National Television in Putin's Russia - The Media's Changing Role in Society and the Consolidation of Competitive Authoritarianism

Abstract

Over the course of Putin's two terms as president, national television, the most important form of media for the Russian population, fell increasingly under the control of the state and many independent channels were dismantled. Employing the 2000 and 2008 presidential elections as case studies, this thesis looks at the decline of media independence in Russia since the 1990s and considers the changing role of the mass media in Russian society and politics. In the late 1990s national television served as a means for competing oligarchs to propagate their views and political aspirations to the public. However, by 2008, pro-Kremlin coverage had become the dominant voice on national television. This is a reflection of wider trends of the time. Putin transformed the weak government that lacked sufficient coercive and organisational capacity to respond to elite challenges into a competitive authoritarian regime, where elections remain competitive, but the media and other crucial resources are biased in favour of the incumbent candidate.