TY - JOUR
T1 - News media repertoires and strategic narrative reception
T2 - A paradox of dis/belief in authoritarian Russia
AU - Szostek, Joanna
PY - 2018/1/1
Y1 - 2018/1/1
N2 - With internet access, citizens in non-democracies are often able to diversify their news media repertoires despite government-imposed restrictions on media freedom. The extent to which they do so depends on motivations and habits of news consumption. This article presents a qualitative study of the motivations and habits underlying news media repertoires among a group of digitally connected university students in authoritarian Russia. Interviews reveal awareness and dissatisfaction vis-a-vis the 'propagandistic' nature of state-controlled news content, resulting in a preference for using multiple different sources - including foreign websites and 'non-official' citizen accounts - to build a personal understanding of what is 'really' going on. The article then examines how the students make sense of conflicting narratives about international affairs which they encounter in state and non-state sources. Paradoxically, low reported consumption of distrusted, 'propagandistic' state television is often accompanied by reproduction of the overarching strategic narrative which state television conveys.
AB - With internet access, citizens in non-democracies are often able to diversify their news media repertoires despite government-imposed restrictions on media freedom. The extent to which they do so depends on motivations and habits of news consumption. This article presents a qualitative study of the motivations and habits underlying news media repertoires among a group of digitally connected university students in authoritarian Russia. Interviews reveal awareness and dissatisfaction vis-a-vis the 'propagandistic' nature of state-controlled news content, resulting in a preference for using multiple different sources - including foreign websites and 'non-official' citizen accounts - to build a personal understanding of what is 'really' going on. The article then examines how the students make sense of conflicting narratives about international affairs which they encounter in state and non-state sources. Paradoxically, low reported consumption of distrusted, 'propagandistic' state television is often accompanied by reproduction of the overarching strategic narrative which state television conveys.
UR - http://nms.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/07/01/1461444816656638.abstract
U2 - 10.1177/1461444816656638
DO - 10.1177/1461444816656638
M3 - Article
SN - 1461-4448
VL - 20
SP - 68
EP - 87
JO - New Media and Society
JF - New Media and Society
IS - 1
ER -