Issue

Content:

• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Functions of journalism: traditional and new approaches»

  The article examines classical and modern approaches to defining the functions of journalism. It draws on both fundamental works on the theory and sociology of journalism, as well as recent studies of the changing role and place of journalism within the context of the transformation of the Russian media system. The author systematizes and expands upon established ideas about the roles and functions of journalism, rethinking them in light of these changes. The author analyzes the functions of journalism in scientific articles published in top 5 Russian journals and identifies the “space of functions” and the subject areas directly related to journalism in the most cited textbooks. The author concludes that journalism’s functions can be attributed to a multifunctional system that meets the primary (social institutions) and secondary (mass audience) needs. Recognizing the complexity and diversity of research approaches to journalism’s functions, the author aims to overcome the haphazardness and inconsistencies associated with terminology and definitions, as well as the lack of clarity in articulating the need for journalism to fulfill its functions in an interconnected and complex world.
  Keywords: media theory, media sociology, journalism functions, journalism theory
  DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.6.2024.330
  Elena L. Vartanova 3
• Sociology of Journalism

  «The Specifics of Argumentation in Mass Communication Texts: The Results of Structural and Content Analysis»

  The paper — in continuation of previously published articles — presents the em­pirical findings of the mass communication texts’ analysis focused on structural and semantic aspects of argumentation of Russian Internet users. The authors came to the conclusion of the prevalence of emotional arguments over the rational ones. The analysis confirmed the affective consciousness determinism, which brings more light to the nature of the phenomenon of mass consciousness logical inconsistency that occurs at the logical level as a consequence of the processes of the emotional nature. The authors emphasize the importance of longitudinal studies in order to examine the impact of political, social and other factors on the proportions of logical and emotional in mass consciousness.
  Keywords: online communication, argumentation, causal relationships, mass consciousness, logical inconsistency
  Maria E. Anikina, Viktor M. Khroul 3

• «Newspapers and Magazines in the Media System of Million Cities: a Sociological Study»

  The article presents the results of a sociological study of the media system of today’s million cities, the place of print media in this media system and their main structural, thematic and functional characteristics. The study involving more than 400 newspapers and magazines from 13 cities of over one million people aimed to examine the main demographic, economic and socio-cultural factors that shape the media system of these cities. It also elicited the average structural model of the modern press in million cities.
  Keywords: media system of million cities, newspapers and magazines, structural, thematic and functional media model
  Luiza G. Svitich, Olga V. Smirnova, Mikhail V. Shkondin 3

• «News in the Networked Era: an Analysis of Students’ News Consumption»

  The present article focuses on the study into news consumption habits of students as active young Moscow residents. The authors analyze the behavior of internet users, examine the current notion of news and describe the trends in its consumption and filtering. This study is based on the data collected over two years, which enables the authors to reveal some patterns of news consumption by active new media users and identify the most significant channels of distributing news content.
  Keywords: news, news resources, news consumption, media consumption on the Internet, social networks, online media
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.1.2018.325
  Taras S. Cherevko, Denis V. Dunas, Anna V. Tolokonnikova 3

• «Gender, Age and Professional Features of Newsroom Staff: Results of Local Newspapers Investigation»

  The article presents the results of gender analysis of the key social and professional characteristics of the journalists in small and medium-sized cities in Russia. The level of professional competencies has been explored as well. The analysis is based on the results of survey of 153 journalists and editors-in-chief from 55 cities. The data can be used in order to identify the areas of problems caused by gender and age imbalance at the newsrooms.
  Keywords: gender analysis in media; local press; newspapers of small and medium-sized cities in Russia; gender and age imbalance at newsrooms
  Olga V. Smirnova 3

• «Media System in the Context of a Region’s Development: an Econometric Analysis»

  This paper presents the results of a research into the media systems of modern million cities in the context of major demographic, economic and socio-cultural characteristics of regions and endogenous media properties of print publications. The research conducted by the Faculty of Journalism of Lomonosov Moscow State University in 13 million cities examined the structure and typology of 403 newspapers. Using the methods of mathematical statistics and econometrics (in particular, factor analysis), the authors identified the most significant infrastructural and endogenous factors that clearly influence the models, typology, formats and content of the publications.
  Keywords: media system of million cities, factor analysis, newspapers and magazines, typological characteristics of the press
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.6.2018.330
  Sergei A. Vartanov, Luiza G. Svitich, Olga V. Smirnova, Mikhail V. Shkondin 3

• «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

• «A Journalist's Work in a Modern Regional Newspaper: Creative Aspects »

  The article explores a journalist’s creative work as a basic journalistic activity. The authors analyzed the results of a sociological study in which 93 journalists from 26 Russian regional newspapers were interviewed on a wide range of topics. The analysis showed that a journalist’s creative authorial activity is constant enough. Although its structure, tasks, motivation, stages, methods of work and genre structure evolve, they retain the main features of this kind of text activity as a professional skill of working with words. However, the transformations of the media sphere and the introduction of online technologies into work with information significantly influenced creative activity and changed working tools. They expanded the functions of a journalist in creating multiplatform convergent content.
  Keywords: creative work of a journalist, regional newspapers, Russian journalists
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.6.2019.324
  Sergei A. Vartanov, Alexander V. Kolesnichenko, Olga V. Smirnova, Luiza G. Svitich, Mikhail V. Shkondin , Tatyana V. Yakovleva 3
• Modern Journalism: Subjects and Issues

  «Gaming content formats in Russian media»

  The aim of this study was to determine which indicators of media company performance are present in journalism practice. For the first time, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 media industry experts, their experience of using gamification in content strategy was analyzed and summarized. It was determined that the share of editorial games is no more than 10-30%, the rest of the game projects are produced by media companies for advertisers. In the total volume of advertising projects, the share of gamified content ranges from 20% to 75%. The reasons for the use of game content by media companies are identified: the struggle for attention / retention of attention, a high degree of implementation in game content, an increasing recreational need, attraction of new advertising, the formation of an image of a pronounced media / brand, the formation of loyalty. Key efficiency metrics for media companies that improve as a result of gaming projects include: traffic, time spent on the website, scroll reach, number of repeat visits, and the decrease of the bounce rate. Improving these metrics makes the media more attractive to the advertiser. In addition, advertisers are willing to do much more for game projects than for texts.
  Keywords: audience attention, infotainment, engagement, interactivity, emotions, gamification in journalism, digital youth
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.1.2024.328
  Elena A. Salikhova 3
• Sociology of Journalism

  «Motivation Factors in Media Consumption of "Digital Youth" in Russia: Results of a Pilot Study»

  This paper summarizes the results of in-depth interviews conducted with Russian young people in the age bracket from 10 to 19. The research was aimed at studying media consumption of “digital youth” in Russia and identifying the factors influencing the choice of this or that media outlet. At the first stage of the project, 24 youths and girls were interviewed in three Russian cities: Moscow, Rostov-on-Don and Nizhny Novgorod. The results indicated that in the structure of youth media consumption online media are at the top, while traditional media either do not attract young people whatsoever or stay in the background. In the course of the study, it was found that today social networks and online media are not merely a platform for communicating and satisfying basic information needs but are also involved in youth’s self-actualization. Creating videos and other types of content for different online platforms is an activity which is part of creative self-expression and a search for identity. The pilot study conducted makes it possible to envisage all the possible answers for the closed questions and include them into the questionnaires of a mass representative survey of all groups of youth, which is to be carried out at the next stage of the study.
  Keywords: “digital youth”, media consumption, motivation factors, media, media needs, media socialization, self-actualization
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.2.2020.327
  Denis V. Dunas, Sergei A. Vartanov, Diana Yu. Kulchitskaya, Elena A. Salikhova, Anna V. Tolokonnikova 3

• «Influence of Publications in the Mass Media for Decision-Making by Representatives of Russian Business Community»

  The article is concerned with the characteristics of decision-making by representatives of Russian business on the basis of the media, such as the choice of publications, the frequency of decision-making under the influence of the media, the nature and level of these decisions. The author conducted her study by interviewing 110 employees of the Russian financial sector. The survey took place in the summer of 2019 in Moscow. The main conclusion drawn in the article is that the Russian business community is quite active in making decisions based on the media, but for the most part these are one-time decisions, which do not have a significant impact on business. In addition, media based decision-making activity is uneven and depends on the function of the employee. The media is more likely to fulfill the role of confirming the existing ideas of businessmen and the data they received earlier. Objectivity, according to the survey, has become the main quality of the media, on whose basis business is ready to make decisions. For most businessmen, it is important which source the journalist uses – official or anonymous. In addition, despite a rather high level of trust in the media among many businessmen, a significant part of them recognize that over the past 5–7 years they have no longer trusted the media the way they did. Such a decline indicates a possible risk to the reputation of the media in the eyes of Russian business.
  Keywords: decision-making, media, business
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2020.328
  Emma B. Terchenko 3

