Influence on the Media: Part 2

“From the beginning the priority assigned to science and technology by Gorbachev has been striking. Shortly before succeeding Chernenko as party leader, he identified research and development as playing a potentially crucial role in reinvigorating the flagging Soviet economy.”

(Kneen, 1989)

In Part 1 of ‘Influence on the Media’, we discussed how Gorbachev changed the role of the media in the USSR, allowing for the high government transparency that Perestroika required. Here we explore Gorbachev’s ‘take on technology’ and how this would impact the media and hence public perception. Gorbachev’s political philosophy is in stark contrast to Putin’s, with the former bringing democracy to the USSR while Putin restored order in a sense to the country. This political philosophy is communicated well through the media; Putin has lamented in the past that the breakup of the Soviet Union was the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century” which was met by the Russian public with cheers, not jeers. (Baker, 2017)

With the exponential growth in technology and the emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the 2010s, there has been a shift from the traditional media sources present in the Gorbachev era, towards expansive communication methods like the Internet. This has allowed for quicker news, and a pervasive method of sharing content has emerged through social media. Russia has seen the introduction of new legislation that veers away from Gorbachev’s transparency ideals. The proposed internet legislation includes a ban on YouTube and it’s been three months since Russia passed the sovereign internet law giving it the right to cut RuNet — the Russian part of the internet — off from the rest of the online world. (Lindenau, 2020) Not much has changed, despite fears that the new legislation would usher in an era of strict control. So how would Gorbachev respond to such reforms? And how would the former Soviet politician adapt to use modern forms of communication? To establish how Gorbachev would influence information systems today we should look at his previous commitments. History tends to repeat itself.

“Both international and domestic pressures have forced Mikhail Gorbachev to launch his ambitious program to revitalize and modernize the Soviet economy with scientific and technological (S&T) progress as an avowed key. The Soviets fear that a permanent technology gap with the West in many key areas will have grave implications for their status in the world community and particularly for their defense posture, which requires new technologies of unprecedented scope and complexity. Many of these technologies must also be developed rapidly to keep pace with the West. Also, Gorbachev needs to shed the economic lethargy of the Brezhnev years and tap the energies and skills of a new generation of Soviet leaders at the national and local levels to develop new strategies that ensure adequate future growth.”

(Directorate of Central Intelligence, 1987)

Gorbachev would seemingly be adamant to address the “permanent technology gap with the West” as alluded to above. However, this would likely not transpire to the authoritarian approach Russia has taken for internet laws in 2019/2020. From learning of Gorbachev’s openness and transparency values, I could see him being a critic of the RuNet laws, potentially seeing them as an attack on internet freedom. At the least, these laws could be better communicated with the people, particularly the younger population - a survey from the independent Levada Center pollster showed that half of young Russians are thinking about leaving the country. (Lindenau, 2020) The internet industry, which accounts for about 4% of Russian GDP, is most likely to be affected by this brain drain and will have to adapt to changing circumstances to stay innovative under the watch of the Kremlin.

What else would Gorbachev change in modern day Russia? Perhaps he may oppose the Russian parliament passing what’s become known as the ‘law against Apple’. (Nadeau, 2020) The new legislation, passed in November 2019, will require all smartphone devices to preload a host of applications that provide the Russian government with a glut of information about its citizens, including their location, finances, and private communications. Digital rights activists such as Artem Kozlyuk, founder of the NGO Roskomsvoboda (‘Russian media freedom’) oppose the law, telling the Moscow Times that devices are already stuffed with a huge number of services, a number of which can secretly collect information: location, tools and services being used. Likewise, Russia’s ban on the sale of devices—smart phones, computers, tv sets—without pre-installed Russian software would likely go against Gorbachev’s attempts to democratize the economy (Rodgers, 2019). Gorbachev critiques this high level of autocratic control over the citizens of Russia in his critique of Putin: “Does the leader determine the system or vice versa?”

One article I read to get a great insight into Gorbachev’s impact on the media was ‘Changes in the media under Gorbachev: The case of television’ by Ellen Mickiewicz (2007) which describes how the Soviet media led the way in process of mobilization. Mickiewicz (2007) describes how television has become the first truly national medium in Soviet history, reaching virtually all parts of the country and attracting an audience the size of which has never been approached before. Gorbachev’s support of technology in regenerating the Soviet economy is outlined in Soviet S&T Policies and Strategies Under Gorbachev (1987). Gorbachev’s intentions included modernizing the machine-building sector, improving long term science and technology planning, and redefining the roles of large S & T policymakers. There was a shift in emphasis from strategy design to problems of implementation - as Gorbachev puts it, "The main task now is to transform the energy of intentions into the energy of actions."

References:

1. Baker, P. (2017). Mikhail Gorbachev Brought Democracy to Russia and Was Despised for It. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/books/review/william-taubman-gorbachev-his-life-and-times.html.

2. Kneen, P. (1989). Soviet science policy under Gorbachev. Soviet Studies, 41(1), pp.67-87.

3. Directorate of Central Intelligence (1987). Soviet S&T Policies and Strategies Under Gorbachev. National Intelligence Estimate.

4. Rodgers, J. (2019). Russia Set To Ban Sales Of Devices Without Russian Software: Why?. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesrodgerseurope/2019/11/23/russia-set-to-ban-sales-of-devices-without-russian-software-why/#8c3072677e9f.

5. Lindenau, J. (2020). Will Russia Enforce Its New Internet Laws in 2020? - The Moscow Times. [online] The Moscow Times. Available at: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/01/03/will-russia-enforce-new-internet-laws-i2020-a68802.

6. Mickiewicz, E. (2007). Changes in the media under Gorbachev: The case of television. [online] Taylor & Francis. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13523278808414935.

7. Nadeau, J. (2020). Apple has a Vladimir Putin problem. [online] Fast Company. Available at: https://www.fastcompany.com/90456530/apple-has-a-vladimir-putin-problem.