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Файл:Political communications. Lecture course. Курс лекций
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• strengthening of positions of Russia in the global infor-
mation space;
• updating of legal framework of the state information pol-
icy of Russia;
• the development of information society in modern Russia;
• introduction of technologies of e-government, open gov-
ernment.
Briefly describing the nature of the relationship between
the Russian state and its main counterparties in the internal
information space (citizens, media, business structures, the expert community), it should be noted that there are differentiated approaches to different audiences.
The key issue of political communications has always been
the relationship between political and administrative elites and
citizens. Today, despite the development of the Internet and new
communication technologies, due to the type of political regime
that has developed in Russia, the role of public structures is still
small. The society have a passive position in relations with authorities. The state makes attempts to establish permanent communication with the population. The government skillfully controls public opinion, especially when covering foreign policy.
Despite the fact that the Internet is gaining more and more
coverage of the territory and the Russian population, the specifics of the Russian information space is such that television
remains the most popular type of media! Most Russians (57%)
often learn news from TV programs, 45% use news sites for
this, 23% use social networks and blogs. For 12 years of observations, the sources of news information have been redistributed very significantly. Thus, in 2010, 87% of Russians watched
news on TV, 13% on websites, and 4% on social networks Moreover, the population mainly trusts the federal main channels
1
(Channel One / Первый канал and Rossiya 1 / Россия 1)
.
1
Источники информации. Телевидение. Предпочтительные источники информации. Уровень доверия новостям. https://fom.ru/SMI-iinternet/14688 (accessed 01.04.2022).
71
Nevertheless, in the modern conditions of the information
society, the Russian state accepts the fact that communication
platforms are shifting towards the Internet, social networks
and other virtual platforms. The main directions of strengthening contacts with the population are:
• the formation of “Open government (since 2012) – Information society (since 2014)”, the priorities of which are:
involving the public in processes of state decision making;
combating corruption; transparency and accountability of the
authorities; the development of mechanisms of electronic government; staffing of the state service; development of competition and entrepreneurship, creation of favorable investment
climate;
• changing the order of creation of political parties;
• the establishment and operation of “Russia people’s
front”;
• maintaining personal websites of members of the political elite and political parties, elements of the state (the websites of the main authorities).
The greatest success has been achieved within the framework of the initiative to create an electronic state. E-government is intended to perform the following functions: the optimization of delivery of government services to citizens and
businesses; the increase participation of all voters in the processes of administration and management of the country; support and enhanced self-service of citizens; the growth of technological awareness and skills of citizens; reducing the impact
of the factor of geographical location.
In accordance with international rankings of the development of the electronic state, Russia occupies quite high places.
For example, in 2014, South Korea ranked first, while Russia
1
was in seventh
(!). However, the situation changed already
1
United Nations E-Government Survey 2014. https://publicadmin-
istration.un.org/egovkb/portals/egovkb/documents/un/2014-survey/egov_complete_survey-2014.pdf (accessed 01.04.2022).
72
in 2020, when Russia dropped from 7th place to 36th1. Nevertheless, the rating is compiled for 193 UN member states,
and even 36th place should not be considered as a good indicator, especially given the foreign policy situation in which
the Russian state found itself after the annexation of Crimea.
This testifies to the success of the implementation of such elements as gosuslugi.ru (public services), regional platforms
and e-government services (for example, in Moscow this is
the mos.ru platform). Also, e-government is supported by
the work of multifunctional centers, where citizens, waiting
no more than 8–15 minutes, can receive most public services
in the “one window” mode.
The role of business structures in the information policy
of the modern Russian state throughout the post-Soviet history has been extremely different: from dominance in the media
space in the second half of the 1990s to during the so-called oligarchic corporatism to a minimal role due to the actual nationalization of the Russian information space and the dominance
of state media.
As noted, television remains the main mouthpiece of the
Russian state information policy. In general, assessing the various stages in the development of relations between the Russian
state and the media, we can say that in different post-Soviet periods, the role of the media has also changed radically.
1. The beginning of 1990 – end of 1992 – “Golden age”
of the Russian mass-media. Despite the catastrophic tendencies of the early 1990s for Russian statehood, that time was
a real “golden age” of Russian media. The media were becoming natural allies of Russia’s new political elite led by
B.N. Yeltsin, the only pillar of power in the context of the
ongoing political struggle and the collapse of the former socio-political institutions and structures. This period is char-
1
UN E-Government Survey 2020. https://publicadministration.un-
.org/egovkb/en-us/Reports/UN-E-Government-Survey-2020 (accessed
01.04.2022).
73
acterized by the emergence of new publishing houses, radio
stations and TV channels that widely used models and formats
of foreign, especially Western journalism. The new media
were trying to separate the information from the commentary, introduced the problem-thematic principle of the layout
of Newspapers and broadcasts, switched to live broadcasting.
