Issue

Content:

• New Media

  «Coverage of the 2019 Moscow City Duma Election in Social Media»

  The coverage of the 2019 Moscow City Duma election in social media was reduced primarily to a chronicle of protests against the refusal to register opposition candidates and to radical pro-government and opposition propaganda. Such are the results of a two-month content analysis of the most popular political blogs and communities on eight most popular social networks in Russia (VKontakte, Facebook, Twitter, Odnoklassniki, YouTube, Telegram, LiveJournal and Instagram). It turned out that the specificity of the social network affects the form of the post in a limited way. Multimedia was relatively often used on all social networks except YouTube, but most of the posts were still monomedial (text, text and picture, picture, video). It is noteworthy that among the parliamentary candidates the unregistered candidates were mentioned in publications more often than the registered ones; the second place, in terms of frequency of mention, was occupied not by other political actors (president, mayor, CEC and the like), but by the people detained at protest rallies. It is also notable that in social media publications there was practically no mention of local city problems, which in theory should have become the main agenda of the Moscow parliament election.
  Keywords: Russia, Moscow, politics, election, social media
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2020.327
  Alexander V. Kolesnichenko, Mayya I. Davletshina 3
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Structural and Content Features of Russian Research on Media Literacy»

  The article contains the results of a comprehensive analysis aimed at isolating the features and characteristics of advanced Russian research on media literacy and media education. Special attention is paid to the specifics of the corps of contributors; range of issues and keywords; structural elements and types of the articles; the most popular research methods and definitions of media literacy used by the authors; the most often cited papers and scholars. The empirical basis of this research includes 97 papers published from 2015 through 2019 in such scholarly journals as Herald of Moscow University. Series 10: Journalism, Media Education, Political Linguistics, Political Studies, Mediascope, Political Expertise, and Media Linguistics. As a result, certain problems become evident. These are methodological mess and “ritualization”; free and subjective interpretations of the articles’ structure; lack of uniform understanding of the essence of media literacy and media education within Russian academia.
  Keywords: media literacy, media education, mass media, scholarly journals, research methods, type of the article, Russia
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2020.2852
  Alexander A. Kazakov 28
• History of Journalism

  «The Specifics of Visual and Textual Existence of the “Window to Europe” Metaphor in Russian Journalism of the 19th – Early 20th Centuries»

  The research analyzes the specifics of visual and textual existence of the “window to Europe” metaphor in Russian journalism of the 19th – early 20th centuries. The phrase, coined by F. Algarotti and rephrased by Pushkin, acquired symbolic meaning in the political discourse of the 19th century Russia. It was used widely in journalism as part of the discussion about Peter the Great’s role in Russian history. Based on the history of ideas method, the article examines 24 verbal and 16 visual representations of the studied metaphor, identified in periodicals, letters and memoirs, and comes to the conclusion that the interpretation of the “window to Europe” metaphor varied depending on the political position of a periodical and the author’s intention. The metaphor was widely used by journalism in texts and illustrations, it was rpeatedly interpreted by satirical graphic artists and became a tool of polemic about the goals, scope and consequences of Peter the Great’s reforms. The active use of this metaphor was caused by the fact that the Russian socio-political dialogue of the 19th century experienced a significant influence of the literary process, so even political journalism tended to symbolize and poeticize the texts. The "window to Europe" metaphor successfully retained its polemical figurative meaning in political discourse throughout the 19th century thanks to the numerous analogies and complex memories that were actively created by 19th century journalists. However, by the beginning of the 20th century the metaphor lost its former imagery, turning into a clich .
  Keywords: Peter I, “window to Europe”, political controversy, satirical graphics
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2020.5379
  Olga S. Kruglikova, Elena S. Sonina 53

• «The Influence of the Literary Portrait Genre on Literary Reporting at the End of the 19th Century (Based on the Works of J. Huret in the Eco De Paris Newspaper)»

  The 19th century French press characterized by a close connection between journalism and literature contributed to the emergence of new genres. Literary portrait created by critic and writer Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve was one of them. The purpose of this article is to trace the influence of literary portrait on the literary investigation, a genre born at the end of the century and based on such genres as interview and reporting. The authors’ hypothesis is that the principles of literary portrait formulated by Sainte-Beuve in the first half of the 19th century were developed in the genre of literary investigation of the 1890s. The methodology of the study is a comparative approach that makes it possible to analyze two forms of literary portrait: portraits of the French classic writers depictured by Sainte-Beuve and the cycle of publications in the Écho de Paris newspaper Investigation of Literary Evolution by Jules Huret based on 64 interviews with his contemporaries. At the end of the 19th century, the genre of literary investigation not only continued the tradition of literary portrait adopting its techniques but also developed them incorporating into the logic of a newspaper and combining them with elements of other journalistic genres.
  Keywords: literary portrait, reporting, interview, Écho de Paris, the French press, Ch.-A. Sainte-Beuve, J. Huret, literary criticism
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2020.80100
  Polina A. Makarova, Anna D. Sabova 80

• «Journalism of the North Caucasus in the Conditions of Civil War»

