Freedom of expression. Ideals and realities (original) (raw)

A common Western view of Russian media is they are manipulated and censored by political forces. This view is also shared by several Russian scholars who consider the Western media system to be a model for a democratic society. On the other hand, many scholars from the EU and the USA mean that Western media are also subjected to tough control by the economic and political elite, thus, undermining the media as a democratic forum. Is there real freedom of expression-in Russia or in the Western countries-or is it just an ideal, and what are the determinants of its different representations? This paper strives to answer these questions from a discourse analytical perspective on the basis of results from interviews with media professionals in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Stockholm, Sweden, and other comparative studies within two projects financed by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies.