Untitled - socium.ge

The Russian network society 93expression and democratic control provided by the Net. Improved access toinformation, greater selectivity, and non-hierarchical types of social andpersonal interaction afforded by information technology have been viewed bymany scholars as key features of the new society which enable citizens toavoid the manipulative and misinforming effects of mass communication(Graham, 1999: 33–4, 62).Approached from this angle, the Internet has been assessed by Russianintellectuals without any hesitation as an infrastructure for a network societyand an alternative to the traditional mass media which were propagandisticcornerstones of the authoritarian and centralized Soviet empire. The Internethas also been seen as an imperative for transforming the ex-empire into amodern democratic society, a tool to decentralize patterns of political communicationbetween power elites and ordinary citizens.From this rather simplistic point of view, some experts declared that, at thegrassroots level, there has already appeared a “professional reader,” afrequent, regular Internet user characterized by increased independence andindividuality in accessing and selecting content through Runet (Nosik, 2003:158). Consequently, this observation has produced a belief that reorganizedstructures of social power would meet the expectations of a new citizen byestablishing an open, online, individualized dialogue and inventing new formsof individual and group political participation in a digital format.In contrast to this, Runet, mainly in its political information section, hasbeen successfully transformed by the political elite into a national politicalmedium, fulfilling many functions of the old mass media. Naturally, theInternet has played a substantial role in forming local and/or individual identities,and in connecting professional or interest groups dispersed over the vastRussian territory and even globally. However, online political communicationin Russia remains under strict central control. Thus, at the beginning of thiscentury, when Russia was divided into seven federal regions (okrug) with aview to reinforcing centralization of the Russian Federation, seven big Internethubs and powerful content providers were set up around regional administrativecenters following the creation of federal super-regions. Russian politicalleaders and “oligarchs,” a particular group in the integrated Russian financial–politicalelite, have become the most influential gatekeepers of the marketin information and have obviously benefited from the limited scope of theRunet audience convinced of the ultimate freedom of speech on the Internet.The influence of the Internet on political communication was enforced inthe parliamentary (1999) and presidential (2000) elections. Sites run by thegovernment-supported Fond Effectivnoi politiki (The Foundation for EffectivePolitics) played a crucial propagandistic role in the creation of the publicimage of leading political parties and politicians. By releasing compromisingmaterial about some well-known politicians, Russian political image-makers