«Non-Democratic» Discourse of «Democratic» Mass-Media in Russia: Analysis of Frames

The research considers the issue, whether Russian democratic mass-media are in fact politically unbiased? Despite the democratic mass media highlight their political impartiality, scholars of contentious politics connect these media with anti-governmental activity, considering it as one of the instruments of mobilization of protest movement and regime collapse. Moreover, state officials and government controlled mass media accuse democratic media in political bias. Scrutinizing media discourse of TV-Rain, Echo of Moscow, Novaya gazeta we test two hypotheses: (1) discourse of Russian democratic mass media does not correspond to normative claims of authentic democratic discourse due to the bias in favor of opposition, (2) media bias in medias differs due to the type of media. First hypothesis is particularly approved. The results show mass media functioning are substantially shaped by the political regime. Authoritarian government undermines the very possibility of political pluralism. Second hypothesis is fully approved. Media coverage of the Russian military invasion in Syria substantially varied according to the type of the media. The results contributes to the discussion on mass media functioning in hybrid and authoritarian regimes and put new issues to the research agenda for communication studies and political science. Further research should focus on the connection between democratic media and other sources of information.