Issue

Content:

• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «The Impact of Open Access on Citations and Alternative Metrics of Scientific Articles in Media and Communication Studies»

  The article contains the results of the pilot stage of the research into the impact of open access on major relevance indicators of scientific articles on journalism, media and mass communication. The study analyzed scientific articles published during the period from 2015 to 2017 in 32 foreign scientific journals, which are indexed in the international scientometric databases Web of Science and Scopus, and in 11 Russian journals in the category “Mass Communication. Journalism. Mass Media” from the elibrary catalog, which are included in the list of the Higher Attestation Commission (VAK). The research used data from the Web of Science and Scopus databases, Google Scholar metrics, CyberLeninka and elibrary catalogs. The share of open access articles is still rather insignificant, which limits the possibilities of analysing the effects of the new model on key indicators adopted in the scientific community. The results of the analysis of the journals on media communication conducted within the available sample revealed that in general open access has a stronger positive effect on alternative metrics and the use of articles than on citations, which is consistent with the results of previous foreign studies.
  Keywords: scientific journals, scientific communication, open access, citations, altmetrics, media communication.
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2018.326
  Mikhail I. Makeenko, Nataliia D. Trishchenko 3

• «Russian Scientific Media Discourse: Structure, Features and Key Concepts»

  The paper presents the results of a meta-study of scientific papers on the media and mass communications written by Russian scholars between 2012 and 2016. The authors of the paper analyzed the scholars’ involvement in the global academic discourse, the most popular directions of contemporary media studies in Russia and the key concepts forming the terminological framework of scientific texts. As the main object of the study, the authors used continuous sampling of synopses of doctoral and candidate theses in Philology in the specialty 10.01.10, Journalism.
  Keywords: study, source, direction, approach, discourse, concept, word, term
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2018.2747
  Andrei V. Vyrkovsky, Sergey S. Smirnov 27
• Television and Radio

  «Characteristics of Metaprogram Actualization in Modern Radio Broadcasting»

  The problem of attracting and maintaining the viewer’s interest in the media text in the context of increased information exchange appears to be relevant. This is especially true for the radio, where information is presented sequentially, in a constant flow. The goal of this research is to analyze the potential of key metaprograms in terms of invoking listeners’ interest in a particular media text. A “metaprogram” is a base filter of perception that determines and shapes the audience’s area of interest. Using the methods of contextual analysis and content analysis on the most popular and well-known Russian radio stations, we identify the most common and often used metaprograms of contemporary radio broadcasting and describe their specific traits at their current state. Solving these tasks allows us to come to a conclusion that five distinctive metaprograms exist in broadcasts of ten top Russian stations under consideration: “People”, “Values”, “Process”, “Similarity” and “Past”. These metaprograms have gained easily recognized traits in modern media. For example, the “people” metaprogram in its current form is characterized by the intensifying of the unique-to-individual approach, intimate interaction, interactivity, the listener’s involvement, the shifting of the hosts’ attention from the guests of the show to the audience and attempts to invoke the feeling of unity in listeners. The “values” metaprogram exhibits characteristics of pragmatism in the text and strict formats of broadcasting. We notice a tendency for all of the above-mentioned metaprograms or at least most of them to be used in one broadcast as well as an increase in interconnectivity and interdependency of metaprograms as a tool that aids in making radio broadcasting more effective.
  Keywords: radio broadcasting, radio program, metaprogram, media perception
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2018.4861
  Alla M. Shesterina 48

• «Transformation of Socio-Political Television Broadcasting in the Post-Soviet Period: Factors, Parameters and Challenges»

  This paper identifies the factors and parameters of the transformation of socio­political television broadcasting in post-Soviet Russia in order to subsequently analyze the changes that have taken place in this thematic segment, as well as its modern condition. Socio-political television broadcasting is a flagship part of modern television airtime. However, it rarely becomes a subject matter for scholars while the press often criticizes it for the drawbacks inherited from the Soviet times. The author believes that regular criticism is a destructive phenomenon. An analysis of factors and parameters of the transformations that have affected socio-political television broadcasting would make it possible to set out a balanced approach and find the ways to examine and improve it. To analyze the possible parameters of the transformation, the author uses in the paper the most well-known communication models, normative theories and comparative studies (Lasswell; Siebert, Schramm, Petersen; McQuail; Hallin & Mancini; Norris). As a result, several groups of parameters are distinguished which are supposed to describe the institutional structure wherein socio-political broadcasting occurs; journalists’ professional qualities; the content of this thematic segment; forces and ways of influence on it; feasible media effects. In the author’s opinion, the audience should be viewed as an active subject, which not only perceives information but also influences content.
  Keywords: radio broadcasting, radio program, metaprogram, media perception
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2018.6282
  Yulia I. Dolgova 62
• Sociology of Journalism

