Contemporary media as witness: The Russian experience of a community's (self) description

Abstract

This article examines the specifcs of the crisis in today`s media, which is manifested as a general technological and ideological gap from the principles of participatory culture. After briefy considering the international experience of media corporations, the author pays special attention to recommendations from the feld of Media Studies, which are concentrated on tuning managers` attitude towards the audience and on solving the relevant problems of the industry. As part of the study, the author analyses the case of the Russian media and concludes that multiplication of content production by involving Pro-Am witnesses does not work properly. The Russian media still operate on the basis of authoritarian and moral statements that stimulate the entrenchment of rigid principles of representation and problematisation of sociocultural realities and community practices, and downplay the value of civic refection as part of an individual and collective culture of thought and life.