Media Systems of the Post-Soviet Space: Evolution Vectors and Research Methods

The article examines the features of media systems in the post-Soviet space and examines the evolution vectors and methods of studying these media systems. In the introduction, the authors set the task of comparing post-Soviet media systems, identifying the general principles of their functioning, highlighting "intra-system" and "external" factors related to the economic and political spheres, as well as to the changes that affected the mass media audience, influencing the development vectors of post-Soviet media systems. In the methodological part of the article, the authors summarize approaches to the study of post-Soviet media systems, including the works of Russian researchers, as well as Western specialists. Since the late 1980s, the works of Western researchers have paid more attention to media as a tool for constructing a special reality, especially in connection with the development of the Internet. It is noted that specific domestic traditions of studying the mass media are characterized by an increased interest in journalism in all its forms. At the same time, the emphasis of Russian research is currently shifting towards the study of media systems and digital media. In the section devoted to the results of the study, the authors note that in Russia the emergence of digital media platforms has led to significant changes in the structures of the traditional media system, which is now a complex multi-component system. Similar processes are observed in the media systems of post-Soviet Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. In the final, discussion section, the authors come to the conclusion that the digitalization of media systems in the post- Soviet space poses challenges for the CIS countries to use digitalization tools to develop common approaches and a unified information policy for the Eurasian information space.