Ukraine's Post-Communist Mass Media : Between Capture and Commercialization / Natalya Ryabinska, Andreas Umland, Marta Dyczok

Format:

Book

Conference/Event

Author/Creator:

Ryabinska, Natalya, Author.

Contributor:

Umland, Andreas Dr., Editor.

Dyczok, Marta, Author of introduction, etc.

Conference Name:

Ibidem Verlag Staff

Series:

Soviet and post-Soviet politics and society ; Volume 162.

Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society 162

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ukraine.

media.

society.

commercialisation.

Local Subjects:

Ukraine.

media.

society.

commercialisation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (174 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Hannover ibidem 2017

Biography/History:

Dr. Natalya Ryabinska is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Collegium Civitas at Warsaw. She studied at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, Karazin National University of Kharkiv, and Polish Academy of Sciences, where she has been recently also teaching 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.

Summary:

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, the fuzzy and contradictory legislation of the media realm, and the 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. Being embedded in comparative politics and post-communist media studies, it helps to 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 arrangement in the post-Soviet period. Based on empirical data of 1994–2013, this study also highlights many of the barriers to democratic reforms that have been persisting in Ukraine since the Revolution of Dignity of 2013–2014.

“Natalya Ryabinska has written a very informative and well-timed book. By referring to the ‘fluid’ state of Ukrainian media she masterfully maneuvers between general trends and tendencies detected in the rich corpus of transitology research and matches those with detailed subtleties of the studied context. 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. […] this book achieves much more—it offers fresh insights into the rises and falls of ‘daily democracy’ in Ukraine.” —Auksė Balčytienė, Professor of Journalism, Vytautas Magnus University at Vilnius, Lithuania

“This book represents a very timely, well-informed, and intelligible analysis of the troublesome development of the media system in post-Soviet Ukraine. Applying the dual concept of state/media capture, Ryabinska convincingly dissects some of the most pressing structural problems currently impeding the process of media democratization in this country. 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. “ —Dr. Václav Štětka, Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies, Loughborough University, UK

“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

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgement

Introduction

Chapter 1 Media and politics in the 'gray zone' between democracy and authoritarianism: an interdisciplinary approach

1.1. If not 'transition' then what? State capture and formation of a disabling environment for democratization

1.1.1. State capture

1.1.2. Bad habits from the past?

1.1.3. Informal institutions

1.1.4. Informal institutions and state building in transitional societies

1.2 The case of Ukraine

1.2.1. Ukraine's oligarchic system

1.2.2. The role of informal rules

1.2.3. A trajectory of institutional change in Ukraine in 1994-2013

1.2.4. Institutional void, flawed formal rules, and the supremacy of informal institutions

Chapter 2 Media capture in post-communist Ukraine

2.1. Media capture in Ukraine: actors, methods, and effects

2.1.1. Who are the captors of private media in Ukraine?

2.1.2. How does media capture affect Ukrainian media content?

2.1.3. What methods do media captors use?

2.2. Disabling environment: media regulators and media law

2.2.1. Regulatory and monitoring bodies

2.2.2. Media-related laws

Chapter 3 The media market and ownership, and economic dimension of media capture in Ukraine

3.1. The Ukrainian media market

3.1.1. Size and wealth

3.1.2. Dependence on political advertising

3.1.3. Unfinished privatization

3.1.4. Foreign investments

3.1.5. The Russian factor

3.2. The dark side of media privatization and commercialization in Ukraine

3.2.1. Oligarchic media ownership

3.2.2. Concentration of media ownership and its nature in Ukraine

3.2.3. Implications of oligarchic media ownership

3.2.4. Market-driven tabloidization or 'political yellowing'?

Conclusion: New obstacles to media reform in post-communist Ukraine

Bibliography

Name index

Subject index.

ISBN:

3-8382-7011-8

Publisher Number:

9783838270111