Issue

Content:

• Sociology of Journalism

  «Youth Literary Networks as a Key to Understanding Generation Z»

  The article represents the results of a genre-thematic analysis of the most popular texts (as many as 1129) published on the Ficbook.net platform in 2019. Research shows that the authors belonging to Generation Z mostly tell stories (in prose, verse, non-fiction) about violence and sex. The study is innovative in relation to the empirical material that has not been previously investigated in the context of socialization of the digital generation. The authors of the article identify the features of socialization and motivation of representatives of "digital natives", their behavior on social networks and in real life. The obtained results (degree of attractiveness of certain topics, formats and genres for the audience of the largest Russian-language fan text site) can be useful for media professionals as well as psychologists, sociologists and teachers.
  Keywords: Ficbook.net, fan fiction, sociocentric genres, network generation
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2021.321
  Leila O. Algavi, Irina I. Volkova, Shuanat N. Kadyrova, Natalya E. Rastorgueva 4

• «Towards the Soviet Citizen’s Perception of Propaganda in the Late USSR: the Experience of a Private Study»

  Based on the processing and analysis of more than one hundred interviews, the paper attempts to conduct a pilot study into individual politically significant aspects of information consumption in the USSR in the era of stagnation and accordingly of the Soviet citizen’s perception of some key political ideas conveyed by mass communication and propaganda media (MCPM). The analysis of the interviews shows that most of the questioned were active consumers of information offered by Soviet MCPM; however, they critically perceived many ideological clichés used there. This was accounted for by the fact that most of the interviewed were disillusioned with some basic ideas and had access to alternative information sources as well as witnessed the disparity between ideological postulates and reality. And yet, those interviewed in the era of stagnation were, for the most part, loyal enough to the basic ideas and values conveyed by Soviet MCPM. However, taking into account the forthcoming collapse of the USSR, it might be assumed that these ideas gradually lost their significance and were unable to mobilize society in the long-term.
  Keywords: USSR, mass media, journalism, propaganda, stagnation
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2021.2253
  Maksim I. Babyuk 22

• «Online Audiences of Central Asia and Kazakhstan: Choice and Preferences in the Era of Multimedia News Content»

  This article presents the results of a study aiming to find out which media platforms are used by online audiences in Central Asia and Kazakhstan to access news, how active Kazakhstani users are on the Internet, and what news content most interests them. The study is based on the results of a large-scale survey conducted by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) in 2019 in four countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. A total of 4,130 people were interviewed, including a number of media experts. An online research method was used, in which respondents were selected among Internet users in real time (river sampling). The study showed that, along with increased penetration of the Internet into Central Asian countries, online consumers of news content in Kazakhstan use social networks and messengers more often than those in other Central Asian countries. It was found that social networks in Central Asian countries tend to replace traditional media for users’ consumption of operational news. At the same time, Kazakhstanis do not pay attention to the source of information, which can contribute to the influence of fake news and manipulations. It was revealed that online news about economy, culture, ecology and a number of other spheres of human activity remain uninteresting for Kazakhstani users.
  Keywords: social networks, news, online audience, Internet
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2021.5473
  Bakhtiyar A. Nurumov, Michael Brown, Galiya Zh. Ibrayeva, Karlyga N. Myssayeva 54
• Media Language

  «News Media Narrative in the Vkontakte Social Network: Discursive Features»

  Social networks play a special role at the present stage of journalism development being used as platforms for posting media materials on the Internet. Leading Russian media outlets have their own pages on different social networks. As social network users primarily turn to news materials, the object of this research was the news discourse presented in the most popular social network in Russia, VKontakte. In a case study of materials from RBC, RIA Novosti and Komsomolskaya Pravda, the authors of the article examined the linguistic features of a modern news media text and media discourse, in particular the expressive possibilities of the news media narrative as one of the ways to organize narrative in a media text. High-quality news content generates a steady interest in information consumption through the VKontakte social network and therefore increases the engagement index of the media outlets that are represented there. The article uses such theoretical concepts as media text, media narrative, and narrative organization of a news text. A news media text is considered in the light of the categories of narrativeness, discursiveness, hypertextuality, polycodeness, and engagement.
  Keywords: news discourse, social network, media narrative, macronarration, engagement, mass media’s SMM
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2021.74101
  Olga R. Alevizaki, Irina B. Aleksandrova, Elena S. Kara-Murza, Vladimir V. Slavkin 74

• «Paralinguistic Means in the Information-Analytical Discourse: the Perceptive Aspect»

