Issue

Content:

• Sociology of Journalism

  «Gender, Age and Professional Features of Newsroom Staff: Results of Local Newspapers Investigation»

  The article presents the results of gender analysis of the key social and professional characteristics of the journalists in small and medium-sized cities in Russia. The level of professional competencies has been explored as well. The analysis is based on the results of survey of 153 journalists and editors-in-chief from 55 cities. The data can be used in order to identify the areas of problems caused by gender and age imbalance at the newsrooms.
  Keywords: gender analysis in media; local press; newspapers of small and medium-sized cities in Russia; gender and age imbalance at newsrooms
  Olga V. Smirnova 3

• «Journalists’ Work Quality: Some Tools for Internal Newsroom Analysis»

  Nowadays mass media are to work under the pressure of rapid changes in the ecosystem due to the spread of new technologies. It means that new approaches toward the newsroom management are highly needed. First of all the new tools for quality and efficiency measurement are to be adopted. Therefore the authors have conducted the investigation of methods that can help to detect and further manage the quality of media texts and the efficiency of journalists’ work. These methods mostly concern the calculation of rejections of the reporters’ texts and estimation of the “texts-to-rewrite” share. Both reporters’ and editors’ estimations have been analyzed. Based on this analysis the authors draw the conclusion about the validity of these tools and state that the overall professional level of newsroom staff is perceived by the editors as relatively high. Moreover the significant differences in efficiency in newsrooms of different types have been detected. The authors have revealed that age of reporters serves as the predictor for the level of work efficiency and quality of media texts.
  Keywords: quality, work efficiency, newsrooms, editors, media management, professional level
  Andrei V. Vyrkovsky, Anastasia Yu. Obraztsova, Marina Yu. Galkina, Alexander V. Kolesnichenko, Sergei A. Vartanov 27
• New Media

  «Russian Internet Mass Media in Ethnic Languages»

  This article presents the results of the analysis of 75 official Internet mass media resources registered in capital cities of Russian republics where people consider Russian as their second language. The republics are Bashkortostan, Dagestan, Chuvashia, Сhechnya, Mordovia, Tatarstan, Udmurtia and the Crimea. The websites were analyzed according to the following criteria — its relation to the status of mass media, functional characteristics, availability of the content in an ethnic language and owners of these mass media. The research allowed to reveal main quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the websites in ethnic languages, degree of their use in regions. Furthermore we found out the obstacles to the development of Internet mass media in ethnic languages and the role of state-owned media in their distribution. They are additional costs of creating and reproducing content in ethnic languages, complicated monetization of websites with such content, low audience demand and heavy reliance of these resources on the State and etc.
  Keywords: ethnic groups, Internet media, mass media in ethnic languages, regional media, websites
  Taras S. Cherevko, Anna A. Gladkova 56

• «Regional and Federal Agenda in Russia and Brazil»

  Article is devoted to verification of influence of federal and regional agenda on agenda of Russia and Brazil. The agenda setting theory is analyzed in the context of interaction between political and media social subsystems. The author presents review of actual theoretical researches, devoted to the different approaches to the agenda setting theory and framing. It is presented the Internet consumption level in these countries. Paper is focused on the subject structure of political agenda of Russia and Brazil. Article consists extensive empirical material about the national and regional level in agenda. The research verifies Palmgrin and Clark‘s theory about weak agenda setting for local news plots, in opposite to the national scale topics. That paper actualizes this statement (proved for traditional media systems in 1977) for modern media systems of Russia and Brazil. The data confirms prevalence of discussion of internal political subjects over foreign policy topics.
  Keywords: federalism, agenda, agenda setting, hybrid media systems
  Victoria A. Filippova 73
• Modern Journalism: Subjects and Issues

  «Principles of New Historicism in Modern Media»

  The article analyzes English-language media materials on the basis of their interconnection with the concept of new historicism. The general principles, which relate media texts to the texts of new historians, such as textuality of history, relativism, ideologism, and the arbitrary interpretation method, are pointed out. Textuality of history in mass media materials in texts on historical themes is shown not in informing (or educative), but in the primacy of interpretative function. History is exploited by journalists as an argument for protection of some specific ideological position. The possibility of arbitrary interpretation leads to admissibility of variative handlings of the same event and to refusal from searching an objective worldview. In journalism such approach influences reliability of materials, it makes possible to substitute a real event by fictional alternative versions. The abundance of such versions spreads confusion about the concept of truth which means loss in an information field for mass audience and growing apathy concerning the opportunity to deal with modern political and ideological processes and opportunity to effectually influence them.
  Keywords: new historicism, postmodernism, issues of historical science in media
  Diana Yu. Solovyova 96

