A Sociological Analysis of the Role of the Media in the Political Power Legitimization Processes in Russia in the First Half of the 1990s

Abstract

This article analyzes the discursive strategies of Russian mass media during the period 1991–1993 in the con-text of the legitimization of Boris Yeltsin’s power. On the base of a qualitative discourse analysis of publications in leading print media and television interviews, the authors revealed mechanisms for constructing binary op-positions as well as techniques for symbolically stigmatizing institutional opponents who were not simply criti-cized but labeled as threats to stability and order in the country. It is established that the media strategy of op-position was accompanied by dynamics in public trust: a correlation is recorded between the intensity of con-flictual discourse and fluctuations in the president’s rating. It is concluded that in the context of a transitional society, the mass media acted as legitimation institutional mechanisms displacement with political design. They actively participated in the political design of reality, which underscores their influence on public con-sciousness and the political life of the country during this historically significant period.