The Russian media are widely seen to be increasingly controlled by the government. Leaders buy up opposing television channels and pour money in as fast as it hemorrhages out. As a result, TV news has become narrower in scope and in the range of viewpoints which it reflects: leaders demand assimilation and shut down dissenting stations. Using original and extensive focus group research and new developments in cognitive theory, Ellen Mickiewicz unveils a profound mismatch between the complacent assumption of Russian leaders that the country will absorb their messages, and the viewers on the other side of the screen. This is the first book to reveal what the Russian audience really thinks of its news and the mental strategies they use to process it. The focus on ordinary people, rather than elites, makes a strong contribution to the study of post-communist societies and the individual's relationship to the media.
Author(s): Ellen Mickiewicz
Edition: 1
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 220
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Figures......Page 7
Preface......Page 9
1 The missing term in the equation......Page 11
A note on methods......Page 16
The circle of the day: how important is television in Russians’ lives?......Page 22
Post-Soviets: youth, energy, and opportunities......Page 24
High-school-educated participantsthe day dims......Page 26
College-educated participants: a better life, more options, and still devotion to television......Page 27
Why do Russians consume unsatisfying news so avidly?......Page 31
The college-educated......Page 34
Newspapers......Page 36
Radio......Page 38
Television......Page 39
Television, negotiating messages, and control......Page 42
APPENDIX: FURTHER INFORMATION ON METHODOLOGY......Page 49
2 Detecting channels......Page 51
Choice and advocacy......Page 53
The state channels......Page 54
Global dimensions of HIV/AIDS as an avoidance strategy......Page 55
Bureaucratic solutions......Page 56
The nonstate channels......Page 57
Sensationalism......Page 58
Nonstate stations better reflect reality......Page 59
Weaknesses and divisions......Page 60
Approaches to coverage of corruption......Page 62
3 Election news and angry viewers......Page 70
Taking the problem apart......Page 74
Western research on heuristics......Page 77
The Russian elections context......Page 79
The election story as mandatory template: the merging of time and space......Page 81
Channel and viewpoint diversity: smothered by the template......Page 84
The election story as the unrolling of the Kremlin’s preferences......Page 85
The election story and the limits of heuristics......Page 86
Thinking about votingthe potent and vanishing ‘‘against-all’’ option......Page 88
(2 minutes, 45 seconds)......Page 98
(5 minutes, 43 seconds)......Page 100
(3 minutes, 37 seconds)......Page 103
4 Excavating concealed tradeoffs......Page 106
Information processing and assimilating the news......Page 109
Cues in the political environment, heuristics, and low-information rationality......Page 110
Tradeoffs as tests for citizens......Page 112
How the focus groups worked......Page 115
After the first positive story......Page 116
Security tradeoffs......Page 117
Social class and corruption......Page 118
Opportunity costs......Page 119
The price of joining the club: domestic costs of international linkages......Page 120
Reversing the tradeoff direction: after the fourth story, negative views......Page 121
Downsizing the ecological threat: tradeoffs countering the message......Page 123
Individual and collective interests: revenue versus trees......Page 124
Sources of tradeoffs......Page 125
‘‘Commissioned’’ but objective: Russian viewers and Western research on tradeoff behavior......Page 128
(2 minutes, 14 seconds)......Page 132
(2 minutes)......Page 133
(2 minutes, 13 seconds)......Page 134
(2 minutes, 49 seconds)......Page 135
Theories of childhood and memory......Page 138
Post-Soviet evaluations of Soviet television......Page 143
Attitudes toward Soviet television......Page 146
A further complexity......Page 149
Substitute old for new? Retain the new?......Page 151
Capturing complexity......Page 152
The college-educated remember Soviet television......Page 153
High-school-educated and college-educated: how similar are the viewers?......Page 155
Two accounts: two conversions......Page 160
The hypothetical substitution......Page 162
6 Endings......Page 165
The end of TV-6: what prompts viewers’ reactions?......Page 166
Discourse restricted to what difference having or losing TV-6 programs make on ‘‘me’’......Page 167
Discourse pushing beyond the personal frame and invoking overarching elements, such as human rights, foreign policy, the basis of viewpoint diversity, and the nature of precedent for society......Page 168
Moscow......Page 169
Volgograd......Page 172
Rostov......Page 174
TV-6 closes down on January 22......Page 177
Ouster and change at REN-TV......Page 181
7 The other side of the screen......Page 188
The many meanings of ‘‘trust’’......Page 189
The components of persuasion......Page 190
High-school-educated, Moscow......Page 191
College-educated, Moscow......Page 192
Trust, comprehension, and facts......Page 193
High-school-educated, Volgograd......Page 194
College-educated, Nizhny Novgorod......Page 198
Longing for positive news . . .......Page 199
. . .And rejecting it on television......Page 200
The case of TV-6......Page 204
Higher education makes a difference......Page 207
The configuration of blame......Page 208
Heuristics at work......Page 209
Changes in election rules......Page 211
Russian viewers’ adaptations of cue sources......Page 213
The individual and society at one......Page 214
Index......Page 217