• «Metaphor Framing in Media Texts and Communication about Depression: Findings of Content Analysis and Experiment»

  The article presents the results of the analysis of metaphor models used in federal mass media for the period of December 1, 2018 – December 1, 2019 to describe depression. Based on content analysis, the author argues that journalists most often refer to such source domains as ‘spatial bottom’ and ‘enemy’. In an experimental study (a survey involving 544 healthy people of different ages) it was tested whether these metaphors trigger the framing effect. The ‘swamp’ metaphor, as a sub-variety of the ‘spatial bottom’ metaphor, was shown to change the perceptions of depression, reinforcing the belief that depression needs to be treated and that psychotherapy can help in this regard. This metaphor also reduced the average penalty respondents would impose on an employee for not working because of depression. However, these effects were found in the group of respondents of 18– 35 years old (N=330). A different effect was observed in the group of respondents over 35 years old (N=214), with both ‘enemy’ and ‘swamp’ metaphors: they affected only the assessments of whether medication is helpful for depression reducing the average score. Thus, the author concluded that the metaphors used by journalists to communicate about mental disorders affect the audience’s judgments of these phenomena and that the effect depends not only on the semantics of the metaphor but also on the demographic characteristics of the audience (e.g., age).
  Keywords: framing effect, cognitive metaphor, depression, media effects
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.6.2020.322
  Ivan A. Aslanov 3
• Modern Journalism: Subjects and Issues

  «Multimedia Genres in Modern Russian Media»

  Multimedia publications make up about a quarter of the content of modern Russian online titles. These are the results of a study into the publications of the 20 most popular Russian media websites. The study was conducted in October-November 2022. 50 publications containing text were selected on the main page of each media outlet's website. Thus, the sample amounted to 1 000 publications. 222 of them also contained multimedia elements. Next, the genre of the text and he form and role of multimedia in the text were identified. The dominant genre of the text was news, which accounted for almost three quarters (73.4%) of publications. The established multimedia genres are as follows: news with a video background, news with a reportage of an event, news with a video quote, news with a video on the same topic, a review with a video review, a review with a video quote, an analytical article with a reportage, video quotes or an analytical video, and lastly an author's column with a video column, where the author voices the text. The differences in the level of multimediation among the media outlets under study are very large: the top three have a share of multimedia publications of 48– 72%, whereas the four outsiders – 4% each. Some media outlets tend to make almost all materials multimediated, while others supplement the text with multimedia elements only on special occasions. Among the forms of multimedia, videos dominate, and, as a rule, they are not shot by journalists of the publication, but received from other sources: press services, social networks and other media outlets. Audios are extremely rare, and other forms of multimedia (interactive infographics, animation, timeline, etc.) are actually not used. With regard to news publications, the text is accompanied by a video that is not related to the topic of the news, for example, "Video of the Day", "The Main News of the Day" or video excerpts such as "What is NATO" or "The Richest People on Earth". This is a consequence of the dictatorship of format and the lack of suitable videos on the topic. In other genres, this is much less common.
  Keywords: multimedia genres, multimedia formats, multimedia elements, multimedia news
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.2.2023.322
  Alexander V. Kolesnichenko 3

• «Disability Discourse in Russian General Interest and Specialized Periodicals (a Case Study of Materials About People with Hearing Disorders)»

  The authors present the results of a study into the content models of Russian mass media in terms of the principles of social inclusion for people with disabilities (on the example of those with hearing disorders). The practice of four general interest newspapers and two specialized publications (1 144 articles: 143 + 1 001 respectively) was considered using the content analysis technique. Thematic and functional features of the texts in both groups were revealed; strategies for involving the deaf in social practices carried out by the publications were compared. The authors came to the conclusion that there are significant misjudgments in the editorial concepts because of the reliance on the traditional ideas about disability that do not reflect modern approaches. This explains the spontaneity of the media discourse, which is more focused on the survival and adaptation of people with disabilities. Social inclusion as an ideological basis for a new understanding of disability has not been sufficiently mastered by journalists. The media need to revise obsolete approaches and update their thematic agendas.
  Keywords: mass media, social inclusion, socialization, adaptation, integration, people with disabilities, the deaf
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.1.2023.329
  Tatiana I. Frolova, Ksenia D. Istomina 3
• Sociology of Journalism

  «Media Practices of Modern Primary School-Aged Children»

  This paper analyses the media practices of children aged 8–10 studying in the third grade of four Moscow schools. In the study, the method of a survey conducted in the online format was used. Overall, 142 questionnaires were analysed. As a result, it was revealed that only television captivates children’s attention the way the Internet does. Often TV serves as a kind of socializer that can unite people and help them to create a joint experience. By contrast, the use of the Internet is largely an individual media practice. The questions about radio evoke a lot of negative feedback. We attribute this to the fact that it is the only kind of media that children cannot break off contact with on their own, because mostly they listen to the radio in a car together with their parents, and they themselves are hardly the initiators of this media practice. Print media turns out to be the least popular type of media among all. The explanation is simple: the print market today fails to provide products of interest to the children of this age.
  Keywords: media consumption, children’s audience, media practices, primary schoolers
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2021.326
  Mayya I. Davletshina 3

• «Professional Roles of Journalists of the Future: the View of Russian Educators»

  The authors of the paper analyze the views of Russian journalism educators on the professional roles that journalists are to play in the future decade. The empirical data were collected as part of the global study “Journalistic Roles, Values and Competencies in the 21st Century: How Journalism Educators Across the Globe See the Future of the Profession”. The online survey was conducted under the auspices of the World Journalism Education Council (WJEC) in January-February 2021 with Russian educators from different regions of the country taking part in it as respondents. This paper focuses on the responses to two groups of questions: the reflections of educators about the typical tasks of professional journalists in the future and their view on key normative principles of neutrality and objectivity when fulfilling these professional tasks. The clustering of the ranked data makes it possible to figure out three professional roles that journalism educators expect in a ten-year term: objective disseminator, impartial investigator and social mobilizer. The authors suggest that these roles chosen by journalism educators for the careers of their students could be relevant in the future. However, they admit that this conclusion is debatable.
  Keywords: journalism, journalism educators, professional tasks, professional principles, journalists’ professional roles
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.1.2022.325
  Nico Drok, Maria M. Lukina, Andrei V. Zamkov 3

• «Socio-Political Segment of Media Consumption of Modern Youth Living in the Saratov Region as a Factor in the Formation of Political Attitudes and Preferences»

  Within contemporary scholarship, various aspects of media consumption of the “digital” generation are actively studied. However, there is still not enough research on the relationship between young people’s typical media practices and their inherent political ideas, values, and attitudes. This article is aimed at partially filling this gap by revealing a connection between the kinds of mass media and media sources young Russians use to get information about everything that is going on, on the one hand, and what they feel about politics, which ideologies they share and how they see their country’s future, on the other. The empirical data of the study contain the results of an online survey of more than five hundred young people (from 14 to 35 years old) living in the Saratov region, and three focus group interviews in which 36 people took part. Some of the results obtained are brought into correlation with the conclusions made by Russian Public Opinion Research Center and Public Opinion Foundation specialists. Among other things, it is confirmed that many young people do not trust the sources from which they receive information. It is also found that the attitude of respondents to ideologies and various options for future political structure of Russia depends on the source of information they use.
  Keywords: media practice, media consumption, youth, political preferences, mass media, Saratov region
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2022.334
  Alexander A. Kazakov, Alexander A. Vilkov, Nikolai I. Shestov 3

• «“It Finds Me Anyway”: Media Consumption of News Avoiders»

