On the current importance and challenges of quantitative studies of Russian media

This paper presents the results of a research, which is part of the project "Developing the Fundamentals of Russian Media Theory Under the Transformation of Social Practices and Mass Media Digitalization". As the conceptual framework of media theory cannot develop and improve apart from a systemic study of actual media practices, it was decided to conduct an independent research aimed at collecting all available statistical data on the Russian media system. Being aware of the numerous objective difficulties potentially involved in this work, the team of researchers initially set a major goal to empirically determine and classify the challenges to large-scale quantitative studies of Russian media and only then try to establish a database. Within the frames of the research "Russian Media Map", it was intended to do the following: ascertain the number of actually existing mass media outlets, their actual brands, types, range of themes, periodicity, language and reach, their founders and license holders as well as the economic characteristics of media enterprises. The main method was an analysis of the official registers of two state bodies, Roskomnadzor and Rosstat. The media system of a large constituent entity of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Bashkortostan, was selected as a case for the pilot study. In the course of a detailed two-phase examination of mass media in the region, two major obstacles preventing the collection of statistical information were identified. The first basic problem is that it is impossible to find out the exact number of actually existing mass media outlets under the current accounting system. The second problem is related to the fact that the financial statements of media enterprises are not always complete and relevant. The obtained results confirmed the suggestion that in contemporary Russia there is no possibility to collect all the required data on any sample of mass media and check their validity. However, the authors believe that the obstacles discovered in the course of the research should not be seen as constant because external changes can drastically improve the situation, so it seems reasonable to occasionally go back to the project to test the possibilities of solving the tasks at hand. This is explained by the fact that it is the studies involving quantitative methods that prove to be especially important for the verification of most scientific hypotheses.

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