Online Ethnic Media in Multiethnic Russian Society: Current State and Main Trends

• In Event: ICA Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Poster Session: Ethnicity and Race in Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

The paper examines 75 websites, which are officially registered as media outlets in the biggest cities of eight republics of the Russian Federation. We supposed that ethno-cultural heterogeneity of these eight republics should somehow correlate with the number of ethnic media registered and issued there. In other words, the bigger the size of titular nation in the republic, the bigger the number of ethnic media there, and thus the bigger opportunites for ethnic groups to voice up their opinions, values and needs in a broader social context. The research revealed a number of qualitative and quantitative characteristics of online ethnic media, the challenges they face today (lack of original content in ethnic languages, clear dependence of the number of ethnic media upon the level of digital inequality in the country, etc.), some trends of their development, the role of the state in creating and supporting such media, and much more.

Author

• Anna Gladkova, NAMMI - National Association of Mass Media Researchers