Abstract
This book is the result of collaborative work by Professor Elina Erzikova from Central Michigan University and Professor Wilson Lowrey from the University of Alabama. These authors have worked collaboratively for a number of years on the theme of regional and local journalism in Russia, co-publishing a number of journal articles.
Russian Regional Journalism seeks to track, trace, and understand the enormous challenges faced in the everyday existence of local and regional journalists and media outlets in the Russian provinces. The book is especially focused on how these journalists and outlets navigate this tricky and evolving economic, political, and social environment. It is a welcome change from the myopic research focus that is often found on journalism and mass media in what the authors refer to as the capital cities (Moscow and Saint Petersburg). Although the topic of Russian journalism and journalists from the perspective of the large capital cities exists, the situation in the regions is a very undeveloped and understudied topic, especially in book format. This book represents the culmination of 13 years of field research in the Russian provinces by the authors into the lives and opinions of their research subjects.
The book is logically structured into a total of nine chapters, including the introduction and conclusion, plus an appendix. These chapters are grouped into two sections, where Chapters 1 to 3 provide the reader with a background context to Russian regional journalism through exploring the intersecting social, political, and economic environments in which it operates. Chapter 4 onwards comprise the second section, which is dedicated to the results of the fieldwork on journalism, journalists, and the broader communities in the three regions studied. The methodology used is carefully explained and fully detailed in the appendix.
Erzikova and Lowrey approach the study of regional journalists and journalism by employing the two concepts of field theories and ecology approaches. The underlying reasons for using this integrative approach was that neither one on its own could adequately support the theoretical framework nor uniformly guide the empirical design of the research. The dividends are richly revealed in results that show a diverse array of thoughts, trends, and processes at play in the regional journalism environment in contemporary Russia. These results are particularly helpful in dispelling the stereotypes and prejudices that foreign researchers and students can sometimes fall into.
One of the great strengths of this book is that it brings vividly to the fore the myriad of issues, complexities, and dilemmas inherent in Russian regional journalism as it navigates various opportunities and threats. These conditions are traced from the Soviet period of perestroika that left an indelible cognitive mark on the professional work of the senior staff of media outlets, to the “Golden” era of Russian journalism in the early 1990s, through to the more politically and economically constrained era of the contemporary times. Readers are presented a distinct dilemma, which the journalist and journalism must endure, between the ideal notions of journalistic professionalism and the realities of practice. Evidence presented demonstrates the problem journalists face of relying on the support of local authorities to survive economically but also needing the support and legitimacy of the local citizens to remain relevant in terms of serving the envisaged role of journalism for the community.
There are additional complications to deal with, too, including generational gaps among journalists, the role and reality of new technology, competition and conflict between different media outlets (often in the competition for scarce resources), the changing of leadership in regional administrations, and the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of the communicational units of regional administration structures. The authors amply demonstrate that although journalism has a tendency to brand and position itself as being oppositional to government, it is dependent on local and regional government administrations. This means that the reporting tends to be managed, appearing as either supportive or neutral. However, these journalists actively strive to demonstrate their relevance to the public, using tactics such as life hacking to form firmer connections with readers.
There are a number of observed minor issues, detracting a little from the research, which is generally very informative and of high quality. The first point is the missing context of the reforms and changes, especially in the later years of the Yeltsin administration. The main focus on perestroika jumps too quickly to the Putin administration, which ignores the laws and reforms of 1998 that made the subsequent tightening of control more realistic and possible. At times, there is also an evident lack of objective language. For example, the use of “regime” instead of “government” or “administration” hints at a mild politicization of the otherwise neutral academic language. One final note concerns the issue of labeling Meduza as being an “independent” media outlet, raising the question, “independent” from whom? It is critical of the Putin administration and very favorable of Western liberalism. But the various sources (including foreign) of finance and investment in this Latvian-based outlet are deliberately shrouded in secrecy.
In all, a rather bleak but realistic picture of the situation is presented in detail to the reader of a largely divided regional journalism community that is under strain and pressure from different actors and circumstances. Some of the subjects interviewed do their best with what they have to try and survive and carry on, attempting to adapt to an evolving profession and to fraught circumstances. In all, the book is extremely informative and provides a wealth of knowledge on the topic of Russian regional journalism. It is also a very useful addition to the wider academic field of the local and regional journalism research beyond solely the Russian case study.
