Changing Russian media industry: Theoretical approaches

Abstract

The article explores theoretical approaches to the nature and features of the Russian media industry under current social transformations. The author attempts to identify main theoretical approaches to defining basic concepts of the media industry in the modern media studies, as well as their paradigmatic genesis. The rapid transition of media to new technological and organizational conditions emphasized the need for academic approaches to the media industry, its connection with the society, its nature, principles and aims. The Russian media industry does not have a single agreed conceptual and terminological apparatus shared by the public, mass media, government, media professionals, educational and academic communities. Certain contradictions in the conceptualization of the media industries by Russian and foreign researchers are also evident. The author uses a polyparadigmatic approach to the analysis of the Russian media industry and consider it in the context of the main paradigms of media conceptualization — empirical functionalism, cultural paradigm and political economy. The main impact on the theoretical comprehension of the media industry, in the author’s opinion, is provided by the political economy paradigm, which analyses media industry in the context of cultural industries, critical political economy, and business. When considering the formation of the media industry in the specific Russian conditions — legislative, economic, social, technological — the author takes into account the foreign and Russian academic traditions in the media comprehension. The author outlines the terminological question: specifics of interpretation of the concepts “media industry”, “media sector”, “media business”, “media ecosystem” are taken into account. Furthermore, the author focuses on the process of the formation of the Russian media industry in market conditions and its current dynamics confirmed by the statistical data: the volume of the Russian advertising market, the number of officially registered media, the features of the media regulation legislation, etc.