Issue

Content:

• Sociology of Journalism

  «Professional Qualifications of Novice Journalists: How European and Russian Teachers See Them in the Future»

  Discussions on the transformation of the journalistic profession do not stop in academic and professional communities. They are reflected in major international studies focusing on the way the future of journalism is seen by practicing journalists and students searching the place at the labor market. This paper examines the expectations of one more stakeholder of journalism education: teachers engaged in training future journalists. Their understanding of the future of the profession in the 21st century has not been thoroughly studied so far. To fill this gap, the European Journalism Training Association (EJTA) decided to examine the teachers’ reflection on the future of journalistic roles, values and qualifications in the member universities. A large-scale survey was conducted in January-February 2018 and involved more than one thousand respondents from 69 European universities, including three Russian universities, members of the Association. The authors of the paper focused on one segment of the study — teachers’ prognoses for the professional qualifications of future journalists. A comparative analysis of beliefs expressed by European and Russian responding teachers indicated a high level of consensus:. In the 10 year term, both groups of respondents named as main qualifications for the future the quality of the information communicated by journalists and the basic principles of the profession: a search for relevant sources, exclusion of unreliable information, attaining information balance in the materials, a deep insight into the problem and understanding the context of the ongoing events.
  Keywords: journalism, professional qualifications in journalism, journalism teachers, comparative analysis, EJTA
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2019.324
  Nico Drok, Maria M. Lukina 3
• History of Journalism

  «The Zhizn Newspaper (Moscow, 1918): Its Political Position»

  This paper is devoted to the history of the Moscow publication Zhizn, which had a great role to play in the development of newspaper periodicals of the understudied early post-October period. The author considers the newspaper’s political affiliation drawing on the previously unpublished documents and newspaper materials, including those borrowed from the surviving archive of one of Zhizn editors A. A. Borovoy. The history of the publication, the editorial policy of those in charge and the reasons for its sudden closure are examined in the paper. The author draws a conclusion that although the newspaper was headed by anarchists it was not politically engaged. Its soft-line policy and the personalities of the editors brought about, among other things, the development of the literary section, to which many outstanding men of letters (Blok, Bely and some others) contributed. In spite of its short history, the Zhizn newspaper left a really rich heritage.
  Keywords: Zhizn newspaper, A. A. Borovoy, newspaper's political affiliation, newspaper periodicals, post-October period
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2019.2550
  Nikolay A. Bogomolov 25

• «The Trickster Archetype in the Essays and Public Speeches of G. Grass»

  The article provides an analysis of the manifestations of the trickster archetype in Günter Grass’s political essays and public speeches. Günter Grass actualizes the trickster archetype on the levels of poetics (expressive means), themes and images of the author, fictional characters and real historical figures. In his works, Grass mentions such trickster incarnations as a court jester, mime artist, clown, picaro, fool and devil. The writer often uses such rhetorical techniques as irony, sarcasm and parody typical of describing a trickster. He highly appreciates the cultural and creative potential of the trickster archetype and criticizes his ideological opponents (e.g. Konrad Adenauer, Ludwig Erhard, Kurt Kiesinger) for their attempts to emphasize its destructive nature. Günter Grass develops the literary traditions of Menippean satire, invective and psogos. The image of the author in Grass’s journalism combines the features of a trickster and a culture hero.
  Keywords: Günter Grass, journalism, archetypes, trickster, jester, clown, picaro
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2019.5171
  Artem S. Kuznetsov 51
• Television and Radio

  «The Place of LTT in the Genre Palette of Television News»

  This paper examines Life to tape as a separate genre of television information. The author’s aim was to demonstrate that in terms of information presentation LTT differs from other genres. For this, news releases of a number of Russian federal television channels were studied for the presence of LTT. The structure of LTT and its difference from the structure of “classic” reports were investigated. The author examined the LTT themes and analyzed the relevant footage for newsworthiness and problematicity. It was found that television workers turn to LTT when they have specific tasks to accomplish. One of these tasks is promptness. The LTT genre is more frequently used for informational purposes than for entertainment. The paper enables one to become aware of various methods of information presentation used by television newsrooms; to study LTT as a genre and understand its distinction from other ways of presenting news.
  Keywords: LTT, television genres, content analysis, federal channels, news releases
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2019.7288
  Elina S. Nikolskaya 72

• «The Role of RT Television Channel in Forming Russia's Global Image»

  The article examines the role of RT television channel (previously known as Russia Today) in shaping Russia’s image on the international arena. The channel was established in 2005, aiming to show the country’s official point of view on significant political issues and to inform foreign audiences about Russia’s life. Today the channel broadcasts in more than a hundred countries around the world in English, Spanish, French and Arabic languages and, when it comes to technical performance, stands in line with such giants of news broadcasting as BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera. The article starts with an analysis of the key study concepts such as image, country image and state image. Further, it briefly describes the historical prerequisites for the emergence of new approaches to the formation of Russia’s external image policy in 2000—2005. The launch of the English-language RT channel can be considered as a consequence of the set priorities and clear objectives of promoting Russia’s positive image: the article contains confirmatory comments of officials indicating the purpose and reasons for the launch of such a broadcaster. The main part of the article analyzes RT’s programs for the use of the key components that affect the perception of the country image — the so-called “image markers”. Such “markers” were determined on the basis of the approach to the study of Russia’s international image formation strategy by Erast Galumov, research of image concepts structure by Dmitry Gavra and Alena Savitskaya and visualization of six national brand perception indicators by Simon Anholt. Having highlighted similar key elements in the researchers’ studies, the authors of the article identified such significant image indicators as “territory”, “state power”, “economy”, “culture and science” and “people”. Due to the choice of a news channel as the center of the authors’ attention, the “information” marker is also included in the list of the key image indicators. The results of the content analysis of RT channel’s programs for the use of image markers is presented further in the article. The empirical base of the research is built upon the programs aired on the flagship (English-language) RT channel between January, 1 and January, 31, 2017 — the time period before and after Donald Trump’s inauguration, which took place on January 20 and added potential improvement of relations between Russia and the USA to the agenda. The authors analyzed the programs’ episodes with the leading number of views on RT’s official English channel on YouTube, since the international format of content distribution does not allow to rely on rating indicators. The study showed that all the country image markers highlighted theoretically were reflected in the most popular programs of the channel. This confirms RT’s deliberate contribution to shaping Russia’s positive image abroad, as well as the targeted use of this media outlet by the Russian authorities for branding purposes.
  Keywords: state image, image of Russia, image formation, RT channel, Russia Today
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2019.89119
  Anna V. Tolokonnikova, Daria O. Budakova 89
• Modern Journalism: Subjects and Issues