  The article discusses how news avoiders talk about the news-finds-me effect. The empirical materials consist of 44 interviews. The research shows that news avoiders do not feel uninformed. The interviewees express confidence that information about the most important events on the agenda will find them by itself. The channels of receiving information for news avoiders are social contacts (offline or online), casual consumption of traditional media (for example, the radio in a taxi), as well as social networks and computer algorithms. The effect of news-finds-me can also be evaluated in different ways. Some subjects of the interviews note that this effect allows them to stay on top of major events without effort, thus saving time, cognitive and emotional resources. The situation, when information finds its audience, legitimizes news avoidance and relieves people of the feeling of guilt about their unwillingness to follow the agenda. However, other subjects emphasize that the news-find-me effect does not give them the opportunity to protect themselves from negative information, forcing them to consume news they would like to avoid.
  Keywords: news avoidance, media consumption, high-choice media environment, news-finds-me, casual news consumption
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2023.325
  Anastasia D. Kazun 3

• «Promising Areas for News Consumption Research in High-Choice Media Environment»

  The high-choice media environment has transformed the process of news consumption. This article attempts to map out the field of contemporary news consumption research and identify trends that deserve further study. The following promising areas of research have been identified: (1) choice from an excess number of options, (2) new media repertoires and styles of news consumption, (3) unintentional news consumption, (4) the problem of false, incomplete and unreliable information, (5) media fragmentation, (6) crisis of trust in news. For each of these areas, a conceptual framework is proposed in Russian and English, as well as aspects that can be focused on and examples of research questions are identified. In addition, the article pointed out two more general problems. First, the need to reconceptualize many of the terms that were originally proposed for traditional media and have lost clarity and unambiguity within the high-choice media environment. Secondly, the importance of abandoning normativism and evaluativeness when considering new trends in media consumption. This article may be useful for forming a general understanding of the current state of research on news consumption, as well as when planning your own research – choosing a topic, stating a problem and searching for relevant literature.
  Keywords: information overload, news avoidance, doomscrolling, fake news, conspiracy theories, news-finds-me, trust in news
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.2.2024.347
  Anastasia D. Kazun 3
• Media Economics

  «A New Tool for Measuring Concentration in the Media Industry (The First Approbation of a Theoretical Development)»

  The paper presents the historical background, theoretical underpinning and methodology of creating a new tool for measuring concentration in the media industry. Conceptually, the development of SMCI (the Synergetic Media Concentration Index) appears to be an extension of the idea realized by MOCDI (the Media Ownership Concentration and Diversity Index). The first results of calculating the new index in an assessment of the market environment in the Russian media industry are provided. As a starting object of measurement, the author selected federal television, the largest and most transparent segment.
  Keywords: media industry, segment, concentration, index, revenues, audience, number of media outlets
  Sergey S. Smirnov 3

• «Revealing Interests of Major Owners in Newscasts of Controlled TV Channels (the Cases of NTV and REN)»

  The article presents the results of the study of owners’ influence on formation of the newscasts of N TV and REN. Monitoring of the midday newscasts December 2013 to March 2014 revealed major trends in covering facts and events related to activities and business interests of legal entities and persons that can be described as the owners of the channels as well as of affiliated organizations. We believe that relying on analyzed data we can prove that news agenda is fanned by two major Russian networks’ newscasts under evident influence of their owners.
  Keywords: REN, NTV, Natzjonal’naya Media Gruppa, Gazprom-Media Holding, gatekeeping, agenda setting
  Mikhail I. Makeenko, Anna A. Kugusheva 3

• «Financial Transparency of Large Media Businesses in Russia: Changes in the Aspects of the Problem»

  This paper examines the legislative norms on forming and revealing financial accountability for different types of media enterprises in modern Russia. The author analyzed the difficulties related to the differences among the existing legal approaches to the formats of information provision. The documents the analysis was based on were as follows: the Tax Code of RF (1998), the laws "On the Stock Market" (1996), "On the Official Statistical Records and the System of State Statistics in the Russian Federation" (2007), "On Consolidated Financial Statements" (2010) and "On Accounting" (2011). The current versions of the texts were borrowed from the information and reference system KonsultantPlus. While investigating a number of industry cases, some gaps were found that prevented systematic collection and study of economic indicators of certain players in the media market. The sample included six largest media enterprises of the country (Yandex, Mail.Ru, Google, Gazprom-Media, National Media Group and VGTRK) as well as six leaders of the industry's individual segments. The websites of the companies, the Rosstat base and the Internet resource of the Federal Tax Service were used as a source of financial information. The author of the paper concluded that the main problem today is the absence of a mandatory requirement of consolidated financial accountability for all media companies that appear to be holding corporations. This, in particular, makes it imposible to correctly calculate the volumes of the national media industry in general and its individual segments.
  Keywords: media holding, legal entity, accountability, indicator, transparency, legislation, requirements
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.2.2022.320
  Sergey S. Smirnov 3

• «Integral indicator of the media communication industry: a tool to analyze a new socio-economic category»

  The paper presents a methodological framework for developing a quantitative analytical tool for a new socio-economic category – the media communication industry (MCI). The proposed tool, the integral indicator of the MCI, enables the assessment of the industry’s development level across various aspects and manifestations based on statistical data from national media communication industry databases. The methodology for calculating integral indicators follows an econometric approach and builds upon theoretical foundations and contributions from Russian and international scholars (including the authors) employing the principal component method to reduce the dimensionality of socio-economic indicator sets. The construction of the indicator incorporates empirical data spanning a ten-year period across the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. As a result, the developed research tool provides an accurate representation of the media communication industry’s qualitative state at both national and regional levels. Importantly, it is mathematically robust and preserves essential variability. The study establishes key principles for classifying the country’s regions based on the level of development and operational characteristics of the media communication industry, as well as its contribution to the regional economy. Furthermore, it formulates the main parameters of a mathematical model linking regional media communication industry development levels with broader macroeconomic indicators.
  Keywords: media; media communication industry; integral indicator; principal component method; regional ranking; Mediamonitor
  DOI: 10.55959/ msu.vestnik.journ.1.2025.332
  Sergei A. Vartanov, Yulia S. Nefedova, Sergey I. Nefedov 3
• Periodical Press

  «Communicatory Features of City Newspapers Content»

  The article presents the results of a content analysis of ten newspapers of medium and small cities in Russia. Communicative characteristics are analyzed as follows: subjects and objects of publications, opinions, information sources used, genres, titles and illustrations as ways to attract readers. The results of the editorial staff survey on communicative practices, forms of interaction with the audience and the public have been added.
  Keywords: newsroom communication practices, media communication characteristics, local press, newsroom staff, subjects of articles, objects of articles, newspaper genres, captions, illustrations in newspapers
  Luiza G. Svitich, Olga V. Smirnova, Alla A. Shiryaeva, Mikhail V. Shkondin 3

• «Corporate Media as a Class Press: Access to a Mass Audience»

  The article is devoted to the conditions of functioning of the corporate media at the Russian media market. Considering the purposes and reader addresses of the corporate media, the author draws attention to the great potential of such publications associated with broad market coverage and effective communication with the public. A content analysis of corporate publications was conducted, the results of which became basis for recommendations for the ways of presenting information about the company to internal and external groups of audience. The author demonstrated that custom media can use competitive business models and along with so-called traditional media apply for the mass audience attention.
  Keywords: custom media, custom publishing, corporation, house journal, trade magazine
  Yuliya A. Petropavlovskaya 3

• «Newspapers of Middle and Small Russian Towns in 2010s»

  The article presents the results of a study of newspapers and small and medium­sized cities in Russia. Analyzed data obtained from a survey of editors and journalists on a wide range of issues: features, content structure, genre, convergent processes, the relationship with the audience and the founder, status and economic situation, the staffing situation, problems and development perspective of the local press.
  Keywords: the local press; the newspaper medium and small cities; functionally-rich model of the local newspaper; the audience of the local newspaper; the legal, the economic status of the local newspaper; media convergence
  Luiza G. Svitich, Olga V. Smirnova, Alla A. Shiryaeva, Mikhail V. Shkondin 3

• «Israel in Soviet and Russian Media 1948–2017 »

  The article examines the dynamics of print media coverage of the state of Israel starting with the Soviet period (from 1948, when the state of Israel was established, to 1991), through the period of new Russian statehood formation (1992–1999) to recent times (from 2000 to date). The media positioning of Israel in the USSR and Russia is indicative of the attitude of Soviet/Russian elites to Israeli policies in the Middle East and worldwide. The authors of the article show that in 70 years the image of Israel in the Soviet and Russian press has undergone considerable change as a result of a gradual shift from hostility to mutual understanding and cooperation. A fundamentally important discovery is that irrespective of the political regime in the USSR or Russia the domestic media have never questioned the legitimacy of Israel as an independent state.
  Keywords: Israeli image, Soviet press, Russian press, Soviet-Israeli relations, content analysis, discourse analysis, legitimation of Israel
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.2.2018.325
  Dmitry P. Gavra, Elena V. Bykova, Anna S. Smolyarova 3
• Modern Journalism: Subjects and Issues

