Four facets of critical news literacy in a non-democratic regime: how young Russians navigate their news

Fueled by the Arab spring, the question of how the rise of internet-mediated communication affects authoritarian regimes has received unprecedented attention within the discipline of communications. However, in this debate, scholars have not yet turned to the concept of literacy and addressed the role of citizens’ knowledge about political media in any greater depth. This is surprising since the concept of literacy as ‘emancipatory knowledge’ has a ‘long and proud history’ (Livingstone, 2008: 60) of being linked with processes of enlightenment, political empowerment, and democratization. The present study contributes to filling this gap by suggesting four highly consequential facets of critical news literacy in contemporary Russia, a high-profile hybrid regime. Conceptual development is grounded in western literature and 20 in-depth interviews with young, urban, and educated Russians.