Changing channels : television and the struggle for power in Russia / Ellen Mickiewicz.

Originally published: New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [305]-349)and index.

Preface to revised and enlarged edition -- Television : the prize -- Soviet television rulers and their empire -- Closely watched targets : the nightly news, the military, and Lenin -- Pushing the envelope : reforming from within -- Viewers and voters : the first competitive elections and the rise of alternative news -- Television and crisis : the end of Soviet rule -- Between putsch and revolt -- Pictures, parties, and leaders : television and elections in the new Russia -- Room for views : television and the play of controversial positions -- The media market : politics, commerce, and press freedom -- Television at war : private television news under fire -- Changing channels on the most powerful medium -- Afterword -- Chronology.

"Covering the period from the state-controlled television broadcasts at the end of the Soviet Union through the attempted coup against Gorbachev, the war in Chechnya, the presidential election of 1990, and the economic collapse of 1998, Mickiewicz draws on firsthand research, public opinion surveys, and many interviews with key players, including Gorbachev himself. By examining the role that television has played in the struggle to create political pluralism in Russia, she reveals how this struggle is both helped and hindered by the barrage of information, advertisements, and media-created personalities that populate the airwaves. Perhaps most significantly, she shows how television has emerged as the sole emblem of legitimate authority and has provided a rare and much-needed connection from one area of this huge, crisis-laden country to the next."--Jacket.