion (and action) in Russian public and private spheres, the coverage of the protests by different media brought to light similar struggles in Russian journalism. This project combines the textual analysis of the protests’ coverage by two progovernment and two oppositional media with the analysis of their connections to the RuNet—a space that played an important role in the protests’ organization and coordination. The project aims to gain a deeper understanding of the role RuNet—a private space that increasingly becomes more public—plays in the development of Russian journalism.
AlyabyevaE. (2006) O socialnih funkciyah blogov v sovremennoy Rossiyi. In: VolokhonskyV.ZaitsevaY.SokolovM. (eds) Lichnost i mezhlichnostnoye vzaimodeistviye v seti Internet. Blogi: Novaya Realnost [Personality and interpersonal relations on the Internet. Blogs: the New Reality], St. Petersburg, Russia: St. Petersburg University Press.
2.
Alexanyan, K., Barash, V., Etling, B., Faris, R., Gasser, U., Kelly, J., … Roberts, H. (2012). Exploring Russian cyberspace: Digitally-mediated collective action and the networked public sphere (Berkman Center Research Publication No. 2012-2). Retrieved from SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2014998.
3.
AlexanyanK.KoltsovaO. (2009) Blogging in Russia is not Russian blogging. In: RussellD.EchchaibiN. (eds) International blogging: Identity, politics and networked publics, New York, NY: Peter Lang, pp. 65–84.
4.
ArutunyanA. (2009) The media in Russia, Berkshire, England: Open University Press.
BenklerY. (2006) The wealth of networks: How social production transforms markets and freedom, New Haven, CT: Yale University press.
7.
CastellsM. (2007) Communication, power and counter-power in the network society. International Journal of Communication1: 238–266.
8.
CurranJ. (1991) Rethinking the media as a public sphere. In: DahlgrenP.SparksC. (eds) Communication and citizenship. Journalism and the public sphere in the new media age, New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 27–56.
9.
DahlbergL. (2007) The Internet, deliberative democracy, and power: Radicalizing the public sphere. International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics3(1): 47–64.
Etling, B., Alexanyan, K., Kelly, J., Faris, R., Palfrey, J. G., & Gasser, U. (2010). Public discourse in the Russian blogosphere: Mapping RuNet politics and mobilization (Berkman Center Research Publication No. 2010-11). Retrieved from SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1698344.
GlaserB.StraussA. (1967) The discovery of grounded theory; strategies for qualitative research, Chicago, IL: Aldine.
15.
HallinD.ManciniP. (2004) Comparing media systems. Three models of media and politics, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
16.
Ivanov, V. (2011a, December 12). Bolshe borotsya s “nespravedlivostyu” dumskih vyborov 25 tysyach ne vyidut. Izvestia. Retrieved from http://www.izvestia.ru/news/509362.
17.
Ivanov, V. (2011b, December 26). “Chestnye lyudi” plyuyut na konstitucii. “Pehota” – po nevezhestvu. “Vozhdi” – vpolne soznatelno. Izvestia. Retrieved from http://www.izvestia.ru/news/510727.
18.
JenkinsH. (2008) Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide, New York: New York University Press.
19.
KaminskiA. Z. (1992) An institutional theory of communist regime: Design, function, and breakdown, San Francisco, CA: ICS Press.
LedenevaA. (1998) Russia’s economy of favours: Blat, networking, and informal exchanges, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
24.
LindlofT. R.TaylorB. C. (2002) Qualitative communication research methods, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
25.
Lyubimov, L. (2011, December 22). Bolshinstvo trebuyushikh “chestnyh vyborov” tak i ne opredelilis za 20 let so svoim predstavitelstvom. Izvestia. Retrieved from http://izvestia.ru/news/510552.
26.
Mezhuev, B. (2011, December 5). Bezydeinoi “revolyucii snizu” dolzhna byt’ protivopostavlena osmyslennaya “revolyuciya sverhu.” Izvestia. Retrieved from http://www.izvestia.ru/news/508648#ixzz1sDlCZXij.
27.
MickiewiczE. P. (1997) Changing channels: Television and the struggle for power in Russia, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Pishikova, Y. (2011, December 12). Ploshadi sobirayutsya sami, i lyudei vyvodyat na ulicy ne idei, a grubye fiziologicheskiye perezhivaniya. Izvestia. Retrieved from http://www.izvestia.ru/news/509351#ixzz1sc0jftem.
33.
ProtasovaO. (2001) Istoriya Rossiyskoi zhurnalistiki [History of Russian journalism], Tomsk, Russia: Tomsk State University Press.
Resnyanskaya, L. L. (2006). “Obshcherossiyskiye izdaniya,” Sredstva massovoi informacii [Mass Media] Moscow, Russia: Aspekt Press.
36.
“RIA Novosti” i RAPSI podverglis’ DDoS-atake vsled za ZHeZHe. (2011, December 6). Izvestia. Retrieved from http://www.izvestia.ru/news/508896.
37.
Rohozinski, R. (1999). Mapping Russian cyberspace: Perspectives on democracy and the Net (UNRISD Discussion Paper No. 115). Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.
RoudakovaN. (2009) Journalism as “prostitution”: understanding Russia’s reactions to Anna Politkovskaya’s murder. Political Communication26(4): 412–429. doi:10.1080/10584600903053890.
RuizC.DomingoD.MicóJ. L.Diaz-NociJ.MesoK.MasipP. (2011) Public sphere 2.0? The democratic qualities of citizen debates in online newspapers. The International Journal of Press/Politics16(4): 463–487.
Shahov, L. (2011, December 26). Posle Bolotnoi my prosnulis v drugoi strane, a teper blagopoluchno vernulis obratno. Izvestia. Retrieved from http://www.izvestia.ru/news/510730.
ShlapentokhV. (1989) Public and private life of the Soviet people: Changing values in post-Stalin Russia, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
48.
SiebertF.PetersonT.SchrammW. (1956) Four theories of the press, Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
49.
Solomonov, A. (2011, December 23). Aleksandr Daniel: Delo v esteticheskoi nesovmestimosti segodnyashney molodezhi s temi, kto stoit u vlasti. Interview. Novaya Gazeta. Retrieved from http://issuu.com/novayagazeta/docs/novgaz-pdf__2011-144n?e=0.
50.
TambiniD. (1999) New media and democracy. The civic networking movement. New Media & Society1: 305–329.
TemkinG. (1996) Information and motivation: Reflections on the failure of the socialist economic system. Communist and Post-Communist Studies29(1): 25–41.