  «Computer Algorithms Used in Russian News Agencies (a Case Study of Interfax and TASS)»

  This article presents the results of a case study into the way two leading Russian news agencies use algorithms in the process of news writing. Both Interfax and TASS agencies are pioneers in implementing robotic technologies in daily journalistic practice. These media outlets use algorithms for creating short news items and categorizing news stories according to their subject. Through the methods of in-depth interview among editors of both news agencies, the authors of the article find which topics are covered using algorithms and what the specifics of creating news stories with the aid of computer programs is. Besides, the main challenges and problems involved in algorithm implementation are highlighted. The second part of the study is devoted to a textual analysis of 20 news items created by means of computer programs. An attempt is made to distinguish their stylistic and structural features. In conclusion, the authors point out that, according to the interviewed editors, algorithms will not replace journalists as computer programs cannot write complex analytical texts.
  Keywords: automated texts, algorithms in journalism, robotic journalism, working with big data, news agencies
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.1.2020.319
  Diana Yu. Kulchitskaya, Tatiana I. Frolova 3

• «Content Specifics of Russian Fake News on the Internet and on Television»

  Fake news has widely spread over recent years, especially during the Brexit process, Ukrainian conflict and US presidential election campaign. Collins English Dictionary chose the word “fake” as the word of the year 2017. This study looks at the content specifics of fake news on the Internet and on Russian television. The sample consists of 22pieces of fake news that spread in social networks and online media (the audience for each piece amounted to more than 1 million people). The authors draw a conclusion about fake news mimicry to real news (structural similarity). The difference appears only at the level of content. The major means of spreading fake news are not only social networks and dubious websites but also the federal media.
  Keywords: fake, fake news, online news, the Internet, online communication, television
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2019.322
  Kristina L. Zuykina, Daria V. Sokolova 3
• Television and Radio

  «Topic as the Genre-Determining Factor for Commercial and State-Owned News Channel Content (Based on CNN and «Rossiya 24» News Channels) »

  The article studies possible connection between the topic of a news story and the choice of its genre. Using comparative analysis the author researches thematic preferences of the American and Russian versions of 24-hour news TV-channels, explores the connection between content and genre choice and offers genre-and- topic formulae.
  Keywords: genres of television journalism, story topics of 24-hour news channel, genre and topic formulae, news television
  Karine V. Chobanyan 3
• Modern Journalism: Subjects and Issues

  «Fact Checking and Information Verification in Russian Media: Survey Results»

  This article is based on the survey that includes responses from Russian journalists, editors, producers and other media staff participating in news gathering and consumption and having different professional experience. The sample contains diverse types of media (print, news agencies, television channels, radio stations and new media). The fact checking process is a daily practice. Information verification takes from several minutes to half an hour. Statistics, citations and posts on social networks are verified more often than other information categories. Journalists find incorrect information in other mass media, social networks and materials of PR-departments. In 85% of cases, it is negligent attitude to professional functions that leads to the publication of fake information. Drawing on the survey, one can highlight the factors interfering with the fact checking process. These are lack of time, lack of necessary information and laziness of those responsible for verifying information. As a rule, the most difficult cases of fact checking involve the intentional distortion of information or an unwillingness to provide it.
  Keywords: fact checking, information verification, fact, fake, news
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2018.325
  Daria V. Sokolova 3
• Television and Radio

  «Television Channels and Social Networks: Specifics of Interaction»

  This article aims to present the results of an analysis of Russian television channels’ interaction with the Facebook, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki social networks. The analysis revealed the specifics of different Russian television channels’ presence and performance on these social networks. The authors present the main approaches of the channels’ content strategy for social media and examine the major shortcomings of the television channels’ activities on social networks.
  Keywords: social networks, television channels on social networks, content characteristics, user activity
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2018.316
  Galina G. Shchepilova , Ludmila A. Kruglova 3
• New Media

  «Regional Blogosphere as a Platform for Political and So- cial Discussions (on Bashkortostan Example)»

  The author presents the results of the research of the blogosphere in one of Rus­sia regions — the Republic of Bashkortostan. The blogosphere in Russian regions of­ten remains the only platform for free expression of opinions and thoughts. Bashkor­tostan as the region with authoritarian traditions attracts a particular interest. The basis of the research is an analysis of 2500 blog posts produced by 25 the most popu­lar regional bloggers. The analysis is focused on the volume of content on politics and social issues as well as on bloggers’ personal attitude to these subjects. The au­thor also studies the dependence of bloggers’ popularity from their political and so­cial views. The author has revealed the extremely high level of heterogeneity of the regional blogosphere and the absence of correlation between bloggers’ involvement in political discourse and their popularity. The attitude toward the politics, especially in Russia, is mostly negative, but the positive coverage of social life is evident. In general the model of blogosphere in the republic fits the general model of mass media in the region. The differences between these models help to understand the possible trends of regional mass media development without the external limitations.
  Keywords: blogosphere, political discussions, regional mass media, public dialogue, Bashkortostan
  Usmanova D.S. 3

• «Demand for Journalistic Text Genres Among the Online Media Audience»

  This paper is devoted to the correlation between the popularity of journalistic texts and their genres. The study of 10 Russian media websites (rbc.ru, lenta.ru, ria. ru, kommersant.ru, aif.ru, rg.ru, vedomosti.ru, novayagazeta.ru, ura.ru, znak.com) showed that the most read are news items and, secondarily, analytical articles and columns. Texts in other genres are read much less. This is equally true of the genres traditional for the print press such as reportage, interview and feature story and the genres developed on the Internet such as online translation, cards, list. The multimedia longread format is also unpopular. The general impression is that the accumulative effect of non-news publications is very weak.
  Keywords: genres, online media, news items, multimedia longread
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2019.322
  Alexander V. Kolesnichenko 3

• «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
• Modern Journalism: Subjects and Issues

  «Main Errors and Inaccuracies in the Articles on Demographic Topics in the Media»

  The topic of demography in recent years excites a lot of discussion among politicians, economists and sociologists. These discussions are reflected in the media including on the Internet: the articles addresses issues of fertility and maternity capital, mortality and health, migration and the labor market. However in these articles it is possible to detect certain errors and inaccuracies which are associated with the use of demographic indicators and their interpretation. This article conducted a content analysis of the Russian Internet editions (mass media), contains the basic errors in these publications in terms of major demographic processes and categories, and the classification of those errors. We have found five types of errors and inaccuracies: the discrepancy of reality, stylistic inaccuracies, inaccuracies in the wording, errors and inaccuracies of interpretation of demographic processes, inaccuracies of use of indicators and terms. Although crude rates are mostly used in the media due to their plainness, for comparison between regions and for a time it is essential to use special demographic indicators such as age-standardized mortality rate, life expectancy, total fertility rate and other. The article would be useful not only to journalists and to the main newsmakers in the person of officials, but also to students who write essays and abstracts on the subject of demography, and to all of them who feel a lack of demographic knowledge.
  Keywords: mass media, demography, fertility, mortality, demographic literacy
  Valeriy V. Yumaguzin, Maria V. Vinnik 3
• New Media

  «Mediatized Protest Mobilization on Social Networks: Algorithms for Building Speech Strategies»

  The article proposes an algorithmic model for the formation of strategies for mobilizing protest on social networks through the mechanisms of mediatization of a local incident on the example of an event which received wide resonance in the Internet space and turned into a real confrontation between civil activists, local authorities and businesses. The research is interdisciplinary in nature and is carried out at the junction of the political science theory of discourse, the philological theory of speech acts, and the theory of mediatization, implemented in line with the institutional approach to agenda setting. In the empirical part of the work, methods of mathematical processing of big data are used. The purpose of the study is to propose a theoretical model for the formation of mobilization strategies in the situation of mediatization of a local incident and to test the underlying hypotheses based on the analysis of the conflict around the project of building a temple on the site of a public garden (Ekaterinburg, 2019). The authors revealed the presence of explicit markers of partial strategies in the speech practices of agents of online mobilization. Using the methods of linguistic analysis, they showed that the mediatization of a local incident on social networks can act as one of the mechanisms for mobilizing political protest.
  Keywords: mediatization, mobilization, algorithm, speech strategy, social networks, protest
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.2.2021.324
  Dmitry P. Gavra, Elena V. Bykova 3