• «Media Professionals about the Real and Appropriate Functions of Journalism in Contemporary Society: Results of an Expert Analysis of Texts »

  In the article the author presents the preliminary results of a study done within the frames of the project «Journalism in the information environment of Russia: the real and due state», which was held at the Faculty of Journalism in 2015—2016. The project is aimed to find out the perception of different actors in the information environment about the role and functions of journalism in society. The presented part of the study reveals the results of an expert analysis of journalistic texts and shows how journalists see their profession. The author conducted analysis of 100 journalistic materials from five Russian daily newspaper, where some ideas were expressed about the real and due functions of journalism. The results of the study showed representatives of the quality and popular press have a similar understanding of the role and functions of journalism. However, in most of the texts they reveal the gap between the real situation and the way things should be according to normative theories. According to journalists, journalism often becomes a tool for propaganda in the hands of the authorities and advocacy groups.
  Keywords: journalism, mass media, journalism functions, information environment, actors in the information environment, dichotomy «real and due state»
  Diana Yu. Kulchitskaya 96
• History of Journalism

  «Russian Journalism of the XVIII–XIX Centuries and Gender Analysis: Opportunities, Challenges, «Topics»»

  The article raises the question about the prospects of studying Russian XVIII— XIX centuries Journalism from a gender perspective and development of this subdiscipline important for students of Faculties of Journalism. The author examines the chronological border, the main tasks and «topics» of this research trend. It is emphasized that the research field is not limited to the periodicals specifically for the female audience or women’s participation in journalism or feminist journalistic discourse although these phenomena are also await for a more thorough consideration from a gender perspective, as it described on the example of Novikov’s “Modnoye yezhemesyachnoye izdaniye” (“Popular monthly magazine”). The conclusion is drawn that historians of Russian XVIII—XIX centuries Journalism need a deeper reflection on contradictory relations of paternalistic and patriarchal ideas and ideals of Enlightenment sympathetic to the emancipation which characterized national prerevolutionary periodicals.
  Keywords: history of Russian XVIII—XIX centuries journalism, gender studies, Novikov’s “Modnoye yezhemesyachnoye izdaniye” (“Popular monthly magazine”), ideals of Enlightenment, patriarchal and paternalistic ideas
  Irina E. Prokhorova 130
• Education in Journalism

  «Academic Resources for Professional Specialization of Journalists: Background, Functions, Content and Forms»

  This article deals with the experience of training journalism students under the new Bachelor Degree Program. The author draws attention to the thematic and object specialization. Russian media’s modern content strategies often cause critical remarks coming from the society, researchers and professional groups. The quality of content is directly related to social responsibility of the media. Among the factors that determine the quality of media content the author distinguishes journalists’ level of subject competence. The educational thematic modules concept is regarded as the result of current theoretical discourse. New programs are used in teaching practice at the MSU Faculty of Journalism and designed to give and deepen subject knowledge on the basic spheres of social life. The concept, contents, form and means of study program are presented by the example of social journalism. The article presents the results of numerous surveys envolving students enrolled in the program module, as well as data analysis from the standpoint of the forming of professional and ethical attitudes of future journalists and their potential impact on the nature of media content strategies. The author recommends developing various forms of increasing subject competence of journalists.
  Keywords: social responsibility of the media, media content, media content strategy, journalists subject competence, educational innovation, thematic module
  Tatiana I. Frolova 144
• Criticism and Bibliography

  «Photojournalism: Historical Aspect»

  Book review: Semova L.V. (2015) Istoriya otechestvennoy fotozhurnalistiki. Chast‘ I. [History of the National Photojournalism. Part I]. Moscow, Faculty of Journalism Publ.; Semova L.V. (2016) Istoriya otechestvennoy fotozhurnalistiki. Chast‘ II. Sovetskaya fotozhurnalistika 1920-1930-kh gg. i Velikoy Otechestvennoy voyny: ucheb. posobie [History of the National Photojournalism. Part II. Soviet Photojournalism of 1920-1930s and the Great Patriotic War]. Moscow, Faculty of Journalism Publ.
  Keywords: photojournalism
  Ivan A. Pankeev 171