EntranceScientific work: Social issues in the modern press. Ethnic issues in the media Problems of older people in the media
Belarusian State University
Institute of Journalism
Department of Theory and Methodology of Journalism
Abstract on the topic:
Social issues in the modern press
Prepared by a student
5 courses, 1 groups
Kozhemyakina-Kartun O.V.
Minsk, 2010
Introduction
You can understand society in different ways: by studying social institutions, systems of ideas, methods of production, forms of art, situations of everyday interaction, etc.
The experience of everyday life, messages from mass media and sociological research data indicate that modern society is saturated with social problems to a much greater extent than the society of fifteen years ago. Poverty, unemployment, crime, corruption, drug addiction, the spread of HIV infection, the threat of man-made disasters - this is not a complete list of those phenomena that cause anxiety and concern among the population. Social problems that “suddenly” befell us - what are they?
The very phrase “social problem” appeared in Western European societies of the early 19th century and was originally used to refer to one specific problem - the uneven distribution of wealth. The concept of a social problem as an undesirable situation that can and should be changed is used somewhat later in Western societies when trying to comprehend the social consequences of the industrial revolution: the growth of cities, and with it the growth of urban slums, the destruction of traditional ways of life, the erosion of social guidelines. In the United States, the concept of a social problem began to be used at the end of the Civil War of 1861-1865, which caused a sharp deterioration in the living conditions of most of the population.
In England, statistical survey data that appeared towards the end of the 19th century played a significant role in realizing the existence of social problems. Statistical descriptions of the poverty of certain sections of the British population, presented primarily by C. Booth and B.S. Rowntree, amazed the British public. According to C. Booth, published in 1889, one third of London residents lived in abject poverty. In London, according to Charles Booth, there were 387 thousand poor, 22 thousand malnourished and 300 thousand starving. Similar data were provided by B.S. Rowntree in relation to the working population of the English city of York, a third of whom were in a state of physical or absolute poverty.
From a constructivist point of view, phenomena of social reality become problems when they contradict social goals or values, and this contradiction is recognized by society. For this awareness and for the very existence of a social problem, it is necessary to have public spaces or arenas in which work on constructing problems, their causes and solutions could take place. In this regard, the media play a leading role: the actions of various important social factors will largely depend on what is considered a problem in the media, how it is covered, and what solutions are proposed.
Our press is characterized by a high interest in individual stories and low interest in covering solutions and especially the causes of problems; When highlighting ways to solve problems, the discourse of officials is usually broadcast. At the same time, victims of social problems very often remain “voiceless” in the press, not getting the opportunity to voice their opinions, and in some cases they are completely excluded from the list of characters and are only mentioned as an object of influence.
In my essay I want to address such social problems as: the problem of youth employment, the problem of older people, the problem of family, the problem of medicine, etc. To illustrate the reflection of these problems in the media, I took my own materials on social issues, published in the newspapers “Observer” and “Zheleznodorozhnik Belarusi”.
Family problems in the media
It is no secret that in our modern society the concept of family values is somewhat dulled. Because while for some, family is the definition of the highest degree of relationship, someone uses this concept as a cover for their own selfish goals. Today people tie themselves together with family ties for the sake of money, registration, etc. It was this problem that I described in the material “The state is practically powerless against fictitious marriages”, published in the newspaper “Observer” 40 (370) dated 10/02/2009. This problem has long been relevant for foreign countries, and recently the Ministry of Internal Affairs of our country sounded the alarm, because the business of “fictitious marriages” has begun to progress in our country. “Fake marriages are concluded between citizens of our country more often due to the placement of a young specialist. Social networks are full of such advertisements. Here is one of them: “We urgently need a guy for a fictitious marriage from Borisov or Minsk. I am a future paramedic and this year I will be assigned to a village. We need a Minsk resident to enter into a fictitious marriage for a period of 1 year. Goal: stay in Minsk...”
On such sites you can not only find a “groom”, but also get qualified legal assistance in such matters. We read the following message: “I am a state employee from Minsk. Next year I have a placement. I am planning to enter into a fictitious marriage with a military/policeman. Is it necessary to get married before the place of assignment is announced, or can this be done after already learning that, for example, I was assigned to a village?”