• «Typology of Multimedia Longreads»

  Multimedia longreads presented in Russian online media can be reduced to several types of combinations of text and multimedia: analytics with video interviews, a reconstructor with archival footage and timeline, an investigation with reportage video inserts, a reportage with shooting on the spot, a review with reportage shooting and animation, and a portrait with video inserts from social networks. These are the results of a study into over one hundred of the most popular and cited Russian media websites. At the same time, it turned out that the vast majority of even the largest Russian media outlets do not publish multimedia longreads at all, and the bulk of large materials on media websites are mono-media, namely a long text with pictures or a documentary film. Multimedia longreads were identified on only 15 out of 114 websites. Moreover, there were only 1 to 3 multimedia longreads on 10 of these websites. In total, 42 multimedia longreads were identified. The most popular types of multimedia longreads are an analytical article, an investigation and a reconstructor. They account for more than three quarters of all publications. The most popular multimedia elements are reportage, video interviews and archival footage. They make up almost 90% of the total number of multimedia elements. And although it can be argued that a multimedia longread is an established format having an almost ten year history, its low representation in the online media casts doubt on the relevance and viability of this format.
  Keywords: multimedia longread, journalistic genres, journalistic formats, universal journalism
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2022.320
  Alexander V. Kolesnichenko 3

• «PRC’S Digital Diplomacy in Social Network Accounts of Chinese Embassies in Africa»

  Since Xi Jinping became President, China has been trying to improve informational and ideological support of its foreign policy by different means, including digital diplomacy. Focusing on China's digital diplomacy in Africa, the authors of this article analyze which ideas and in what way Chinese diplomatic missions seek to convey to foreign users of social media. The empirical part of the study includes a frame analysis of 295 posts published in the social media accounts of Chinese embassies in Kenya, South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan between 2019 and 2021. In these accounts, Chinese diplomats describe in detail the successes of the PRC and the merits of its development model, strive to popularize traditional Chinese culture, a key element of China's soft power strategy, and aspire to refute accusations and criticisms of China’s foreign and domestic policies voiced by Western countries. Despite the absence of a unified strategy for digital diplomacy development in the PRC, the authors detected the same set of frames in all the accounts under study. This can be explained by the fact that the content of communication to a large extent copies the discourse of Chinese official media and is not largely tailored to social media.
  Keywords: digital diplomacy, global communications, social media, China-Africa relations, frame analysis
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2023.320
  Kirill S. Kravtsov, Elena D. Soboleva 3

• «The Use of Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Russian Media and Journalism»

  An active penetration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in industry, finance, medicine, retail, telecommunications and other technologically intensive spheres gradually makes AI an indispensable part of the media industry. This article deals with the analysis of actual state and potential of AI as the object of innovations in Russian media and journalism. The main conclusions were made on the basis of empirical and theoretical results, obtained from the qualitative research. Within the frames of the diffusion of innovation theory, several approaches to the analysis of AI trends were studied. As a source of the primary data, the authors used scientific reviews of academic research centers, industrial reports of leading international consulting companies and summaries of structured experts` opinion. The panel of experts was represented by three groups of reputable participants having knowledge of AI technologies from the academic, engineering and media industry areas. As AI technologies penetrate heavily into industrial practices, experts` community estimates the potential of this innovation as rather promising. A number of Russian media companies apply artificial neural networks and machine learning, deep learning, text generation and the like. Along with the drivers of AI implementation, in the course of research some associated risks were highlighted related to the abuse and absence of control, transparency of technological solutions and ethical regulation.
  Keywords: artificial intelligence, innovations, Russian media and journalism, neural networks, symbolic artificial intelligence
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2023.321
  Sergey G. Davydov, Andrei V. Zamkov, Maria A. Krasheninnikova, Maria M. Lukina 3
• Modern Journalism: Subjects and Issues

  «Journalism and Economic Science in XXI Century: On the Road to Mutual Understanding»

  The article analyses the current state of economic theory and its development trends. The author reviews problematic issues of coverage of economy in mass media.
  Keywords: theory of economics, journalism, the orthodoxy and the heterodoxy in theory of economics, the core of economic theory, economic policy
  Valeriy L. Ivanitskiy 3
• New Media

  «Transformation of television news videos characteristics on VK and Telegram social networks»

  The processes of digitalization are changing the ways people consume television news and news in general. Online videos are gaining more popularity, especially among younger audience. Traditional media, including 24-hour news channels, are learning to adapt their content to the digital platforms. This study uses quantitative content analysis to explore the online news videos transformation trends on the two most popular in Russia social networks VK and Telegram. They include abandoning voiceovers and on-camera work, replacing verbal audio with music and fonts, introducing new formats (the most popular is self-contained adapted package with video or photos, fonts and music) and using raw video accompanied by text only. We also identify key specific features in terms of online news video production, UGC usage, duration of video materials and preferred formats for each platform (VK and Telegram). The findings offer deeper perspective on the key differences between the traditional and online news videos.
  Keywords: online news videos, news TV channels, digital platforms, VK, Telegram
  DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.5.2024.326
  Karine V. Chobanyan 3
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Citation Approaches of Russian Media Researchers in the Context of Internationalisation of Russian Science»

  The article contains the results of the metadata analysis of 2011 scientific articles on media and communication published by researchers with Russian affiliation in journals indexed in the international database Web of Science (WoS) in 2017–2021. The analysis of references revealed differences in approaches to source selection in the case of all articles and those published in foreign journals in WoS, excluding ESCI (221 publications). In the latter, foreign sources are cited significantly more often, while in general foreign literature is still quite rare and used only to a limited extent by domestic researchers. Among Russian sources most recent articles are usually cited, which may be due to close ties within a small community of authors, as well as the recent formalisation of domestic media and communication research as a separate discipline. There is a clear tendency to cite domestic colleagues, in case of Russia this phenomenon is closely related to some isolation of scientific journals in Russian, the language barrier and not particularly developed personal ties with foreign researchers.
  Keywords: media studies, Russia, international integration, science communication, media theorie
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2024.323
  Igor V. Anisimov, Mikhail I. Makeenko, Nataliia D. Trishchenko 3
• Media Text in a New Technological Environment: Digital Transformation of Communication

  «Media Text in the Era of Digital Platforms: Opportunities and Threats»

  Introduction to the special issue
  Keywords: mediatext, digital platforms, new media
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2024.313
  Elena L. Vartanova, Andrei V. Vyrkovsky, Marina V. Zagidullina 3
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Media Communication Industry: Towards the Theoretical Grounding of the Category»

  Technological and social processes of the late 20th – early 21st centuries associated with the rapid development of information and communication technologies, computer hardware and software products have led to the formation of a new macro-social entity – the media communication industry, integrated into the national and global economy and interacting in various ways with other sectors of the economy and the world media system. The industry emerging because of the processes of digital transformation of society and the convergence of (mass) media and telecommunications represents a qualitatively new socio-economic phenomenon. The media communication industry is a socio-economic system that inextricably unites the technical means of representation, transmission, storage and processing of digital information and producers and consumers of information interacting via these technical means and ensuring social interactions of members of society, the production and dissemination of meanings, conversion and transformation of tangible and intangible capital associated with them. This paper is intended to describe the main characteristics of this industry, its functions, structure and to provide theoretical justification for introducing the corresponding category into the modern discourse of media studies.
  Keywords: media communications industry, media theory, media communications sociology
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.6.2023.336
  Sergei A. Vartanov 3
• Editorial

  «The Vedomosti of Peter the Great – the Agenda for Centuries »

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  Keywords: the Vedomosti, Peter the Great, agenda
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Brand Media Market in Russia: Definitions, Classification, Characteristics»

