| Changing Channels: Television and the Struggle for Power in Russia Revised and Exp Edition Contributor(s): Mickiewicz, Ellen (Author) |
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ISBN: 0822324636 ISBN-13: 9780822324638 Publisher: Duke University Press OUR PRICE: $28.45 Product Type: Paperback Published: September 1999 Annotation: "From the days when Leonid Brezhnev clung to power through the tumult of Mikhail Gorbachev and the election victories of Boris Yeltsin, Russian leaders have struggled over the control of television. In this fine and penetrating book, Ellen Mickiewicz traces those struggles and examines the larger question still ahead: whether a free and independent television can emerge that will bolster prospects for a stable, democratic nation. No one else has better captured this important saga."--David Gergen, Editor at Large, "U.S. News & World Report " "For those who care about Russia's stormy evolution from dictatorship to democracy, here is an important story--the first extensive account of the crucially important revolution in Moscow television since 1985."--Hedrick Smith, author of "The New Russians "This book will enthrall and enlighten its readers with its vivid revelations of political stratagems by politicians and journalists. . . . This is a definitive study, based on lengthy interviews with the movers and shakers in the world of politics and television by a brilliant participant/observer of the momentous changes-in-the-making."--Doris A. Graber, University of Illinois at Chicago |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Performing Arts | Television - History & Criticism - History | Russia & The Former Soviet Union - Social Science | Sociology - General |
| Dewey: 302.234 |
| LCCN: 99028624 |
| Physical Information: 1.21" H x 6.18" W x 9.23" (1.53 lbs) 408 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Russia |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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. |