The lawyer’s answer: “It is possible after distribution. Your marriage will be the basis for redistribution. Good luck!".
And how many foreigners want to enter our country through marriage to our women with an entrepreneurial spirit? “In the Minsk Wedding House for the period from January to June 2009, 199 marriages with foreigners from 49 countries were registered,” says Nadezhda Reutskaya, head of the Wedding House. – Of these, the largest number are with Russians – 28. In second place is Germany – 16 marriages. Next come Israel and Italy – 14 each, Lithuania – 12, etc.”
The problem of fictitious marriages has always existed, and it is unlikely that it will ever be successfully resolved. People’s desire to make money will definitely find “loopholes” in the country’s legislation.
In my opinion, the real family plays the most important role for the entire society, and all the forces and resources of the state should be devoted to its dignified existence. On the eve of Mother's Day, newspapers are filled with materials about mothers with many children and their happy family life. As a rule, in such publications the author fulfills an editorial assignment: to show the life of a mother of many children only from the positive sides, to show that the state supports them in every possible way. This year I met such a mother of five children, a completely ordinary woman, a railway worker, Tatyana Belyavskaya. The newspaper “Zheleznodorozhnik Belarusi” published the publication “The World of Warmth and Love.” “In 2007, Tatyana Belyavskaya, an employee of the Minsk-Sortirovochny station, was solemnly awarded the Order of Mother. The award was presented to her by the head of state for the birth and upbringing of five children. Two of them have already chosen their path in life. The eldest, Diana, managed to receive two higher educations and start her own family. A little younger than her is Philip, he studies at the conservatory. Elizaveta is a 6th grade student. She, like her older brother, is interested in music, which, however, does not prevent her from practicing karate.
The youngest, Matvey and Yakov, go to kindergarten.” Next, I describe in my material how this family lives happily, how friendly they all are, but only their problems remain behind the scenes. And you can say as much as you like that I can’t write about her problems, that they won’t publish it anyway, so as not to “overshadow the holiday.” And all this cannot be justified in my head. But on the other hand, analyzing the problems of such large families, you see that they talk about it, but without regret. The happiness that you have so many children overshadows all the problems, and they themselves tell you: “Oh, don’t write about this, better yet, write about how we love to gather at the dacha.”
coverage problematic social newspaper
The problem of employment of children and adolescents in the media
Family problems also include problems related to youth employment. A teenager who wanders around the streets, as a rule, falls into bad company. This is when the problems of drug addiction, alcoholism, crime, etc. arise. What suffers from all this is, first of all, the family.
In the “Railroadman of Belarus” in the publications “Make way for the young”, “Nothing to do? Contact us,” I talked about republican events for young people. On September 25, the capital of our country became the center of the youth movement. In honor of the 90th anniversary of the Komsomol of Belarus, the Belarusian Republican Youth Union organized the “Make Your Choice” forum in the Football Arena. The youth forum brought together people of different ages with different interests. Schoolchildren, students, mothers and fathers, pop stars - everyone could be met at one time, in one place, and everyone found something for themselves. Also as part of the “Nothing to do? Contact us”, the Minsk OVDT Juvenile Affairs Inspectorate, together with the capital’s College of Railway Transport and the Motor Car Depot, held meetings with high school students located near the railway. To be honest, when going to all these meetings, I had a hard time believing that these guys could be interested in this. No, not because they are stupid, but because they have slightly different interests today. But I was wrong. It turns out that such meetings really influence their future choice; sincere interest is visible in their eyes.
The material “Graffiti – art or vandalism” also raises the problem of young people who paint graffiti on public transport and building facades. This is nothing more than damage to property, and accordingly, a manifestation of vandalism, which is considered an offense throughout the world. Graffiti appeared in Belarus not so long ago, but already now inscriptions on the facades of buildings and public transport are causing a lot of headaches.
Pavel Lavket, head of the juvenile affairs inspectorate at the Minsk OVDT, told Zheleznodorozhnik Belorussia about how street “artists” are fought.