  The research is devoted to the phenomenon of brand media and brand journalism, that is to say, online publications which use professional journalistic standards when creating content in marketing communications. The authors formulate the current definitions and key characteristics of the phenomenon, summarizing the Russian and English-speaking academic experience accumulated so far. For the first time, the article attempts to describe the scale of the market: out of the top 200 companies in the RAEX-600 rating, only 22 have brand media; the total number of publications is 30 because two companies among these 22 have more than three media outlets. The study describes the state of the identified brand media in the first half of 2022 and serves as a starting point for analyzing the further dynamics of the media market segment. In addition to descriptive analysis and formulation of definitions, the authors of the article created two scales for media mapping. The first one highlights the leaders whose content is most useful for a wide audience. The second one presents a range of standards between corporate and journalistic ones, where typical brand media occupy a median position. The results of the market description and definition creation were authorized through expert interviews with brand media executives and sampling participants. Thus, in the public professional and academic discourse, the authors keep track of significant assessments and understandings of the brand media market and general ideas about the object of research. The practical significance of the work lies in specifying the arguments for a business that chooses brand media as a working marketing tool and the arguments for communication agencies that solve similar tasks at the request of businesses.
  Keywords: brand media, brand journalism, marketing, media market, professional standards
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.6.2022.327
  Kamilla R. Nigmatullina, Natalia A. Pavlushkina 3

• «Media and Conflicts: a Study of Their Mutual Interaction in Current Academic Discourse»

  The paper discusses theoretical issues of interaction between the media and conflicts. The paper studies what types of conflict have become the subject of research by leading Russian and foreign academic journals in the field of media, on which theoretical and methodological approach the study of the conflict was based, which subjects of the conflict are key in the analyzed articles. It was revealed that the main role in the escalation of the conflict belongs to completely different actors: the media, the government, civil society or communities, specific individuals. Ethical principles become the most significant factors in conflict development. This applies both to the media and to the specific communication practices of individuals. The study of academic discourse has highlighted the fundamental importance of ethics and morality as key determinants of conflict development. The discussion raised the question of the need to cultivate ethical and moral values as opposed to the anti-value of “conflict” in accordance with the theory of communicative action by Jurgen Habermas.
  Keywords: conflict, media, meta-analysis, subject of conflict, ethics, morality
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.4.2021.332
  Elena L. Vartanova, Denis V. Dunas, Anna A. Gladkova 3

• «Digital Divide, Digital Capital, Digital Inclusion: Dynamics of Theoretical Approaches and Political Decisions»

  This paper examines the key theoretical approaches to studying the problem of the digital divide in foreign and Russian interdisciplinary research. Special attention is given to the transition from viewing the digital divide in terms of access to technological infrastructure to understanding it as a complex social problem. The authors consider three levels of the digital divide model (access, skills and benefits from using digital technologies), analyze the role of legal regulation in the capacity of Russian society to overcome this problem. They draw a conclusion about the importance to understand the digital divide as a complex issue, with regard to specifics of digital capital, digital inclusion and other phenomena on the national and global scale.
  Keywords: digital divide, digital capital, digital technologies, ICTs, Russia
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.1.2021.329
  Elena L. Vartanova, Anna A. Gladkova 3
• History of Journalism

  «On the History of the Liberal Press: the Russkaya Molva Newspaper (1912–1913)»

  A quality social and political publication designed for the broadest enlightened audience, the daily independent non-party newspaper Russkaya Molva (1912–1913) has not yet become the subject of researchers’ attention, although those studying the works of A. Blok, who published 2 articles and 5 poems there, know it very well. Many other writers and literary critics also contributed to the newspaper. Among them were A. Remizov, Sasha Chorny, L. Gurevich, B. Eihenbaum and others. For a long time, the assessments given to the newspaper by V. Lenin, who claimed it as bourgeois, pseudo-democratic and nationalistic, remained decisive. This article analyzes the content and direction of the newspaper based on the study of journalistic works, mainly of the publisher of Russkaya Molva D. Protopopov. The author concludes that the newspaper's reputation, formed under the influence of V. Lenin’s purely negative assessments, turns out to be false and requires revision. The role of Russkaya Molva in literature of the early 1910s is of great interest for researchers and needs to be further investigated.
  Keywords: Russian Molva newspaper, D. Protopopov, A. Tyrkova-Williams, V. Lenin, liberalism, opposition, journalism
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.6.2021.320
  Ekaterina I. Orlova 3
• Editorial

  «The Economist Magazine about the Crisis of American Ideals»

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  Keywords: the Economist magazine, crisis, editorial
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Traditions and Innovations in Understanding the Media And Journalism»

  The article considers the dichotomy of tradition and innovation in journalism and the media. The communication theories were created in the periods of linear media’s prevalence and in conditions of information deficit. The contemporary overabundance of information calls for a reconsideration of traditions in order to create new value orientations for Russian society.
  Keywords: tradition, innovation, journalism, media system, stratification of society
  Evgeny Ya. Dugin 3
• Editorial

  «Editorial: Internet-portal Amazon.com: Changes in Washington Newspapers’ World»

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  Keywords: Amazon, Internet-portal, Editorial
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3

• «Open journalism»

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  Keywords: open journalism, editorial
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Middle Range Theories in the Research of Information and Communication Media Systems»

  The article analyzes the theory and methodology of media systems research. The author considers the possibilities of studying modern media through the application of middle range theories, which will result in changes to the traditional approaches grounded in philological and historical methodologies.
  Keywords: theory, methodology, information and communication media systems, middle range theories
  Evgeny Ya. Dugin 3
• Editorial

  «The Economist’s Controversial Views on the Perspectives of Development of the Western Economy»

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  Keywords: Economist, perspectives, editorial
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Paradigmatic Approach To Media Studies: the Experience of Foreign Researchers»

  The media are a complex phenomenon, which is determined politically, socially, economically, and anthropologically by external factors. The article confirms the validity of the paradigmatic approach to media studies — the approach according to which the object / subject is studied from the standpoint of a system of views dominant in the existing conditions by scholars representing a certain scientific school. The three most widespread paradigms in foreign studies are as follows: empirical functionalism, political economy and the anthropological paradigm. The author believes that the paradigmatic approach is a methodologically correct tool contributing to a systematic consideration of media research. At the same time, the paradigmatic approach does not contradict the polyparadigmality of media research, which is especially evident in the centrist views of scientists equally recognizing the social, economic and cultural aspects of the media. Empirical functionalism is the most widespread and “normative ” paradigm, which media researchers borrowed from sociology. Each hypothesis is proved by empirical research, while theories and concepts are formulated proceeding from considerations of universal prosperity, maintaining social balance, pluralism of opinions as well as cultural and political diversity. The most famous theoretical postulates concerning the media, ranging from freedom of speech to social mission, are a product of empirical functionalism. The political economy of the media is a pragmatic paradigm: it considers the nature and functioning of the media in their true colours exploring the interests of media owners, their relationships with elites and the market aspect of the media. In comparison with the bright ideals of empirical functionalism, the political economy of the media is blamed for its “non-normativity”, for researchers’ closer attention to the realities of the media market than to societal demands. The anthropological paradigm does not study the media audience as a mass — the object of sociological interest or as consumers — the object of advertising measurements carried out for better sales. For anthropologists, the media audience consists of individuals interpreting media messages according to individual selective and perceptual processes. Media content is a set of semantic and value categories forming users’ everyday practices. Contemporary Russian media studies are distinguished by terminological and theoretical-conceptual confusion as well as by an aspiration to break free from the legacy of Soviet theorizing under Marxism-Leninism and formulate currently important national identity in the context of foreign academic media discourse. The paradigmatic approach to media studies partly blurs the boundaries between the “Russian” and “Foreign” scientific schools as it opens up broader perspectives of conceptual consideration.
  Keywords: paradigm, paradigmatic approach, empirical functionalism, anthropology of the media, political economy of the media
  Denis V. Dunas 3
• Editorial

  «Generation jobless»

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  Keywords: generation jobless, editorial
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Theoretical Understanding of News in Digital Era: Transformation of Structure, Influencing Powers, “Life Cycle” »

  This article is performed during the first phase of the interdepartmental research project «Analysis and modelling of news lifecycle on social media (Facebook, VKontakte)» by a group of authors. Researchers formulate the hypothesis on the change of the structure, influence forces, and lifecycle of news in the digital era. The issue of the transformation of a theoretical understanding of the news as a key product and as a central concept of the classical theory of journalism in the digital age is actualized.
  Keywords: news, news lifecycle, agenda setting, journalism theory
  Natalia V. Tkacheva, Sergei A. Vartanov, Denis V. Dunas, Anna N. Gureeva 3
• Editorial

  «Murdoch’s Empire Looses It’s Assets»

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  Keywords: Murdoch, assets, editorial
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3