The most important feature of this stage is the emergence and
development of the proto-democratic media, which functioned
in accordance with the Western model of relations between
the media and the state!
2. Late 1992 – early 1993. During this short period
of time, there has been a clear difference in the development
of the central and regional press, a significant reduction
in the central circulation of publications has led to a fragmentation of the audience of the Russian media and a decrease
in their influence.
3. The end of 1993 to mid-1995. The market of mass media
was almost not extended, it was also a period of media concentration, the emergence and consolidation of the market’s first
media magnate.
4. Mid-1995 – 1996 marked by the return of politicized
capital, activated by the approach of the federal election cycle
(parliamentary and presidential elections), at the same time
the first pro-state media holding ORT (public television of Russia) is being created. New media holdings at the same time expressed the interests of the new owners in stabilizing the situation in the country and offered communication channels to
the parties in power in exchange for admission to the division
of state property during privatization.
5. 1996–1998. The mass media are becoming the main medium of political communications and are beginning to play
a key role in the outcome of political conflicts. The importance
of the printed press is noticeably declining, while television is
increasing: TV news and analytical programs become an arena
for politicians and information technology specialists, the interests of the direct owners of the media determine the politi-
74
cal position of their publications, which is especially noticeable
during the numerous privatization scandals. Another important long-term trend is the penetration of Moscow media into
regional markets.
6. 1998 – early 2000s. The financial and economic crisis
of 1998, along with the state’s attempts to play a key role in the
decision-making process, determined the further development
of relations between the state and the media. The main features
of this period were: strengthening the role of the state in the
media system (the authorities were trying to rely on the support of not only the large media holdings owned by politicized
capital, but also on their own media, the first of which is the
United TV and radio holding on the basis of VGTRK), Building
a “vertical of power” under V.V. Putin, the formation of support for the presidential course in the form of a parliamentary
majority, the consolidation of socio-political forces around the
leader of the country, the beginning of institutional reforms
in the most important spheres of life of the Russian society –
all this required appropriate information support, which could
not be carried out by the large print and electronic media in the
hands of the oligarchs.
Features of the present stage of interaction between the
state and the media (beginning 2000 – present) are:
• deoligarchization and establishing of a dominant control by the state, through its relevant institutions and structures that increase the level of use of manipulative technologies;
• entry into the system of the Russian TV ORT, VGTRK
(TV channels Russia, Culture, Sports, News), TVC, NTV, STS,
REN-TV and many others);
• the expansion of the number of radio broadcasting companies and the number of their programs;
• the increased personalization of programs;
• the extension of “information-analytical broadcasting”;
• the fragmentation of the information space, domination
the Federal agenda in the regional media;
75
• сounteracting the negative information impact on Russian citizens by foreign agents and foreign media1.
Among the main media groups in modern Russia are the
following: Socio-political media: two multiplexes based on
digital broadcasting (RTRS-1 multiplex includes the following channels: channel One, Russia-1, Match TV, NTV, channel
Five, Russia-K, Russia-24, Carousel, OTR, TvCenter; RTRS-2:
RenTV, Spas, STS, Home, TV-3, Friday, Star, TNT, MuzTV,
MIR). The second group is represented by business media serving the interests of the commercial sector (RBC, Business FM,
Kommersant, Power). They still have their own segment of the
tabloids, the yellow press.
Despite the active development of the Internet, television
remains the main source of information in Russia. In Russia,
most of the federal TV channels are combined into multiplexes. A multiplex is a package of TV and radio broadcasting channels, which is broadcast by one transmitter and, as a rule, occupies the bandwidth of one Federal TV channels and their
subjects, the first multiplex.
TV channel. Currently, two multiplexes are operating and
several more channels are considered federal, but do not belong
to any of the packages.
Unlike the constituent elements of the first multiplex,
which devote a significant part of the airtime to news programs
that form the basis of the broadcasting grid, the channels of the
second are primarily entertaining or specialized.
1
On November 25, 2017, Law No. 327-FZ was adopted, introducing
the concept of media-foreign agent. The Ministry of Justice may recognize
as a foreign agent any foreign media that receives funding or property
from foreign bodies or citizens directly or through Russian legal entities.
76
Federal TV channels and their subjects, the second multi-
plex:
77
The tables above reflect the main topics of federal TV channels broadcasting, and it is clearly seen that the first multiplex
is mainly made up of channels of a general orientation, which
allows one to devote enough airtime to programs whose content
is in line with the goals of the adopted information policy of the
state. Today, as a rule, the most socially significant programs
are recognized as:
• information, news programs;
• information and analytical programs;
• publicistic programs;
• programs with cultural and educational functions;
• educational and entertainment programs;
• programs aimed at children.
