Focusing on the case of Russia during Putin's first two presidential terms this book examines
media manipulation strategies in electoral authoritarian regimes. Which instruments and
approaches do incumbent elites employ to skew media coverage in favour of their preferred
candidate in a presidential election? What effects do these strategies have on news content?
Based on two case studies of the presidential election campaigns in Russia in 2000 and in 2008
this investigation identifies the critical internal mechanisms according to which these regimes
work. Looking at the same country while it transformed from a competitive into a hegemonic
authoritarian regime allows one to make a diachronic comparison of these two regime types
based on the Most-Similar Systems Design. The book explicates the subtle differences between
competitive and hegemonic regimes different types of media manipulation strategies the
diverging extent of media instrumentalisation various interactions among state actors large
business owners the media and journalists the respective effects that all these factors and
interactions have on media content and the peculiar types of bias prevalent in each type of
regime. This deep exploration of post-Soviet politics is based on extensive review of documents
interviews with media professionals and quantitative as well as qualitative content analyses
of news media during two Russian presidential election campaigns.
