Authors
Katja Lehtisaari1; 1 Tampere University, Finland Discussion
The presentation focuses on the principles and outcomes for media and communication policy in Russia. The Russian media environment is influenced by global tendencies like the rise of digital media, and by more specifically Russian developments in media markets and media policy and regulation. Russian media has been affected by the centralisation of power and media ownership. As many researchers have stated, the Russian media model can be divided into two main formats: commercial capital and capital owned or manipulated by the state (e.g. Dunn 2014, p. 1425; Lehtisaari & Miazhevich 2019). At the beginning of the 2000s, it seemed that the position of privately owned media and media as business strengthened compared with the position of government-owned or subsidized media. At that time, the country was among the most rapidly growing advertising markets in the world. It seems that the equilibrium has after the years of marketization track in the beginning of the 2000s shifted towards the stronger position of the state-controlled side of the dichotomous model. Achieving a balance between the different interests and aims in media and communications policy is a challenging process for Russia because of the traditionally strong involvement of the state in the media industry (Vartanova 2015, 139). In the center of this study are the discussions in Russian Duma, where media policy is discussed. With text analysis, the research seeks patterns on discourses on media regulation. 
