Elina Erzikova

SEEKING SAFE GROUND

This paper adopts a system of professions perspective from the sociology of work to assess efforts by Russian regional journalists to redefine the purposes and standards of journalism in an increasingly constraining political and economic environment. Data from interviews and observations at four newspapers in a central Russian province reveal that journalists at these papers have responded to pressures in varied ways, suggesting fragmentation in the occupation. Journalists who came of age during perestroika now avoid public issue reporting, but they seek to maintain jurisdiction over journalistic work by serving as “in-house communicators” for officials, by advising readers on everyday individual needs, and by focusing on literary writing or moral education.

MANAGED MEDIOCRITY?: Experienced journalists’ perspectives on the “pampers generation” of Russian reporters

This paper adopts Bourdieus field theory to examine a possible professional gap between young and experienced Russian regional journalists. In-depth interviews revealed that experienced journalists have a negative view of their young colleagues, seeing them as unskilled, poorly motivated, mediocre, and submissive to authority. In turn, beginners see the older generation as lacking dynamism and dedication to helping young reporters master professional skills. It appeared that younger reporters tended to choose different professional priorities, to pursue sources of “capital” that derive from beyond the journalistic field, and to follow different historical trajectories than older journalists. Because of the dependency of media on the state and the governmental reward for mediocrity, older study participants tended to doubt that young reporters would seek or obtain a measure of journalistic autonomy.

Shifting institutional orders and responses to technological disruption among local journalists in Russia and the U.S.

This study compares U.S. and Russian news organizations’ responses to today’s disruptive environment intensified by the development of digital online technologies and global economic crisis. Findings show U.S. journalists attempt to maintain legitimacy within ‘professional’ and ‘digital network’ orders by either decoupling their digital network efforts from traditional, core operations or by assimilating digital practices within traditional journalistic practices. For Russian journalists, the dominant conflicting orders are the ‘state’ institutional order and a weak ‘professional’ order; and accord with a ‘digital network’ order is most evident outside of traditional news organizations. Overall, in both countries, a lack of response to online audiences by media outlets is common, but differing institutional environments help explain differing reasons for these responses.

Preventive journalism as a means of controlling regional media in Russia

This article utilizes new institutional theory and its principle – coercive isomorphism – to examine explicit and implicit pressures exerted on news organizations by a regional government in Russia in 2009 and 2010. The study found that while empowering regional reporters by the myth of helping underprivileged citizens, the authorities divert the media from scrutinizing the government. The political officials outsource media relations to media themselves, turning them into public relations agents. This mission seems to homogenize the content of regional newspapers since the government becomes the main source of information.

Shaken, not stirred: Western public relations practices in Russia

By contrasting some principles of Western public relations (PR) with political, social and cultural aspects of Russian society, this essay focuses on the applicability of foreign-born approaches in Russia. Although normative Western PR seems irrelevant and even contradictory to the Russian environment at the theoretical level, in reality, some Western ‘ways of doing PR’ have infiltrated Russian PR field, simultaneously changing it and mutating under the fields influence. The process of intertwining foreign and native approaches in certain spheres (mainly those that have been Westernized) in Russia seems to support the conceptualization of globalization as a de-centered process.

When the Gated Misbehave

This study analyzes online reader comments on top US newspapers’ stories related to former congressman, Anthony Weiner’s, August 2016 sexting scandal. Audience gatekeeping was seen through such discussion themes as gender bias and sexism, political scandals, and sex addiction. The analysis revealed that the majority of reader comments significantly diverged from the news topic, and many comments about US politicians were uncivil. Furthermore, online discussions “drowned out” newspapers’ intended message about Weiner’s inclusion of his toddler son into a sexually explicit selfie. This study argues that online commentary should not be perceived as a dichotomy—a negative or positive development, a contributor or preventer of public discourse—but rather as a continuum of citizen engagement.

Russian Regional Media

This study uses Bourdieu’s field theory to examine differences and similarities in digital practices among regional news organizations. Findings from interviews and field observations indicate that online journalism is fragmented in the region, with newsrooms operating on their own beliefs and interpretations. The variance can be explained by such factors as differences in managerial approaches, organizational culture, external factors, and history of the field. In addition, respondents saw online news as simplified journalism, or as a first draft of a story that has the potential to be published in the print edition. In the language of field theory, reporters do not perceive online journalism as providing cultural or symbolic capital, and there is little evidence that it offers economic capital.

News Media Ecosystems and Population Dynamics: A Cross-Cultural Analysis

Much of the classic sociological research on news production was conducted at the level of the news organization (e.g. Epstein, 1973; Tuchman, 1978; Tunstall, 1971). However, for some time, scholars have also recognized that news organizations are porous, and news is influenced by the organization’s environment (e.g. Carroll and Hannan, 1995; Tichenor, Olien and Donohue, 1980). In the early to mid-1900s, Robert Park of the Chicago School of Sociology mapped urban ecologies, studying the relationship between news media readership, community complexity, and community integration (Janowitz, 1967; Park, 1922). Research on the role of news media in complex ecosystems continued with Tichenor, Olien and Donohue (e.g. 1980), Jeffres and colleagues (e.g. 2000); Kim and Ball-Rokeach (2006); and McLeod and colleagues (e.g. 1999), among others. Within the last few years, studies of changing urban news ecosystems and ecologies in the midst of economic, technological and cultural disruption have been common (e.g. Anderson, 2013; Chicago Community Trust, 2011; Robinson, 2011).

Identity management in HIV-positive prisoners in Russia: a case study

Identity management is a salient issue for all human beings. However, identity management is profoundly complicated among multiply stigmatized individuals, such as incarcerated diseased criminals. The current study represents a first to examine stigma management communication (SMC) among HIV-positive prisoners who consider themselves members of the Russian criminal underworld. Twenty-five HIV-positive ‘black’ inmates were interviewed and observed in a Russian prison. Data were interpreted using Goffmans [1961. Asylums. Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. Chicago, IL: Aldine.] concept of the total institutions and Meisenbachs [2010. Stigma management communication: A theory and agenda for applied research on how individuals manage moments of stigmatized identity. Journal of Applied Communication, 38(3), 268–292] SMC theory. The study revealed a number of salient communication management strategies in the lives and interactions of HIV-positive Russian inmate population. Adherence to the criminal code represented an SMC strategy for identity regulation. Adherence to the criminal code reduced stigmatization during incarceration, but prevented prisoners from early or conditional release.

Ethics in Public Relations: American and Russian Students’ Perspectives on Professional Challenges

This study investigates Russian (n=206) and American (n=204) public relations students’ perceptions of relationships between ethics and public relations practice. The results suggest that, although there are some similarities, students in the two countries view professional public relations ethics and leadership quite differently. Russian participants were more likely than their American counterparts to see obstacles that might hav e prev ented them from ethical conduct. More American than Russian participants reported intentions to confront an unethical decision of superiors.