Problems of older people in the media
The problem of the elderly has always been acute in our country. Not all people of retirement age can keep themselves busy and organize their leisure time. In the publication “Quality of Life - at Any Age,” I talked about the exhibition-fair “Care and Mercy” dedicated to the International Day of Older Persons. The event was organized by the Minsk City Executive Committee and Expoforum Exhibition Company. This was the first time such an exhibition-fair was held in Belarus. It has become a meeting place for older people and those who strive to improve the quality of life of older people. The main exhibition was the one representing the activities of the Minsk City Executive Committee. At the stand of the Committee on Labor, Employment and Social Protection, it was possible to talk with employees of the departments, and at the stand of the Justice Department, one could get information about the activities of the city’s law enforcement agencies. Also ask where an elderly person can go in for sports and how he can organize his leisure time. There was a stand of the Health Committee - cardiologists, endocrinologists, psychologists provided consultations there, and also offered to measure blood pressure.
For people who have retired, it is very important that their work is not forgotten, that they always have the opportunity to meet colleagues and feel the holiday atmosphere. This holiday is given every year by the organization of the Minsk railway junction to its labor veterans. My article “It’s great that we are all gathered here today...” was dedicated to such a regular meeting. The International Day of Older Persons once again brought together the active members of the veteran organization of the Minsk railway junction.
Today, the Council of Veterans of the Minsk Hub unites 36 primary organizations, which include almost 8 thousand people, including 248 veterans and war participants, 34 workers of front-line roads, 30 honored workers and 235 honorary railway workers. This is the largest among the junction organizations on the highway and in the Oktyabrsky district of Minsk. But even such a large organization has problems of a small person. One of these problems is an additional payment to the pension, depending on the length of service in this organization, which for some reason is not paid.
Health problem
Financing of medicine, accessibility and quality of medical care, problems of the functioning of compulsory medical insurance, problems of paid medicine - all these issues are reflected in the media.
Every year, about 1,000 pregnancies with developmental defects incompatible with life are terminated in Belarus. These numbers seem considerable, but we should not forget that just a few years ago many of the congenital pathologies were diagnosed only in children who had already been born. Thanks to modern technologies, congenital diseases in children in our country can be detected in the early stages of pregnancy. Nina GUSINA, head of the clinical diagnostic genetic laboratory of the Russian Research Center for Mother and Child, Candidate of Biological Sciences, spoke in more detail about congenital pathologies, their diagnosis and possible treatment in an interview. From the material “Congenital diseases can be cured even before the birth of a child,” one could learn about unique methods for diagnosing congenital diseases that can be carried out in our country. Also learn about measures to prevent the formation of congenital malformations.
Housing and communal services problem
According to utility services, about 65 percent of housing in Minsk has been in use for more than 25 years. Every year, up to 4 thousand balconies and loggias are repaired in the capital - this is only 0.7 percent of the total. These data indicate that the problem of dilapidated housing in Belarus is growing every year. One of the consequences of this problem is the fall of balconies. In the material “Balconies Continue to Fall,” Sergei EFIMYANOV, a maintenance foreman at the Unitary Enterprise “ZhREO Partizansky District,” talks about how to identify an emergency balcony and about safety measures in such cases. But this problem is accompanied by another one - people’s indifference to their own safety. They continue to litter their emergency balconies and loggias, thereby exposing themselves to danger.
All of the above-described problems of society, of course, do not go unnoticed by the state and the media. But, trying to solve the problem as a whole, individual people and their destinies are left behind. Perhaps we will get a little closer to solving these problems when we clearly understand that a social problem is not a concept, but the human face behind it.
In a “normal” society (there is such a concept in science), which is characterized by high vitality, flexibility, adaptability to changing conditions, integrity, stability of social systems, constant impulse for development, openness, pluralism, activity of social processes, their controllability, mobility, tasks social journalism are determined by its natural nature. But no matter how stable a normal society may be, there are no ideal communities. Maintaining sustainability through information means includes, for example, identifying and representing various interests, disseminating ideas about what is useful, permitted, and important in this society, what is harmful and prohibited, what patterns of education and behavior are worthy of attention and respect, how to resolve pressing problems, harmonize needs and much more. Social journalism, by quickly monitoring and presenting to society the “human” reaction to changes, helps them to flow more smoothly, thoughtfully, systematically, and timely correction. The main task is to maintain stability and sustainability of social relations.
