The Russian media system under digitalization: dynamics and current characteristics

This article provides an analytical review of Russian and international media studies devoted to transformations of Russia’s media system under the influence of digitalization. The aim is to systematize scholarly views on the dynamics of the Russian media system in the context of the technological revolution, to link stages of global ICT transformations with the trajectory of national development, and to propose a periodization of changes from the 1980s to the present. The theoretical framework draws on interdisciplinary approaches to understanding media (information / network / digital society, mediatization, technological determinism, and platform studies), as well as the concept of the media system, which elucidates the relationship between media and political, economic, and institutional contexts. The author emphasizes the “dual nature” of media system dynamics–the interaction of technological and socio-political factors–manifested in changes in media economics, professional practices, regulatory frameworks, and media consumption.

A key result is the reconstruction of the stages of the “reassembly” of the Russian media system in the context of global digitalization (1985–1991; 1991–1999; 2000–2009; 2010–2015; 2015–2020; 2020s–present), as well as a comparison of the “architecture” of the media system in the 20th and 21st centuries. The paper shows that the transition from an analog to a digital environment is accompanied by the growth of multichannel media and digital inequality, audience fragmentation and the individualization of media consumption, the blurring of boundaries of professional journalism, the increasing role of platforms, and the emergence of new actors in content production and distribution (bloggers, SMM specialists, podcast creators, etc.).

The conclusion outlines key theoretical challenges: the acceleration and growing complexity of media dynamics; the need to rethink the question of preserving / changing the essence of media (the logic of mediamorphosis / mediametamorphosis); and the need to develop conceptual tools and interdisciplinary explanatory models for analyzing today’s media environment.

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