Glasnost

Glasnost  (Russian: Гла́сность IPA: ) is the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev.

The word is a transliteration of the Russian word Гласность and was frequently used by Gorbachev to specify the policies he believed might help reduce the corruption at the top of the Communist Party and the Soviet government, and moderate the abuse of administrative power in the Central Committee.

Glasnost also means the specific period in the history of the USSR, and then Russia, during 1990-2000 when freedom of information was not suppressed, and there was no censorship of the mass media.