Svetlana Pasti

Two Generations of Contemporary Russian Journalists

This study explores the professional roles of Russian journalists, from the perspective of 30 practitioners working in St Petersburg at the end of the 1990s. The aim is to describe how journalism has developed, what attitudes and work values professionals hold and what the prospects for the future of journalism are. A central finding is that there are two types of professional roles within contemporary journalism, representing two types of professional subculture: the old generation (practitioners of the Soviet era) and the new generation (who have joined the profession since 1990). Whereas the old generation continues to hold a cultivated view of journalism as an important societal task in natural collaboration with those in authority, the new generation is orientated towards the contemporary role of providing entertainment and perceives journalism rather as a PR role for the benefit of influential groups and people in politics and business. Despite their polarities, both generations of journalism accept the political function of journalism as a propaganda machine for the power elite during elections and other important events

The St. Petersburg Media in Transformation

Abstract The article describes the transformation of contemporary Russian media in the dual framework of common trends initiated and set to a great extent from the centre of power in Moscow, on the one hand, and specifics pertaining in the regions, on the other. As common trends characterising the post-Soviet society and media we note capitalization, westernization, commercialization and corruption. Their specific character was formed by the political and economic conditions pertaining in St. Petersburg from the end of the 1990s to the beginning the 2000s. The article is based on an empirical study of St. Petersburg media conducted 1998-2001. The data consist of pilot interviews with eleven experts in 1998, in-depth interviews with thirty journalists in the editorial offices of the eight basic media in 1999, and a survey of eleven experts in 2001. Asking in what ways the common trends dovetail into the local context, the article describes the conditions for journalism and its emerging characteristics. On the one hand, the study reveals crucial changes after the decade of reforms, such as the intensive development of informational and advertising services in society and commercialization of media and journalist’s labour. On the other hand, the study notes the forces of continuity deriving from the fact that the media and journalists formerly served the interests of the political and economic groups rather than the interests of the public.

The BRICS journalist within the changing dynamics of the early 21st century

The BRICS journalist within the changing dynamics of the early 21st century Svetlana Pasti & Jyotika Ramaprasad To cite this article: Svetlana Pasti & Jyotika Ramaprasad (2015) The BRICS journalist within the changing dynamics of the early 21st century, African Journalism Studies, 36:3, 1-7, DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2015.1073929 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2015.1073929

New news media in Russia: What is new?

ABSTRACT In Russia, the present media system is properly understood only in the context of the addition of new online media to the traditional print and electronic media; the Internet has given rise to alternative agendas and created new relations of integration and solidarity with society. This article explores these new media with the aim to clarify how they are 1) different from the traditional media in terms of the professional structure and political values of journalists, and 2) innovative to challenge present media system biases. To address these questions, journalists of the new and old media are compared on demography, political orientation and professional values, but also on their local contexts (type of city). The article is based on in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted in 72 media outlets with 144 journalists in four cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Petrozavodsk, from December 2012 to January 2015.