Glasnost vs. Glasnost’: A re-evaluation and reinterpretation of Chernobyl in Soviet media

Brett W. Taylor

Abstract


This paper investigates media coverage following the Chernobyl disaster and argues that reinterpretation and re-evaluation are required. Specifically, the existing literature’s interpretation of Chernobyl as either a glasnost failure or success will be challenged based on an alternate understanding of glasnost’ not so significantly coloured by now extinct but previously predominant ideological and political imperatives. While using Soviet Life magazine’s coverage as a case study to demonstrate the validity of this reinterpretation based on a more holistic understanding of glasnost’ this paper will concurrently draw attention to the importance of properly grounding any evaluation in a firm understanding of the contextual factors affecting both subject matter and evaluator. As will become evident through the progression of the paper the need for reinterpretation is rooted in the inability of past commentators to sufficiently separate themselves from the influence and effects of their own worldview on their interpretative lens.

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