Issue

Content:

• Artificial Intelligence in Media and Communication Studies

  «Building a high-frequency media indicator of regional economic activity based on analysis of media publications using large language models»

  The inherent publication lags in official statistical releases have precipitated a growing scholarly and practical interest in alternative data sources for economic assessment. Among these, the vast corpus of textual data from media outlets, processed through Large Language Models (LLMs), presents a significant opportunity. This study aims to develop a media-based indicator of economic activity for a constituent entity of the Russian Federation by analyzing regional news publications with LLMs. The empirical foundation of this research comprises a corpus of texts from online media spanning the period 2021–2025. The methodological framework consists of several sequential stages: (i) the compilation and preprocessing of a regional news publicati on database; (ii) the thematic classification of texts according to aggregated economic sectors employing a zeroshot classification paradigm; (iii) the extraction of economic sentiment from the news articles using the GigaChat large language model; and (iv) the construction of an aggregated media indicator. The resulting output is an integral media indicator of economic dynamics, designated as the IBVEDMedia index. A comparative analysis with the official Index of Output of Goods and Services for Basic Economic Activities reveals a statistically significant correlation between the two time series. This finding suggests that the news flow from regional media sources encapsulates substantial information pertinent to the current state of the regional economy. The proposed media indicator can be considered a composite economic sentiment indicator, serving as a valuable complement to traditional official statistics. The validation of its real-time operational properties is a subject for future research.
  Keywords: regional media data, large language models (LLMs), natural language processing (NLP), high-frequency economic indicators, index of output of goods and services for basic economic activities
  DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.3.2026.328
  Yuri A. Metel, Natalia N. Kunitsyna 3
• Media Language

  «Discursive change in the public rhetoric of Turkish President Erdogan (2014–2025): a corpus-based quantitative analysis»

  This study applies quantitative discourse analysis to a corpus of 1,888 public speeches delivered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his presidency. The corpus covers August 28, 2014 through December 31, 2025. It contains 3.3 million words. The study tests how legitimacy work in leader discourse responds to periods of crisis. It also evaluates which themes persist over time. The crisis context includes the post-coup attempt security agenda, the pandemic, and episodes of economic volatility. The texts underwent cleaning and normalization. Turkish morphology required additional processing. The analysis therefore uses morphological simplification and concept consolidation. The study tracks 48 key concepts that were selected through theory-driven and data-driven procedures. It measures each concept by normalized frequency per 1,000 words across years. Lexical diversity is measured with the Guiraud Index to reduce sensitivity to text length. The findings run against the common claim that presidential discourse tends to simplify over time. Instead, the results indicate lexical enrichment and institutionalization. Collective identity and faith-based language show strong stability across periods. This pattern is especially clear for recurring anchors.” Security and terrorism language intensifies most clearly between 2016 and 2019. After 2020 themes of economy and development become more salient. This shift suggests a move toward output-based or performance-based legitimacy. Overall, the results indicate that presidential discourse is organized through a multilayered and adaptive legitimacy strategy. Its center of gravity changes with context rather than following a single ideological axis.
  Keywords: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Türkiye, presidential speeches, political discourse, corpus-based quantitative discourse analysis, longitudinal analysis, securitization, populism
  DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.3.2026.2969
  Erkam Temir, İsmail Karakulle 29
• Discussion

  «Serial media format in the digital media industry: definition, basic characteristics, and typology»

  The review article introduces the concept of “serial media format” into the academic field of “Media Communications and Journalism.” The authors outline the theoretical foundations and prerequisites for the expansion of serial media formats in the platform society across all types of communication products (adaptability to content planning algorithms, hyper-personalization, time budgeting and micro-planning of attention, reduced choice fatigue, social synchronization, content monetization, the creation of transmedia worlds, the formation of attachments, psychological defense, and niche microseriality). Based on a theoretical review of academic publications by Russian and international media researchers of the last decade, the authors develop a definition of the serial media format and provide its basic characteristics (iteration/variation, openness/ incompleteness, segmentation, paratextuality, implicit contractual relationships). Based on an analysis of contemporary media content, the article proposes a typology of modern serial media formats and outlines prospects for their further research in the Russian media space.
  Keywords: serial media format, digital media industry, platform society, media audiences, digital fatigue, paratextuality, transmedia worlds
  DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.3.2026.7090
  Dmitry P. Gavra, Elena V. Bykova 70