  Ideological support for establishing Soviet power was vitally important in the national outskirts because socialist ideas were not well known and understood by local peoples. The main tool of this support was the local press, which was set up under the direct supervision of the Bolshevik party. If, on the whole, the history of the development of the Soviet press during the years of building socialism has been studied quite fully, the specific problems of the formation of the press system in the republics of the North Caucasus, the features of its operation during the establishment of the Bolshevik authoritarian regime have been considered in scientific literature fragmentarily and not yet generalized. Most of the work performed during the Soviet period under the pressure of communist ideology contains biased assessments. In this regard, the task of systematizing the results of scientific research on the history of journalism in certain regions of the North Caucasus remains urgent. The objectives of this work are to identify the main trends in the transformation of the journalistic system of the peoples of the North Caucasus in the context of the October Socialist Revolution and dispel the ideological misconceptions characteristic of Soviet historiography. Particular attention is paid to the policy of total control of the Bolshevik party over the media as the most important tool for manipulating the mass consciousness. An attempt was also made to investigate the poorly studied segment of the local press – journalism of the White movement. The research methodology is based on the principle of historicism, which makes it possible to identify the interconnectedness and interdependence of social processes and the operation of the press in specific historical conditions. An analysis of the processes of the formation of the Bolshevik journalism system in the region helps to conclude that, contrary to the claims of Soviet historical and journalistic science, the local press was neither mass nor effective.
  Keywords: history of journalism, the North Caucasus, media, totalitarianism
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2020.101122
  Lema A. Turpalov 101
• Modern Journalism: Subjects and Issues

  «News Sources in Foreign Reporting: a Case Study of Russian and US Quality Newspapers in 1995 and 2015»

  This article investigates the transformation of the journalistic sourcing practices in Russian and US foreign reporting in the course of 20 years. Content analysis of two American newspapers (The Los Angeles Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer) and four Russian ones (Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Izvestia, Novaya Gazeta and Kommersant) was conducted. Based on the results of the research, the author concludes that foreign correspondents from both countries prefer foreign news sources to domestic ones. However, judging from the news items published in 2015, there is a notable shift towards the latter in Russian newspapers. Here, official sources are inalterably at the top of the hierarchy of newsworthiness. That is also partially the case for the US, where journalists rely on the officials while gathering information about the newsworthy event. At the same time, they prefer to get comments and additional information from the witnesses and participants of the covered events. It is also clear that foreign correspondents both in Russia and in the United States rarely resort to the use of social media as quotable sources.
  Keywords: foreign reporting, quality press, information sources, content analysis
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2020.123147
  Victoria G. Kolesnichenko 123
• Media Economics

  «“Slow Photojournalism”. Financing Projects Through Crowdfunding»

  The purpose of this paper is to identify the characteristics of the present state of photojournalism and the changes in this profession in response to media digitalization. The increasing popularity of citizen photojournalism has led to a drop in demand for professional photographs making photographers seek new sources of financing. Having analyzed a number of indicators of crowdfunding schemes in photojournalism, the author concludes that this funding method is an attractive and sought-after tool for financing and implementing long photo projects, primarily for professional photojournalists.
  Keywords: photojournalism, crowdfunding, slow photojournalism, citizen photojournalism
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2020.148169
  Igor V. Anisimov 148
• Media Language

  «Creolization Features of Media Texts in the News Publics of the Vkontakte Social Network (a Case Study of the Republic of Mordovia)»

  The development of globalization and visual communications has increased the presentation of data in the form of iconic signs expressed in the creolization of texts. The author for the first time considers the creolization features of media texts in the news publics of the VKontakte social network (using the Republic of Mordovia as an example). The study was conducted on the material of nine regional news communities; to assess the effectiveness of their use of creolized texts, they were compared with large national publics. The author identified the most common elements of text creolization of each public, the main functions of media text creolization in communities, the models of public records, as well as the twelve main types of post creolization. The study showed that social networks give news publishers the opportunity to use a wide selection of different types of media text creolization. However, not all regional communities use this opportunity effectively and thoughtfully. The phenomena observed in the media of the region can be called kitsch, which manifests itself in a heap of unnecessary objects, excessive color diversity, as well as the lack of a single recognizable style.
  Keywords: creolization, creolized text, media text, public, VKontakte, Republic of Mordovia
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2020.170196
  Kseniya V. Dementieva 170
• Foreign Journalism

  «Media Participation in the Political Campaign on the Issue of Britain's Exit from the European Union»

  The role of media in influencing society is steadily increasing in modern political communication. Being part of this trend, authoritative media serve to inform citizens about current political events and processes within the framework of the political agenda they form, and interpret political facts. The article shows the experience of media participation in the political campaign for Britain's withdrawal from the European Union, which took place mainly in 2016–2019. The authors chose the Sun and the Guardian newspapers because these media clearly represented the ‘Leave’ and ‘Remain’ parties. As a result, they actively participated in the political campaign and had a significant influence on the outcome of the vote. Three key stages of the implementation of the declared political campaign are identified in the article and the positions of the Sun and the Guardian at each stage are determined. The article uses content analysis of publications on Brexit in the two popular British newspapers (which made it possible to clarify the main technologies used in public opinion formation), as well as the method of comparative analysis (which helped to compare the positions and actions of the editorial teams in the Sun and the Guardian). The research has shown that the success of a political campaign much depends on the activity of the publication’s newsroom positioning itself as a political actor.
  Keywords: media’s role, political campaign, Brexit, socio-political communications, public opinion
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2020.197215
  Svetlana N. Gikis, Elizabeth A. Kucherova 197