Innovative thinking or distortion of journalistic values? How the lack of trust creates non-transparency in the Russian media

Abstract

This study focuses on Russian journalism as an example of an institution in which the changing business media model and financial pressures provide a unique opportunity for innovation in how business is conducted. The Russian innovation ecosystem faces severe challenges that have led to a rethinking of the traditional journalistic principles of objectivity, fair coverage, and newsworthiness. The results of this study indicate that non-transparent media practices exist in Russian journalism as a result of unresolved issues, specifically the lack of generalised trust among members of Russian society. This research also demonstrates that Russian journalism is in some ways similar to advertising as journalists are paid not to be objective but to follow the orders of publishers. This papers discusses the implications of such distortion of fairness and objectivity as they relate to the existence of an innovative ecosystem and non-transparent media practices and provides recommendations for future studies.