Soviet and Russian Press Coverage of the United States

This text examines changing Soviet and Russian press coverage of the United States from the emergence of Mikhail Gorbachev through the re-election victory of Boris Yeltsin as Russian president in 1996. Becker argues that due to the absence of a language to support the reform strategy, the Soviet press presented positive images of its chief ideological and military opponent, the United States, as a means of supporting political, social and economic reform. He suggests that the end of the Cold War and the emergence of a more self confident Russia means that the symbolic and discursive significance of the United States for Russia has diminished.