The First "Wave" of the Coronavirus Pandemic as Evidence of a "Strange" Attractor in the Russian Segment of the Media Space

Section: Essay

The article substantiates the definition of the first "wave" of the coronavirus pandemic as a "strange" attractor from the standpoint of its influence on the structure of the Russian segment of the media space. Using a synergetic approach, the author considers the media space as a system that at the turn of the 2010s–2020s is in the bifurcation stage, as a result of which there is a loss of its balance, susceptibility to structural transformations through "smooth" attractors – largely controlled and predictable "evolutionary goals" of a linear nature. Based on the use of interdisciplinary tools and a set of methods, the author concludes that the coronavirus pandemic, in particular, its first "wave", which took place in the spring and summer of 2020, became both a factor and a catalyst for structural changes in the Russian segment of the media space. Representing a form of a "strange" attractor, the first "wave" of the coronavirus pandemic, initially on impulse, led to a non- linear development of the Russian segment of the media space as a system, causing largely atypical transformations (at the level of media production and media consumption), subsequently (by the time of its recession), on the contrary, intensifying media communication trends of the so-called "pre-pandemic" era.

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To cite this article: Yefanov A.A. (2022) Pervaya «volna» pandemii koronavirusa kak svidetel'stvo «strannogo» attraktora v rossiyskom segmente mediaprostranstva [The First "Wave" of the Coronavirus Pandemic as Evidence of a "Strange" Attractor in the Russian Segment of the Media Space]. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika 6: 149–177. DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.6.2022.149177