  «The "Eduardo Martins" Case in the Context of Development Problems of Modern Photojournalism: Russian Experts' View»

  In September 2017, mass media in different parts of the world reported on the "Eduardo Martins" case. "Eduardo Martins” is a virtual character, whose name is associated with the theft, digital manipulation and distribution through various channels (including publication in mass media and on social networks) of other photographers’ works. Such a resonant case of violation of numerous ethical norms in the digital age brought into focus a large number of issues of modern mass media and photojournalism as an integral part of the media industry. The author was able to collect and analyze various expert comments received from Russian professional photo community members. The analysis showed that the respondents tend to associate the "Eduardo Martins" case primarily with imperfect fact-checking mechanisms and a low level of staff working with visual content. Another significant problem is connected with the insecurity of photographers and their photographic works in the digital space. The findings suggest that there is no consensus among experts on the consequences of the "Eduardo Martins" case for photojournalism and that the majority of respondents do not associate the above-mentioned incident with the crisis of the profession.
  Keywords: "Eduardo Martins", photography, photojournalism, mass media, fact-checking
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2019.120134
  Oleg A. Bakoulin 120
• Foreign Journalism

  «Data Journalism in the Foreign Quality Press (the Case of the Specialized Resources of the Guardian and The New York Times Newspapers)»

  This paper presents the main results of the study of data journalism in the foreign press on the example of materials from the global authoritative newspapers, The Guardian and The New York Times (2014—2016). The analysis of articles shows similar characteristics. Big data is not an essential component of foreign data journalism. Sources of information are rarely processed by the journalists themselves. Foreign data journalism is primarily monosubjective: the authorship of most articles is individual. Data journalism in foreign quality press has certain characteristics that can be described as normative: in terms of genre most of the materials are comments on economic and political data with one or two data visualizations
  Keywords: The Guardian Datablog, The New York Times’ Upshot, big data, quantitative data, data journalism
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2019.135162
  Alexandra G. Shilina 135

• «The Role of Leading Media in the Growing Popularity of Right-Wing Parties (a Case Study of "Alternative for Germany") in the Elections in Germany (2016-2018)»

  This paper focuses on the role of mass media in the growing popularity of right-wing parties in the elections in Germany. The topic is covered in a case study of the party “Alternative for Germany.” The work methodology is formed by combining the monitoring of news sites with elements of content analysis and descriptive political analysis. In the course of the study, materials from 6 German national media (Deutsche Welle, Der Spiegel, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, Handelsblatt and Bild) published during the 2016—2018 election campaigns were examined. The author comes to the conclusion that during the period under review, AfG was positioned in German mass media primarily in a negative way. The audience was faced with the image of the party as a marginal structure dangerous for society. The party was credited with sympathies for Nazism, populism, xenophobia and hostility towards democracy. The effectiveness of its negative positioning in the media was low: AfG managed to improve its electoral performance. Most likely, this was due to the growing role of new media as an alternative channel for communicating information to voters. A role might have been played by the growing popularity of post-truth, along with the resolute rejection by citizens of the current government’s policies.
  Keywords: mass media, media, Germany, Alternative for Germany (AfG), elections, right-wing parties
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2019.163181
  Oleg V. Bondarenko 163
• Media Law

  «Creative Media Workers as Candidates and Subjects of the Electoral Process: the Legal Aspects»

  This paper is the first to highlight the special status of media workers who become election candidates exercising their right to be elected. The aim of the study is to examine the legal status of creative media workers as candidates in the electoral process, for which reason the author turns to the RF electoral legislation, analyzes the existing court practice and the practice of Territorial Electoral Commissions. In doing this, the author uses general scientific methods of functional and systems analysis as well as specific scientific methods of analyzing legal information and interviewing. As the RF electoral legislation fails to clarify the concept of creative media workers, the author of the paper proposes her own classification of these with special emphasis on presenters. It is found that the restrictions for creative media workers with the candidate status envisaged by the electoral legislation are ineffective in practice. In addition, the author studied and listed the reasons for the existing abuses.
  Keywords: creative media workers, presenter, media representatives, journalist, election campaign, election, presenter as candidate
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2019.182201
  Alena S. Denisova 182
• Criticism and Bibliography

  «Israel in the Face of Modern Information Challenges»

  Book Review: Strovsky D., Davidovitch N., Lewin E. (eds.) (2019) Israel from the Outside and Inside: Israeli Politics and “Alien” Media. Newcastle upon Tyne (UK): Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 279 p.
  Keywords: Middle East, Israel, Palestine-Israel conflict, geopolitics, media, media policy
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2019.202207
  Aleksei Yu. Bykov 202