• «Arrests in the English tabliod "SAN"»

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  Keywords: Arrests, SAN, editorial
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3

• «Mitt Romney vs. Public Television»

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  Keywords: Mitt Romney, public television, editorial
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Modeling of Information Processes in the Modern Media Space»

  The growth of information society resulted in emerging a universal media space without boundaries and barriers for information flows. The necessary precondition for understanding how these diverse information flows function is modeling media processes, based on the study of such crucial concepts as media discourse, commu­nication model, information model and different ways of media representations. The article consistently tackles all these concepts and evaluates their role in modeling in­formation flows.
  Keywords: information processes modelling, media space, information model, types of media representations, media discourse
  Tatiana G. Dobrosklonskaya 3

• «Elaboration of Media Theories in Russian Academic Journals in the 2010s: Results of the First Stage of rhe Research»

  The article contains the results of a meta-study that was aimed at revealing current trends in the examination, conceptualization and elaboration of media theories in Russia. During the first stage of the study, more than 300 research articles published in 2012—2016 in five Russian academic journals were analyzed with a detailed consideration of the structure of the articles, keywords and literature and the use of particular authors and theories in the theoretical background. The data analysis reveals several trends in scientific discourse. The research tradition is still underdeveloped. The number of articles that follow the general rules for organizing a scientific text is minimal, and less than a quarter of all articles in the sample are based on original empirical or theoretical results. The objects of the study in the articles are centered around journalism, while many fields of media and communication research remain untouched. The theoretical background, as seen from the lists of books, authors and theories mentioned by researchers, is dominated by the philological and normative approaches. Most of the theoretical concepts are taken from Russian works or from a short list of Russian translations of foreign monographs, with many theories left unexplored and unused, which results in limited integration of Russian research discourse into the international context of media studies.
  Keywords: meta-studies, media research, media theories, research article, scientific discourse, theoretical background
  Mikhail I. Makeenko 3
• Editorial

  «Zbigniew Brzezinski's Prophesies for the Year 2012»

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  Keywords: Brzezinski, international life
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3

• «New Frontiers of Students’ Internship»

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  Keywords: students' internship
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3
• History of Journalism

  «Attempts to Establish a Central Physical Culture and Sport Publishing House in the 1920s »

  The article deals with an extremely confusing issue about the history of the formation of a centralized specialized publishing house for physical culture and sport during the 1920s, which has not been practically raised so far in Russian and foreign research literature. Such a publishing house was necessary for the leadership of Soviet physical education as one of the main tools for organizational and outreach activities, designed to direct the lives of millions of athletes in the direction necessary for the state. The article is aimed at destroying the widely accepted but erroneous opinion that only the history of the Physical Culture and Sport publishing house established in 1923 deserves scholarly attention. On the basis of archival documents, many of which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, the article examines a whole sequence of emergence and termination of a number of publishing projects created under the auspices of various organizations which headed Soviet physical education. The author used the documents containing information about the work of these organizations and their interaction with publishing agencies, which are stored in the funds of the state archives GARF (State Archive of the Russian Federation) and RGASPI (Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History). Also used were publications from sports periodicals published in the 1920s. The author set himself the goal of recreating the chronology of the publishing process in the field of sports up to the emergence of the Joint-Stock Publishing Company “Physical Culture and Sport” and to analyze a complex set of factors that influenced the operation of this and other publishing houses.
  Keywords: Soviet journalism of the 1920s, sports journalism, physical culture, sports, sports periodicals, publishing, Physical Culture and Sport publishing house
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2022.331
  Konstantin A. Alexeev 3
• Editorial

  «The New York Times Criticizes President Obama, But Speaks in Support of His New Initiatives»

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  Keywords: New York Times, President, Obama
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3

• «Poverty That Concerns the New York Times»

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  Keywords: New York Times, poverty, president
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3
• Advertising and Public Relations

  «Targeted Advertising in Social Networks: Searching for Efficient Semiotic Models»

  Efficient targeted advertising comprises various semiotic resources, which can be combined differently in various “semiotic settings”. Many of such “settings” are frequently used in digital marketing and they show their efficiency. This paper presents the results of the research into two resources of meaning-making in targeted ads, i.e. words and iconic items, and two levels of transmitted meanings, i.e. denotative and connotative. The corpora analysis of verbal components in 400 targeted ads of Russian major retailers revealed a range of characteristics of targeted texts, e.g. the usage of clusters of keywords and lemmas and persistent lexical, grammatical and syntax constructions. According to the results of the A/B testing, the authors identified that the most efficient is the model combining verbal and non-verbal components, where the iconic item represents connotative meanings associated with the situation of consumption decision or usage of a product, while the verbal text transmits denotative meanings. Besides, advertisements with identified verbal patterns are more efficient than messages without any patterns distinguished during the corpora analysis. The authors claim that the clich constructions and their efficacy are determined by the market niche of a product and by the marketing goals. It is admitted that other advertising segments can face different language patterns and semiotic resources used in targeted ads than those described in the paper. The balanced combination of verbal and non-verbal means in personalized advertisements can underlie the succinct and efficient marketing message. Therefore, from the marketing point of view, the relevant technical setting of target parameters or the choice of the efficient communicative channel often do not suffice for more significant marketing results. The properly executed ensemble of verbal and non-verbal resources can provide the substantial realization of the semantic potential of advertising texts.
  Keywords: targeted advertising, creolized text, multimodal text, semiotics of an advertisement, verbal components of an advertisement, visual components of an advertisement
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2020.328
  Evgeny A. Kozhemyakin, Valeriya G. Lovyagina 3
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Theoretical Aspects of Russian Youth Media Consumption: to the Revision of Uses and Gratification Theory»

  The purpose of the article is to consider the conceptual foundations of uses and gratification media theory formulated by both foreign and Russian media scholars, as well as to identify common groups of needs of the youth audience in the context of dynamics of theoretical knowledge about digital media. The authors substantiate the thesis that, unlike traditional media, digital media have the qualitative characteristics of social space. As a result, the needs of the media audience are modified, becoming socially determined. Based on the literature studied, the authors propose their own structure of the media needs of “digital” youth in Russia. These are information, educational, entertainment and social needs. None of these groups is represented in its pure form, as their nature is determined by social needs. Nevertheless, social needs are also highlighted in a separate group. As the classification shows, modern youth can use media as a tool to gratify their personal needs, determined by human social nature. Satisfying information needs in its pure form today is not a priority for the media consumption process, but it goes together with social and, more narrowly, communication determinants. Thus, rethinking the uses and gratification theory in media studies takes place in the context of the transformation of media nature, when attributive characteristics of the social space become inherent to the media and media practices of individuals become their social practices.
  Keywords: media consumption, digital youth, uses and gratification theory, media audience, media studies, mediatization, digital media, social networks
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.2.2019.328
  Denis V. Dunas, Sergei A. Vartanov, Diana Yu. Kulchitskaya, Elena A. Salikhova, Anna V. Tolokonnikova 3
• Editorial

  «British Press under Modernization»

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  Keywords: British press, modernization
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Online Education and “Creative Mythology”: the Phenomenon of Mass Open Online Courses Through the Prism of Critical Media Theory»

  This paper considers online education from the perspective of critical media studies and attempts to fit the phenomenon of mass open online courses into the context of such studies related in the first place to the criticism of industrialization of culture and the media. Due to the rise of social media, aggregators and mass user­generated content, these directions have flourished in the past 20 years, yet so far no one has tried to consider mass open online courses as a new industrialized media product. In this paper, online education is viewed as a new stage of mediatization of education and consequently its industrialization. Therefore, this phenomenon exhibits the properties of other kinds of online media content and problems the given platform generates: globalization and the blurring of national cultural boundaries, a positivist perception of technology as able to solve most complex social problems, precariat and shifting common good concerns from the government and other institutions on to self-employed individuals, increasing commodification (making common good into a market commodity), supremacy of platforms over the format. This complex of problems is part of “creative mythology” built around the phenomenon of “creative industries” and “creativity” in the past 20 years.
  Keywords: online education, mass open online courses, media theory, political economy of media, industrialization of culture, creative industries
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.1.2019.324
  Ilya V. Kiriya 3

• «The Impact of Open Access on Citations and Alternative Metrics of Scientific Articles in Media and Communication Studies»