• «Media communications: three logics of social interaction in the hybrid media space»

  This article develops a conceptual framework for understanding media communications as a hybrid socio-technical environment rather than a single process of mediated information transfer. Building on the Russian debate on the institutionalization of “Media Communications” as an educational field, the paper argues that many curricula implicitly reproduce a journalism-centered model focused on content production. To overcome this reduction, the article distinguishes two professional lenses: the informant, whose normative task is accurate public reporting within centralized communication, and the social architect, whose task is to design communicative orders – visibility regimes, circulation pathways, norms of interaction, and trust infrastructures. The proposed typology outlines three co-existing interaction logics in hybrid media space: 1) centralized broadcasting (one-to-many), 2) networked distribution (many-to-many), and 3) personal dialogic communication (one-to-one / one-to-few), characterized by perpetual connectivity and blurred public/private boundaries. The paper emphasizes the growing importance of the distribution logic shaped by platforms and algorithmic visibility. The conclusion formulates educational implications: media communication programs should prioritize competencies for designing and governing transitions between interaction logics, training communicators as social architects rather than merely advanced content creators.
  Keywords: media communications, journalist, communicator, hybrid media space, mode of communication, social architecture, communicative logics
  DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.3.2026.91116
  Viktor P. Kolomiets 91
• History of Journalism

  «American newspaper New York Herald on the acquisition of Alaska»

  The Russian-American treaty of March 18 (30), 1867, remains a subject of scholarly debate, with one of the most important aspects of this issue being its contemporary reception. A study of newspaper publications allows for a better understanding of the perceived reasons for its conclusion and the anticipated consequences. New York Herald was chosen because its significant readership, combined with claims of independence in a political sense, ensured its influence on public opinion in the United States. On the issue of the acquisition of Alaska, the newspaper took a consistent position, unequivocally supporting the deal. The publication’s publishing activity on this issue reveals two peaks: 1854, when the newspaper, acting as a “prophet of menace,” attempted to push the government to immediate action; and late March–April 1867, when the editorial board transformed into a “triumphant” – the deal was presented as the logical culmination of years of anticipation and the fulfillment of a “predestination.” The newspaper’s publications clearly display dominant semantic themes. Geopolitical calculations occupy a central place, according to which the acquisition of Alaska would become an instrument for displacing Great Britain from the North American continent and establishing complete US hegemony there. Equally significant is the dominant ideological narrative, which views US expansion as the fulfillment of a higher destiny, the will of Providence, which cannot be restrained. Arguments based on economic benefits play a more supportive role and are usually used in the context of geopolitical and ideological discourse. The image of Russian Empire that is being created is also interesting: during the Crimean War, Russia is portrayed as a weak partner in need of American support, but in 1867 it acquires the features of a “wise” ally, voluntarily ceding territory.
  Keywords: New York Herald, American press, sale of Alaska, RussianAmerican relations
  DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.3.2026.117136
  Yuriy A. Kurdin, Aleksandr R. Panov, Aleksandr A. Shirinyants 117
• Education in Journalism

  «AI knowledge outsourcing and professional formation among journalism international students in Moscow universities»

  This study explores how journalism international students in Moscow experience AI knowledge outsourcing in their everyday learning practices. Focusing on the Faculty of Journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University, the research investigates how linguistic difficulty, institutional expectations, and digital mediation influence international students’ approaches to news studying and classroom participation. Fieldwork was conducted over one academic year through classroom observation at Moscow State University and in-depth interviews with journalism international students from both Moscow State University and the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. Additional interviews with senior faculty administrators provided an institutional view of how journalism training adapts to changing learning habits. The findings reveal that outsourcing ideas, translation, or drafting tasks has become a common strategy to manage linguistic insecurity and time pressure. While this practice offers short-term efficiency, it weakens reflection, authorship, and the sense of professional responsibility central to journalism education. Faculty respondents emphasised the importance of preserving critical judgment, verification, and writing discipline as core elements of professional formation. The study concludes that digital literacy in journalism should be understood as an ethical and pedagogical commitment to nurturing independent thinking within an increasingly mediated learning environment.
  Keywords: AI knowledge outsourcing, journalism education, international students, authorship, professional formation, digital literacy, qualitative research
  DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.3.2026.137159
  Yanze Li 137