ABSTRACT
The task of keeping up with and recording the development of the Soviet media since 1986 has not been easy. Even journalists, who are paid to keep us informed of events on a daily and weekly basis, have been strained to follow the tortuous debates and multitudinous reforms which have accompanied glasnost and perestroika in the media. For an academic writer, who must timetable projects in terms of years, it is rather like the tortoise trying to catch the hare.