  The article contains the results of the pilot stage of the research into the impact of open access on major relevance indicators of scientific articles on journalism, media and mass communication. The study analyzed scientific articles published during the period from 2015 to 2017 in 32 foreign scientific journals, which are indexed in the international scientometric databases Web of Science and Scopus, and in 11 Russian journals in the category “Mass Communication. Journalism. Mass Media” from the elibrary catalog, which are included in the list of the Higher Attestation Commission (VAK). The research used data from the Web of Science and Scopus databases, Google Scholar metrics, CyberLeninka and elibrary catalogs. The share of open access articles is still rather insignificant, which limits the possibilities of analysing the effects of the new model on key indicators adopted in the scientific community. The results of the analysis of the journals on media communication conducted within the available sample revealed that in general open access has a stronger positive effect on alternative metrics and the use of articles than on citations, which is consistent with the results of previous foreign studies.
  Keywords: scientific journals, scientific communication, open access, citations, altmetrics, media communication.
  DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2018.326
  Mikhail I. Makeenko, Nataliia D. Trishchenko 3
• Editorial

  «Newspaper to Advocate Miserables»

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  Keywords: Newspaper, miserables, award
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 3

• «Four centuries of a newspaper »

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  Keywords: newspaper, four centuries
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 4

• «American Dream on the Eve of 2013»

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  Keywords: American Dream, editorial
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 4
• 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
• Editorial

  «New Version of Public Television in Russia»

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  Keywords: Public television, Russia, editorial
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 4
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «The Newsroom Autonomy: Foreign Concepts and Reality»

  The article aims to analyze the concept of the newsroom autonomy as a part of the journalistic professionalism in the context of modern theoretical approaches and distinguishes major external and internal pressures on the newsroom routines and professional practices of journalists. The article focuses on the conflict between the normative approaches to the journalists’ autonomy and realities of contemporary media industries in Europe.
  Keywords: journalism, newsroom autonomy, media industry, politics, media technologies, professional standards
  Elena L. Vartanova 4
• Editorial

  «The Pamphlet against Platitude»

  on new book by S. Muratov (“I Think, You Think…”)
  Keywords: pamphlet
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 4
• Media Economics

  «Regional Disproportions in the Russian Media Systems Development»

  This article is focused on theoretical issues about territorial development of me­dia in Russia. It tries to build-up a methodology for studying regional disparities in development of media communications and main information society indicators (mainly ICTs). Authors are grounding on theory of political regionalism and social geography and are using approaches in field of media capital on regional markets. They are proposing hypothesis about correlation between electoral results of political parties on regional elections, geographical parameters (territory, climate, number of cities), socio-economic issues and media landscapes in regions.
  Keywords: geography, regional media, power, media market, disparities
  Ilya V. Kiriya, Dovbysh O.S. 4
• Editorial

  «The complicated results of the crisis year of 2009»

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  Keywords: results, crisis, 2009
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 5

• «Internet as a factor of internetional journalism»

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  Keywords: Internet, internetional journalism
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 5
• Advertising and Public Relations

  «Strategic Communications: Basic Principles of Organization»

  Management culture of communication projects in Russia survives with difficulty, as demonstrated, in particular, the lack of theoretical reflection. The author draws attention to the semantic vagueness of the central concept — “strategic communication ”. The author conceptualizes strategic communications in relation to the theory of strategic management and believes that the term refers to specific principles of the communication process. The essence of the basic principles of strategic communications described in this article.
  Keywords: strategic communications, communication management
  Nina V. Starykh 5
• Editorial

  «Big payday for media bosses »

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  Keywords: media, bosses, payments
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 5

• «20 years of the freedom of press »

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  Keywords: freedom of press
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 5

• «The New Dynamics for Newspaper Development»

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  Keywords: Newspaper, develpment, dynamics
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 5

• «Political crisis and US elections of 2010»

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  Keywords: political crisis, US elections, 2010
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 5
• Discussion

  «Modern Russian Media Studies (the Update of Theoretical Approaches) »

  The understanding of the dynamic of the Russian media would be incomplete without the understanding of the changes of the theoretical frameworks within which media studies exist nowadays. The paper attempts to describe the transformation of the main approaches to the study of mass media, the main phases of changes in the Russian media research, to identify the major components of contemporary theoretical approaches to determine the basic concepts of the media and journalism theory.
  Keywords: journalism, mass media, media studies, normative approaches
  Elena L. Vartanova 5
• Editorial

  «The Year of Presidential Elections — from Russia to France to USA»

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  Keywords: Presidential Elections, 2012
  Yassen N. Zassoursky 5
• Periodical Press

  «Media Design Specifics»

  The author considers media design as a part of media texts and as a kind of visual communication system. She also considers the principles of the media texts visualizing, first of all printing mass media and analyses its development.
  Keywords: media design, visual language
  Vera V. Volkova 5
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «The Typology of Information Agencies»

  Authors analyze theoretical issues of typologization of modem news agencies which are caused by changes of their role in the media system; the specific nature of their common typological characteristics; factors which determine their attribution to a unique typological group; intratypical differentiation of news agencies. The authors reconsider criteria of typologization of news agencies and introduce a new criterion. The authors represent empirical evidence and the results of interviews with experts which prove authors ’ hypothesis on deconstruction of traditional typological patterns.
  Keywords: news agencies; basic typological characteristics of news agencies; circulation area of information; international, transnational, national, local news agencies
  Elena L. Vartanova, Georgiy V. Viren, Tatiana I. Frolova 6
• Sociology of Journalism

  «Factors of Commercial Mass Media Audience Design»

  Author using an interdisciplinary approach analyzes prerequisites that leads to the artificial formation audiences by mass media.
  Keywords: formation of the media audience, unification of mass media content, mass media advertising, mass media research
  Shevchenko T.S. 6
• History of Journalism

  «Content and Forms of War Propaganda for Women in Soviet Women Magazines in 1920s-1930s»

  There is an analysis of the content and forms of military propaganda in Soviet magazines for women in 1920—1930’s in this article. This research helps to see how to the images of the heroines of this era were created, how the system of values was translated. The subject of military training for women was relevant all the mentioned period, it is associated with the promotion of the fight for equal rights for women, for the possession of “male” professions. Also, an idea of what a woman can do and should do being up in arms to defend their country was fanned at this time.
  Keywords: history of the Soviet press, war propaganda for women, Soviet women’s magazines, women’s images of the 1930s
  Olga D. Minaeva 6
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Tendencies of the modern media systems’ development and relevant paradigms of mass communications theory »

  In the article the main characteristics of media of the XXIst century are revealed. For the research of modern media the author introduces the idea of “medialogy” as a new complex academic discipline based on “media system ” and “media communication ” concepts.
  Keywords: media system, media communication, web communication, media divide, medialogy
  Marina G. Shilina 6
• New Media

  «Multimedia Strategies of FM Stations in Moscow»

  Authors analyze and summarize data on the current level of development of the convergent environment on the basis of the Moscow FM radio stations, focusing on the multimedia platforms, methods of interaction with audience, organization of editorial staff work. Both theoretical and empirical research has been completed. The authors have worked up a large volume of information from the sites of Moscow FM radio stations and data given by the companies and media market experts. The authors have been completed their own research of the multimedia platforms being used by radio stations.
  Keywords: convergence, multimedia platform, multimedia technologies, strategy, FM radio station, content, site, financial effect, media management
  Elena L. Vartanova, Mikhail I. Makeenko, Andrei V. Vyrkovsky 6
• Theory of Journalism and Media

  «Digital Television and Media Systems’ Transformation. On the Necessity of Inter-Disciplinary Approaches to Modern TV Studies»

  In this article author suggests an interdisciplinary approach to study digital television. The current trends in media systems and TV in particular obviously are connected with the digital revolution. But digital technologies change the main functions of television — to inform, to educate, to entertain — in complex. Consequently it becomes important to research television not only in terms of the concept of technological determinism, but also involving approaches from political economy, sociology and anthropology, media economics and cultural studies.
  Keywords: digital revolution, technological determinism, nation-state, life style, brand
  Elena L. Vartanova 6
• Periodical Press

  «Modern Press: A Field of Notion and Terms»

  The article is devoted to consideration of key concepts and terms related to journalism: journalism, media, press, mass communication. Discusses the factors of development of society, science and the mass media, which lead to change and clarify terms and concepts related to journalism.
  Keywords: journalism, current affairs, periodical press, media, mass communication
  Luiza G. Svitich 7