  «Indigenes’ Use of Development Messages in Newspapers»

  The use of newspapers in the development process in different countries has never been questioned, although it has been quite difficult to determine its role in this process in different situations and societies. Against this backdrop, the study investigated the use of development messages in the newspapers Isoko Mirror, Urhobo Voice, Ijaw News, Warri Voice and Anioma Watch by Isoko, Urhobo, Ijaw, Itsekiri and Anioma indigenes in Delta State, Nigeria. The results of the conducted survey revealed that the dominant gratifications indigenes derived from the above­mentioned newspapers were local awareness and utility (39,9%), immediacy (33,4%) and social extension (17,2%). Furthermore, the dominant satisfactions readers derived from reading the newspapers were for advice (32%), social utility (24,1) and habit (10,8%). The development issues that readers found most useful were in cultural programs (24,1%) and political programs (19,9%). According to the survey results, the majority of respondents (72,9%) read the newspapers occasionally, 18,2% often and 8,8% very often. The author believes that indigenes should be encouraged to read local publications with the establishment of newsstands by the community and local groups.
  Keywords: development, development communication, development messages, indigenes’ use of development messages
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2018.83100
  Alex E. Umuerri 83
• History of Journalism

  «Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory as Reflected in the Russian Conservative and Liberal Press of the Second Half of the 19th Century»

  The article analyses the polemic about Darwinism in the Russian press of the second half of the 19th century. This controversy made the problems of natural science part of the worldview and political debate between liberals and conservatives. In the 1880s, two journals, the liberal Russkaya Mysl and the conservative Russkiy Vestnik, discussed N. Ya. Danilevsky’s book “Darwinism: the Critical Analysis”. For the authors of the former publication (K. A. Timiryazev, N. G. Chernyshevsky), the affirmation of the natural origin of the Earth and the human being was the basis for the struggle against clericalism. But some of them, the followers of socialist views, denied the struggle for existence as a factor in evolution, believing that this factor was not competition but cooperation. In Russkiy Vestnik, the conservatives (N. N. Strakhov) criticized Darwinism, defending the idea of creationism and development of nature in accordance with the divine plan of the Creator. The analysis of this polemic, as compared with up-to-date realities, makes it possible to assert that the involvement of scientific popularization in political discourse is one of the characteristic features of the Russian press throughout its existence.
  Keywords: N. Ya. Danilevsky, N. N. Strakhov, K. A. Timiryazev, N. G. Chernyshevsky, Darwinism, Russkiy Vestnik, Russkaya Mysl
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.joum.5.2018.101118
  Olga S. Kruglikova 101
• Essay

  «What the Future Journalist Will Be Like (Some Speculations about the Modernization of Educational Programs)»

  The article presents the results of foresight studies conducted by Tomsk State University and other educational centers predicting the future of media professions. It provides a review of monographs and theses devoted to the systemic problems of professional training of journalists. The empirical basis was the results of several strategic sessions at which lecturers and methodologists discussed the modernization of educational programs and the actual model of a journalist graduate. The aim of the research is to understand the necessity and possibilities of updating the graduate model and educational programs of faculties of journalism, to identify the obstacles in the restructuring of the educational process and the options for interdisciplinary interaction within the university. The generalized experience of restructuring the educational process at the Faculty of Journalism of Tomsk University offers one of the possible ways to improve the quality of training specialists for broadcasters, using which it is necessary to agree on the core of educational programs with other departments and the academic office of a university and also to negotiate with TV companies about the corporate order of small specializations within the profile of Television and Radio Journalism. There may be other graduate models, as well as other approaches to the arrangement of the core curriculum.
  Keywords: media education, educational program, professional specialization, television, graduate model
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2018.119136
  Yuri M. Ershov 119
• Criticism and Bibliography

  «Journalism in the Digital Age: from Losses to New Acquisitions»

  Book review: Samartsev O. R. (2017) Digital Reality. Journalism  of the Information Age: Transformation Factors, Challenges and Prospects. Monograph. Moscow: Publishing Solutions Publ. 120 p.
  Keywords: journalism, digital age
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.joum.5.2018.137143
  Alexei A. Timofeev 137