  The article examines paralinguistic means of communication as components of non-verbal semiotics of information-analytical discourse. The authors describe the methodology of the applied research of the audience’s perception and assessment of the presenter’s non-verbal actions, which was carried out on the material of the video clips of the program "Results of the Week with Irada Zeynalova" on the NTV channel. The products of multiformat presentation of news – textual and audiovisual – are compared. The effectiveness of the use of non-verbal means of communication as a component of the polysemiotic code of discourse is determined by the fact that the recipient of the news message recognizes the validity and fairness of the broadcast point of view. The degree of dependence of the addressee's decision on the persuasiveness of the presenter’s position on the subjective-evaluative characteristics of the non-verbal in the television journalistic text is determined by a number of features relevant for the transmitted information. The high indicators of negative assessment of the non-verbal actions of the TV presenter revealed during the analysis of the recipients' communicative reactions are associated, as a rule, with external factors: increased emotionality, overexpression and unjustified motor activity in the process of transmitting information.
  Keywords: information-analytical television discourse, semiotic organization, paralinguistic means of communication, social perception
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2021.102120
  Olga I. Kolesnikova, Vladimir A. Vakhrushev 102
• Modern Journalism: Subjects and Issues

  «Social Projects of Local Media in the Context of the Principles of Participatory Journalism»

  During the past decades, there has been increasing research in the area of relationship between the press and politics. According to the studies by Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, assumptions about the role of the media in disrupted public spheres should be rethought. Within the past decades, journalists have started initiating and organizing social projects aimed at solving social problems: they arrange discussions of key issues and fight for justice, raise money for medical operations and help the poor. The goal of this paper is to show that social projects can play a key role in involving polarized and fragmented public in social problem solving. A qualitative analysis of 126 social projects of Russian local media was undertaken, based on the concepts of participatory culture, participatory and public journalism. The paper defines a social media project, offers a classification of its structural and functional aspects. The article substantiates the necessity and public demand for such activity. The results of the analysis show that local media have become centers of local communities. Falling circulation and advertising revenues, decreasing government subsidies force journalists to search for new approaches to fundraising. It could be argued that social responsibility of journalists could help local media to survive.
  Keywords: civil society, social organizational function of media, citizen journalism, social project, local community
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2021.121151
  Tatiana I. Frolova, Alexander S. Gatilin 121

• «Interpretation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani War in Russian Media»

  In September–November 2020, the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, or Azerbaijan’s military operation “Iron Fist”, entered Russian media’s agenda. The aim of this paper is to examine the coverage of this war in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta and Novaya Gazeta newspapers. The paper considers media technologies of reality interpretation in the context of priming and framing as well as environmental factors, which influence, directly or indirectly, the media interpretation of events. The author of the paper studied 35 publications issued in the period from September 27 to November 11, 2020 and concluded that the aspects of coverage and interpretation of events in the media under consideration was different and able to shape the readership’s opinion in assessing the military actions between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The important point of the Armenian-Azerbaijani agenda in Rossiyskaya Gazeta was that it distanced itself from the assessment of the warring parties. On the other hand, Novaya Gazeta tended to spark readers’ interest in the war and make them adopt a stance, being open to critics of Russia’s foreign policy from among experts and journalists.
  Keywords: war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Karabakh, “Iron Fist”, agenda, framing, Novaya Gazeta, Rossiyskaya Gazeta
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2021.152172
  Anar M. Gasanov 152
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «On Using the Term “Image” in Russian-Language Studies into the Problem of Media Representation of Territories»

  The paper examines the practicality and correctness of using the terms “obraz” vs “image” and “media obraz” vs “media image” in the study of territorial representation in the media. The author presents the main approaches to using the terms “obraz” and “image” and identifies their similarities and differences. The paper argues that there are different types of object representations in the media sphere and that the journalistic type of representing territories proves to be dominant. It also argues that when studying media representations, the mechanisms of not only reflecting but also of constructing the reality should be taken into account. The paper showcases the important role that mass media and the media sphere in general play in building the system of representations of territorial formations, especially with regard to non-neighboring territories. The paper offers several conclusions concerning the practicality of using the terms “obraz” vs “image” and “media obraz” vs “media image” in media representation of territories. The paper also suggests recommendations for the correct use of these terms. The novelty of this paper lies in finding the scientific ground for the methodological correctness of using various terms that define media representation of territorial formations.
  Keywords: image, territory, representation, media sphere, mass media, journalism
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2021.173197
  Irina V. Sidorskaya 173
• New Media

  «Bodies of State Power on Social Networks: an Analysis of Moscow Government Accounts»

  The article presents the results of a study into the communication strategy of public authorities, represented by the Moscow Government, on social networks. It is proved that the presence of agencies on Web 2.0 platforms is necessary, which is confirmed by high rates of user involvement in this type of communication. The content placed in Moscow Government accounts on VKontakte, Facebook and Instagram was used as material for examination. In the study, manual and automated monitoring methods were applied, the analyzed period being February – April 2020. The analysis was based on the following parameters: number of subscribers, regularity of the published posts, range of issues, publication format, average number of comments per post, top five of the most popular posts, top five of the most unpopular ones, and interaction with the audience. Particular attention was paid to one of the components of the Web 2.0 technology criteria, namely, the policy of conducting a dialogue (exchange of comments) between Moscow Government specialists and social network users. The key mistakes in the management of the publications on the web pages were identified, such as maladaptation to the particular social network, clearly bureaucratic publications and the like. The author of the article proposes a number of actions that can unlock the full potential of using social networks.
  Keywords: public authorities, social networks, Open Government, Moscow Government, Web 2.0
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2021.198215
  Aysulu A. Babaeva 198