Ukraine's Post-Communist Mass Media: Between Capture and Commercialization (Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society) - Softcover

Ryabinska, Natalya

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3838210514 ISBN 13: 9783838210513

Publisher: ibidem Press, 2017

Synopsis

Natalya Ryabinska calls into question the commonly held opinion that the problems with media reform and press freedom in former Soviet states merely stem from the cultural heritage of their communist (and pre-communist) past. Focusing on Ukraine, she argues that, in the period after the fall of communism, peculiar new obstacles to media independence have arisen. They include the telltale structure of media ownership, with news reporting being concentrated in the hands of politically engaged business tycoons, fuzzy and contradictory legislation governing the media, and informal institutions of political interference in mass media.

The book analyzes interrelationships between politics, the economy, and media in Ukraine, especially their shadowy sides guided by private interests and informal institutions. Drawing on comparative politics and post-communist media studies, it helps understand the nature and workings of the Ukrainian media system situated in between democracy and authoritarianism. It offers insights into the inner logic of Ukraine's political system and institutional arrangements in the post-Soviet period. It also highlights many of the barriers to democratic reforms that have persisted in Ukraine since the Revolution of Dignity of 2013–2014.

About this title

About the Author:

Natalya Ryabinska is assistant professor of sociology at the Collegium Civitas at Warsaw. She has also taught at the Polish Academy of Sciences in the doctoral programs in sociology and political science. Her papers have appeared in Problems of Post-Communism, Global Media Journal, Polish Sociological Review, and Central European Journal of Communication.

Review:

This book represents a very timely, well-informed, and intelligible analysis of the troublesome development of the media system in post-Soviet Ukraine... Her emphasis on exposing informal practices and rules shaping the relationship between media and politics, as well as the explicit embeddedness of the study in the broader context of the situation in post-transition Central and Eastern Europe will make this book an original and highly valuable contribution to the study of journalism, media, and democracy in this part of the world. (Vaclav Stetka, Loughborough University)

Natalya Ryabinska has written a very informative and well-timed book... By vividly describing relationships between polity, economy, and media, she progressively releases the statement that threats to media freedom, its independence, and further democratization in Ukraine stem not from a lack of appropriate legislation (i.e. formal institutions) but rather local conditions and practices shaped through a complex variety of contextually destined political and economic influences... Offers fresh insights into the rises and falls of 'daily democracy' in Ukraine. (Auksė Balčytienė, Vytautas Magnus University at Vilnius, Lithuania)

This is one of the most detailed and sophisticated analyses of the Ukrainian media system. By thoroughly examining its political and economic context, Natalya Ryabinska shows why the post-communist transformation of the Ukrainian media did not lead to the establishment of an adequate tool for informing citizens and overseeing the behaviour of the authorities. As the post-Maidan Ukraine seeks to finally build a working democracy, it is important to learn from earlier failures in this endeavour. (Volodymyr Kulyk, Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev)

About this edition

• Publisher: ibidem Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 3838210514
• ISBN 13: 9783838210513
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160