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Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate the representation of Mikhail Gorbachev in contemporary Russian media discourse. Attention is paid to Gorbachev's social roles and activities as well as his personality, as presented in Russian news texts. The empirical data were collected over the period from 2000 to 2009 from seven major Russian newspapers. According to these data, a dual relationship to Gorbachev exists: in the West he is an honoured politician with a high profile, whereas in Russia the attitude towards him is ambivalent. In most texts he is represented as a once important political actor.
Notes
1 For remarks on his eightieth birthday party, see for example Ogonek 13/2011 and Rossiiskaya gazeta, 1 March 2011.
2 On news production in Russia see Koltsova (Citation2006, pp. 98–117); on representations and political discourse of Russian elites see Urban (Citation2010, p. 6).
3 A part of the information about these newspapers has also been retrieved from the home pages of the newspapers in question.
4 According to RussiaToday.Info (available at: http://russiatoday.strana.ru/en/media/russian/25.html, accessed 1 May 2012), Sovetskaya Rossiya reflects the interests and views of the Communist Party's left wing.
5 In 2010 Vremya Novostei was merged with the daily newspaper Moskovskie Novosti (http://www.vremya.ru/, accessed 1 May 2012).
6 See Negrine (Citation1989, pp. 179, 12); on the definition of political communication see also Denton and Kuypers (Citation2008).
7 VTSiOM (Citation2012); also see Discussion below.
8 Kommersant” has been printed and distributed in the United Kingdom since 2009.
9 Vremya Novostei, 11 March 2005.
10 Kommersant”, 14 March 2005.
11 Vremya Novostei, 11 March 2005.
12 Sovetskaya Rossiya, 31 May 2001.
13 Sovetskaya Rossiya, 2 December 2008.
14 Sovetskaya Rossiya, 21 June 2007.
15 Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 31 March 2000.
16 Vremya Novostei, 14 May 2005.
17 Vremya Novostei, 27 July 2005.
18 Kommersant”, 14 March 2005.
19 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 25 November 2009.
20 Izvestiya, 31 January 2001.
21 Kommersant”, 10 May 2005.
22 Sovetskaya Rossiya, 12 November 2005.
23 Sovetskaya Rossiya, 2 December 2008.
24 Kommersant”, 12 April 2003.
25 On the Cold War see Matlock (Citation2004, pp. 315–16, 322–23).
26 On the Westernisation of Russia see Rosefielde and Hedlund (Citation2009, pp. 56–61).
27 Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 14 August 2009.
28 Kommersant”, 21 September 2000.
29 Sovetskaya Rossiya, 12 July 2007.
30 Kommersant”, 15 June 2004.
31 Vremya Novostei, 12 September 2003.
32 Kommersant”, 12 April 2003.
33 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 16 October 2008.
34 Kommersant”, 2 March 2006.
35 Izvestiya, 22 February 2000; see also Rosefielde and Hedlund (Citation2009, pp. 49–52).
36 Vremya Novostei, 28 October 2009 and 17 November 2009.
37 Vremya Novostei, 7 December 2001.
38 Vremya Novostei, 21 January 2002.
39 Kommersant”, 5 July 2001.
40 This relates to the birthmark on Gorbachev's forehead (Sovetskaya Rossiya, 6 October 2005). In the view of Orthodox fanatics and fundamentalists, Gorbachev plays the role of an enemy of the people, which in the apocalypse will become the ‘marked Mikhail’ (Vremya Novostei, 9 April 2008).
41 Izvestiya, 10 November 2001.
42 Sovetskaya Rossiya, 5 May 2007.
43 Izvestiya, 22 June 2000.
44 Kommersant”, 23 May 2001.
45 Kommersant”, 16 August 2001.
46 Vremya Novostei, 22 September 2003.
47 Vremya Novostei, 25 June 2001 and 26 November 2001.
48 Izvestiya, 23 May 2001.
49 Izvestiya, 27 September 2000.
50 Vremya Novostei, 18 October 2004.
51 Vremya Novostei, 14 December 2006.
52 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 31 May 2007.
