Mr. Editor: The Soviet Origins of Post-Soviet Communications with the Press

• In Event: The Post-Soviet Public Sphere: Assembling a Digital Multimedia Sourcebook of the Russian 1990s

Abstract

This paper is part of a lightning round, "The Post-Soviet Public Sphere: Assembling a Digital Multimedia Sourcebook of the Russian 1990s." This presentation will examine the practice of public letter writing in the 1990s and suggests that in the post- Soviet era the letter represents an artifact of popular culture as significant as popular music and blue jeans. Public letters had their origins deep in the Soviet period, when they comprised an essential part of the public sphere in its Soviet form. Communication with public figures changed across 1991 and throughout the 1990s for at least three reasons: the radical transformation—and by some measures discreditation—of the post-Soviet Russian press; the introduction of digital technologies into newspapers and communications between editors and readers; and changing values and expectations about the press itself.

Author

• Courtney Doucette, SUNY Oswego