Dr Ilya Yablokov
Ilya joined the department in July 2021 as Lecturer in Digital Journalism and Disinformation. Ilya’s sphere of research interests includes (but is not limited to) dis/misinformation, conspiracy theories, international broadcasting and political communication as well as journalistic practices of (self-)censorship in the post-socialist countries. His most recent projects focus on the production and dissemination of Russian state disinformation campaigns via the so-called ‘troll factories’. Together with Elisabeth Schimpfossl, Ilya is working on the monograph ‘Russian Media Mavericks: Feeding the Fire of Authoritarianism‘ about the history of Russian media elites since 1987 and the ways they contributed to Putin’s authoritarianism and the war in Ukraine. This will be published by Hurst publishers in 2023.
Ilya’s most recent monograph Russia Today and Conspiracy Theories: People, Power, Politics on RT (with Precious Chatterje-Doody) explores how Russian international broadcaster uses traditional and new media environments to spread disinformation on subnational, national and international levels. This work was spawned by Ilya’s previous research into conspiracy theories in Russia. His monograph Fortress Russia: conspiracy theories in the post-Soviet world (Polity 2018) studied how political elites in post-Soviet Russia use conspiracy theories for political purposes and to boost social cohesion under Vladimir Putin. Its Russian version had three editions and was included in a longlist of best non-fiction books of 2020.
Ilya’s research was featured in the number of international media, including The New York Times, Al-Jazeera, The Moscow Times, The Times, Open Democracy Russia, The Conversation, Meduza and BBC World Service.
For full publication list click here.
- Yablokov I & Schimpfössl E (2021) A brief history of news making in Russia. Journalism, 22(12), 2895-2905.
- Post-socialist self-censorship : Russia, Hungary and Latvia. European Journal of Communication, 35(1), 29-45.
- Self-censorship narrated: journalism in Central and Eastern Europe. European Journal of Communication, 35(1), 3-11.
- Anti-Jewish conspiracy theories in Putin’s Russia. Antisemitism Studies, 3(2), 291-316.
- Global crises as Western conspiracies: Russian theories of oil prices and the ruble exchange rate. Journal of Soviet and post-Soviet politics and society, 3(2), 47-86.
- Social networks of death : conspiracy panics and professional journalistic ethics in the post-Soviet Russia. Quaderni, 94, 53-62.
- Power lost and freedom relinquished: Russian journalists assessing the first post-Soviet decade. The Russian Review, 76(3), 526-541.
- From Soviet to Russian media managers. Russian Politics, 2(1), 7-31.
- Media elites in Post-Soviet Russia and their strategies for success. Russian Politics, 2(1), 32-53.
- Introducing Russia’s media aristocracy. Russian Politics, 2(1), 1-5.
- Fortress Russia Conspiracy Theories in the Post-Soviet World. John Wiley & Sons.
- Russia Today and Conspiracy Theories. Routledge
- Conspiracy theories and fake news In Butter M & Knight P (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories. London: Routledge.
- Conspiracy theories in Putin’s Russia: the case of the ‘New World Order’ In Knight P & Butter M (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories. London: Routledge.
- Conspiracy Theories in Post-Soviet Russia In Uscinski J E (Ed.), Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them (pp. 360-371). Oxford University Press.