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New in paperback
Revised and expanded
During the tumultuous 1990s, as Russia struggled to shed the trappings of the Soviet empire, television viewing emerged as an enormous influence on Russian life. The number of viewers who routinely watch the nightly news in Russia matches the number of Americans who tune in to the Super Bowl, thus making TV coverage the prized asset for which political leaders intensely-and sometimes violently-compete. In this revised and expanded edition of Changing Channels, Ellen Mickiewicz provides many fascinating insights, describing the knowing ways in which ordinary Russians watch the news, skeptically analyze information, and develop strategies for dealing with news bias.
Covering the period from the state-controlled television broadcasts at the end of the Soviet Union through the attempted coup against Gorbachev, the war in Chechnya, the presidential election of 1996, and the economic collapse of 1998, Mickiewicz draws on firsthand research, public opinion surveys, and many interviews with key players, including Gorbachev himself. By examining the role that television has played in the struggle to create political pluralism in Russia, she reveals how this struggle is both helped and hindered by the barrage of information, advertisements, and media-created personalities that populate the airwaves. Perhaps most significantly, she shows how television has emerged as the sole emblem of legitimate authority and has provided a rare and much-needed connection from one area of this huge, crisis-laden country to the next.
This new edition of Changing Channels will be valued by those interested in Russian studies, politics, media and communications, and cultural studies, as well as general readers who desire an up-to-date view of crucial developments in Russia at the end of the twentieth century.
List of contents
Preface to Revised and Enlarged Edition ix
Preface xi
Television: The Prize 3
Soviet Television Rulers and Their Empire 23
Closely Watched Targets: The Nightly News, the Military, and Lenin 52
Pushing the Envelope: Reforming from Within 65
Viewers and Voters: The First Competitive Elections and the Rise of Alternative News 83
Television and Crisis: The End of Soviet Rule 98
Between Putsch and Revolt 109
Pictures, Parties, and Leaders: Television and Elections in the New Russia 135
Room for Views: Television and the Play of Controversial Positions 190
The Media Market: Politics, Commerce, and Press Freedom 217
Television at War: Private Television News Under Fire 242
Changing Channels on the Most Powerful Medium 264
Afterword 274
Notes 305
Chronology 351
Index 355
About the author
Ellen Mickiewicz is James R. Shepley Professor of Public Policy Studies and Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Communications and Journalism at Duke University. She is the author of numerous articles and books, including Split Signals: Television and Politics in the Soviet Union.
