Glasnost’ and the Media

Abstract

The demise of the USSR in December 1991 marked the end of a political revolution. It was, however, preceded by an intellectual revolution which had begun soon after Mikhail Gorbachev’s accession to power in 1985, and which had been crucially associated with what came to be known as glasnost’ or ‘openness’ in the Soviet media. Today the term glasnost’ has become anachronistic and has been superseded by the more familiar term ‘free speech’. The advent of glasnost’ did not produce much gratitude among the mass of Soviet citizens because it was overshadowed by a period of political disintegration, economic crisis, falling living standards and declining public morale. Yet in spite of this, the new openness was of lasting importance. Although by no means the only element in the Soviet reforms of the 1980s, it was nevertheless one of their essential ingredients. It is indeed highly doubtful whether, in the absence of glasnost’, any of the other reforms of the Gorbachev era — or indeed any of the subsequent changes in Russia — could even have begun. The present chapter makes no attempt to carry the story of the media in the former USSR beyond the end of 1991. But the media reforms of the Gorbachev era remain highly relevant to an understanding of the present — because they helped to prepare the ground for all that was to follow.