In general, at the end of 2020, the number of registered mass
media in Russia is 62,237. Of these, 39,794 are print periodicals,
21,351 are electronic publications, and 1,092 are news agencies.
Thus, the share of printed periodicals in Russia is 64%
1
.
Taking into account the data of sociological surveys, in the
early 2020s, 74% of Russians use the Internet; 39% of Russians usually read news in search engines, 19% in social networks, 14% each watch news videos and messenger feeds, 12%
read online media. The most popular search engines for reading
news are Yandex (33% of Russians use it for this purpose) and
Google (16%). Among the social networks for getting acquainted with the news, people most often choose VKontakte (14%),
Instagram (12%), Telegram (9%) and WatsApp (8%). Among
the sites are vesti.ru (13%), rian.ru (9%), lenta.ru (8%)
2
.
Messengers have received special development over the past
10 years. So, as of the beginning of 2021, WhatsApp (50%) was
the leader among messengers in Russia in terms of popularity,
1
В 2020 г. в РФ было зарегистрировано 627 новых печатных СМИ.
Данные с сайта Союза предприятий печатной индустрии от 14.02.2021.
2
Источники информации. Интернет. Популярность источников
новостей в интернете. https://fom.ru/SMI-i-internet/14689 (accessed
03.04. 2022).
78
Telegram is more than twice as popular (22%), and Viber is five
times (10%). Among social networks, the first and second places belong to the domestic projects VKontakte and Odnoklassniki
(38% and 29%, respectively). However, a photo and video service with elements of the social network Instagram came close to
them (28%). TikTok, Facebook and Twitter services were used by
15%, 14% and 6% of Russians respectively
1
. However, as a result
of the military operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine,
the balance between non-Russian and Russian messengers will obviously be changed in favor of VKontakte and Odnoklassniki.
In relations with the expert community in the 1990s – 2000s,
the state allowed some analytical structures to take part in the
decision-making process. (It should immediately be noted that
we are talking about an independent or relatively independent
examination of the state. It should not be forgotten that a sufficient number of state expert structures function in the structure
of state institutions.) Many analytical centers received government orders: the Institute for Public Planning (INOP), Politika,
VTsIOM, as well as the Institute of the CIS Countries, the Center
for Political Conjuncture (CSP). The executive power cooperated
2
with the largest sociological services in Russia (VCIOM
, FOM3).
1
Социальные сети и мессенджеры. Какими социальными сетями и мессенджерами пользуются россияне? https://fom.ru/SMI-i-
internet/14555 (accessed 03.04.2022).
2
VCIOM VTsIOM / (Russian Public Opinion Research Center) is
the first and the largest polling firm in the Former Soviet Union (FSU).
Established in 1987, it is most widely known polling company in Russia.
VCIOM is especially known for its weekly nationwide representative
opinion polls (Omnibus type of survey conducted face to face), daily
telephone surveys and regular online studies. In 2017, the company
launched its daily telephone-based survey project called “Sputnik” (1600
respondents per day) and today VCIOM is the only company in the postSoviet space which measures public opinion on the current issues in realtime mode (the data is collected every day). Information from the official
website of VTsIOM https://wciom.com/about.
3 The Public Opinion Foundation is a Russian organization engaged in
sociological research. It was established in 1991 as an independent public
79
Currently, these two services continue to be in constant contact
with representatives of the Russian political and administrative
elite. The problems of interaction between experts and authorities in modern Russia are: lack of resources – especially financial – for the payment of expert works with a strong demand
of power in the scientific and expert support; lack of appropriate
mechanisms and communications procedures; interest in the expert assistance of representatives of the higher echelons of power (the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation,
Chairman of the Government, governors); recommendations and
personal contacts are the main determinants of the choice of experts and analytical power of the external structures.
The role of the expert community is also evident on the basis of an analysis of the demand for specific results of their
activities on the part of the federal and regional political and
administrative elites. Thus, the most popular forms are counseling and targeted research, the average degree of demand is
observed for training, expertise, analytical forecasting. The
least popular forms are development of a draft decision, identifying gaps (testing), report development.
It is necessary to highlight problems of the Russian state information policy at the present stage:
• the imperfection of personnel and administrative state
structures;
• the weak interaction of authorities with non-governmen-
tal structures;
organization within the structure of VTsIOM in order to attract funds
from charitable foundations to the center. In mid-1992, the Foundation
left the VTsIOM and, remaining in the status of an independent nonprofit organization, became one of the leading sociological organizations
in Russia, performing a large amount of custom and own research using a
wide range of survey methods. In 1996, the Foundation became the basic
sociological organization of B.N. Yeltsin’s campaign headquarters. The
Fund played a similar role in the headquarters of V.V. Putin in 1999–2000
and in 2004. The main customer and consumer of the Foundation’s research
results is the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation.
80
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