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Dictators and democracy: reflective journalistic practice in covering post-Soviet Russia

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Sloane, Wendy (2025) Dictators and democracy: reflective journalistic practice in covering post-Soviet Russia. Doctoral thesis, London Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

My thesis commentary ‘Dictators and Democracy: Reflective Journalistic Practice in Covering Post-Soviet Russia’ examines the evolving landscape of journalism in and about Russia, and my journalistic work within it. It focuses on two pivotal periods: the years immediately surrounding the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 - and slightly before - and the aftermath of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. My analysis delves into several key issues: the suppression of free journalism in Russia; the mechanisms of censorship and self-censorship (including topics now off-limits to journalists) the extent of access granted to foreign reporters, and the creative strategies that news organisations employ to bypass restrictions and maintain dynamic coverage, including the deployment of proxy journalists - here, the use of journalists on the ground to anonymously report for banned or exiled media outlets. Additionally, a key aspect of the commentary is a reflection on my own experiences reporting on Russia, both from within the country and from the UK. It examines my reporting during the Soviet period and its aftermath, especially in relation to how new legislation and regulations influenced my own reporting - shaping not just what could be said, by how it was said, and by whom - with recommendations for further practice.

To accomplish this, my work presented for examination - 52 articles in all - alongside the commentary is divided into two main parts. The first comprises articles published internationally when I was a foreign correspondent based in Russia for news outlets such as Moscow Magazine (a joint venture between a Dutch publishing house and the Union of Soviet Journalists), The Associated Press, The Daily Telegraph, Christian Science Monitor, and others, from the late 1980s to the early to mid-1990s. The second section includes more recent articles published in the UK press and academia, such as in the British Journalism Review and the London Economic, all written in the wake of the 2022 invasion.

To clarify my findings, I have divided my published work into four sections, each chosen to show a specific genre and period, to see how Russia’s political system has influenced my journalism. The four sections are:

1) coverage of vulnerable groups
2) long-form journalistic profiles
3) censorship in the media: Gorbachev and Yeltsin
4) censorship in the media: Putin (including the rise of fake news)

The sections are supported by a literature review of the politics and policies of (mainly) post-Soviet Russia and their impact on journalism. Through this framework, I aim to demonstrate to what extent the post-Soviet political climate, including reporters’ actions vis-à-vis the regime, has shaped the practice of daily journalism about Russia. My over-arching goal is to identify, both through my journalistic work and my commentary, how this environment has influenced and continues to influence contemporary journalistic practice. It demonstrates how journalism in Russia cannot (so far) work independently of governmental oversight, and how “proxy journalism” cannot substitute for real, in-person reportage.

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