“It Was Honest Journalism”: An Ethnography of the Functioning of the Independent Press in a Russian Region

Abstract

This case study focuses on the reciprocal relationships between the editorial board of a regional sociopolitical newspaper and its audience as they resisted pressure from regional authorities. The widespread pressure on the press in Russian regions between 2010 and 2014 sheds light not only on the mechanisms of state control but also on the resources and resistance capabilities of independent publications. Based on interviews and retrospective autoethnography, this article analyzes the resistance of the experience of an independent newspaper operating under pressure from regional authorities in the Komi Republic, a region of Russia. Defining media production as a type of social process, I present an analysis of the role of noneconomic capital—professional standards and personal norms, solidarity, and reciprocal practices—in the survival of regional independent press in the context of pressure. The findings demonstrate the agency of the journalists and independent publications in Russian regions, as well as the role of local communities with their independent media outlets, journalists, and other social and economic actors in the struggle for press freedom and freedom of speech.

Article in Russian