53 Kommersant”, 2 February 2005.
54 Kommersant”, 11 August 2000.
55 Vremya Novostei, 2 March 2005; Kommersant”, 30 January 2008.
56 Vremya Novostei, 9 November 2009.
57 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 20 September 2007.
58 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 20 September 2007.
59 Kommersant”, 16 October 2002.
60 Kommersant”, 13 June 2006.
61 Izvestiya, 21 September 2009.
62 Kommersant”, 30 September 2005.
63 Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 29 November 2008.
64 Izvestiya, 18 June 2009.
65 Sovetskaya Rossiya, 27 May 2004.
66 Vremya Novostei, 22 February 2002.
67 For instance, Gorbachev had a close relationship with Mauno Koivisto, President of Finland (see Koivisto Citation1997). In 1984 Koivisto was asked to inform Gorbachev in advance about the situation that would face him in Britain and tell him about Mrs Thatcher's eagerness to meet him (Koivisto Citation1997, pp. 65–66).
68 Izvestiya, 3 August 2006.
69 Izvestiya, 6 October 2000.
70 Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 24 May 2007.
71 Izvestiya, 12 September 2000.
72 Izvestiya, 27 October 2000.
73 Izvestiya, 2 March 2001.
74 On the title of a high-status person, see van Leeuwen (2008, p. 40).
75 Izvestiya, 5 February 2004.
76 Izvestiya, 6 March 2007.
77 Kommersant”, 1 July 2005.
78 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 16 October 2006.
79 Izvestiya, 17 April 2004.
80 Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 10 October 2009.
81 Sovetskaya Rossiya, 5 July 2001.
82 Sovetskaya Rossiya, 16 August 2001.
83 Izvestiya, 14 April 2001.
84 On the ending of the Cold War see Brown (2007, pp. 239–76).
85 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 16 June 2008.
86 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 22 September 2008.
87 Sovetskaya Rossiya, 18 September 2008.
88 Izvestiya, 10 February 2004.
89 Kommersant”, 19 February 2004.
90 Vremya Novostei, 10 February 2004.
91 Izvestiya, 19 April 2001.
92 Izvestiya, 14 March 2008.
93 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 3 March 2011.
94 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 8 September 2006.
95 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 18 April 2007.
96 Izvestiya, 15 April 2009.
97 Kommersant”, 20 June 2001.
98 Vremya Novostei, 26 April 2002.
99 Izvestiya, 1 June 2001.
100 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 4 April 2008.
101 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 12 February 2009.
102 Vremya Novostei, 8 June 2004.
103 Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 5 April 2011.
104 Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 2 October 2001.
105 Izvestiya, 28 September 2007.
106 Izvestiya, 1 August 2007.
107 Kommersant”, 30 July 2007.
108 Izvestiya, 23 October 2003.
109 This was subsequently published in Rossiiskaya gazeta, 16 September 2009.
110 Izvestiya, 2 March 2001.
111 Izvestiya, 18 July 2008.
112 Vremya Novostei, 4 April 2006.
113 Izvestiya, 15 January 2007.
114 Izvestiya, 15 March 2000.
115 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 23 October 2008.
116 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 21 October 2005.
117 Kommersant”, 27 October 2008.
118 Vremya Novostei, 19 April 2002.
119 Kommersant”, 30 July 2007.
120 Levada Centre (Citation2011); for more on opinion polls see Brown (Citation2007, pp. 325–28).
121 Kommersant”, 2 March 2011.
122 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 13 November 2007.
123 Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 2 March 2009.
124 Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 20 April 2009.
125 Izvestiya, 2 February 2001.
126 Izvestiya, 29 March 2011; Rossiiskaya gazeta, 3 March 2011.
127 Rossiiskaya gazeta, 1 March 2011.
128 Izvestiya, 16 February 2006.