The Role of Social Networks in the Development of Regional Journalism in Russia

Section: New Media

The article is devoted to local media on social networks and their place in the media landscape and media communication process of Russian regions. Based on an expert survey in twenty regions of the country, the author concludes that professional and amateur media on the Internet perform similar functions, but with different effects. All the respondents highly appreciate the role of amateur media as a source of information and a resource for political technologies, as well as a space for criticism and control of public moods. At the same time, the respondents assess the quality and potential of this resource in different ways, as well as they disagree about the results of the audience‘s criticism of the government‘s actions or monitoring the mood of local communities. Some experts believe that social networks play an important role only during the pre-election period, while others suppose that it is now possible to talk about radical changes in local media landscapes. The degree of professionalization of local media on social networks is also ambiguously assessed: opinions vary from a certain recognition of citizen journalists or bloggers to a pronounced doubt that amateur resources can replace professional media.

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