In a society of a transitional type, which is also experiencing a crisis - and this is precisely the kind of society Russia is now - journalism, in addition to its natural tasks, has other tasks, a special mission, in the light of which all its activities should be assessed - it must give hope. The resolution of the social crisis largely depends on how the press copes with anti-crisis tasks:
- - provide complete information about the state of the social sphere, open new topics and problems for discussion, monitor changes, evaluate them, avoid silence or inattention to difficult situations, explain the essence of changes;
- - master new realities of life, help live in a changing world and navigate it, stimulate creative life activity and especially individual initiative; help a person in a specific situation, talk about a precedent for solving a problem situation and strive to develop an algorithm for solving a particular problem;
- - subject all bills and decisions to public examination, actually participate in the formation and implementation of social policy, monitor the functioning of social institutions and actively influence their modernization;
- - streamline social relations, maintain a balance of interests, representing and justifying the positions of various social groups, relieve social tension and prevent shocks; strive for equal conversations between different groups; create an opportunity to express new views and assessments within typical problem situations, develop a common position on pressing problems;
- - give a moral assessment of events, actions, statements, morally support people and help overcome feelings of loneliness and hopelessness, talk about the experiences of other people, always put the ideas of humanism and goodness above the situational interests of individual groups.
This is just a general outline of the target features facing social journalism. Each media outlet independently determines the balance of the described tasks and additionally formulates others. This is a very important and pressing practical problem.
1.2 Economic issues in the media
The global economic crisis and the domestic “economic miracle”, inflation and devaluation, negotiations on oil and gas supplies, external debt and loans from international organizations. Is it possible to imagine any media today without discussing or at least mentioning these difficult economic concepts and processes? They are increasingly becoming important components of the information field and penetrate (sometimes quite unceremoniously) into our everyday life.
Economic journalism in its classic version, that is, focused on stock markets, private and corporate investors, is not in great demand in Russia due to the underdevelopment of market institutions.
But knowledge of the principles and laws of economic journalism will help a “non-economic” journalist choose the right topic and take the “right tone” in communicating with the general reader (listener, viewer) Prokhorov E. Introduction to the theory of journalism. - 7th ed., rev. and additional - M: Aspect Press, 2011. - P. 84..
The media has always paid a lot of attention to the economic topic. This is connected both with the economic state of the country and with global economic processes. In many media you can always find comprehensive and in-depth coverage of all economic processes and events taking place in this area. Economic news and everything related to the economy are presented objectively in the media in the best possible way. Here you can obtain information both about the rules of conducting business activities, entrepreneurial activities, and about international experiences in conducting various forms of business.
Many problems of accounting and financial accounting, microeconomics and taxation, labor law and business law are considered, qualified answers are given in the concept of home business, small and large private business, in general, everything that every person needs to know in the field of economics.
It is equally important to know the state of the economic sphere of life. Many people are also interested in the state of the international economic process. All this is directly related to the life of each individual person. It depends on what future awaits him - the standard of living and the availability of a job.
Russian citizens are not satisfied with the media's coverage of the situation in the country's economy, Interfax reported, citing a study by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM). Russians consider the media's reflection of the financial situation in the world to be more objective.
According to a FOM survey, 45% of respondents believe that the media are biased in assessing the situation in the Russian economy. 35% have a different opinion, and 20% found it difficult to answer. At the same time, 57% are confident that the coverage of the Russian economy in the mass media is incomplete Alekseev V., Mikhailov G. Main topic. Urgent decisions // Regional Duma. - 2009. - No. 12. - P. 36..
39% of Russian residents say that the coverage of the situation in the global economy is objective. 30% of respondents disagree with them, and 31% find it difficult to assess.
40% of Russians believe that the situation in the Russian economy is worse than the media estimates. There are 3% fewer people who are confident that press and television coverage of domestic economic issues reflects the real state of affairs. 5% consider the state of the economy to be more prosperous than reported in the media http://www.rb.ru/inform/111887/html.
This survey was conducted by FOM in 100 settlements in 44 constituent entities of Russia.
According to a September 2010 survey by another sociological center - VTsIOM - 30% of Russian residents believe that the global financial crisis will negatively affect the economic situation in Russia. In March 2010, the share of such respondents was 35%.
For example, the public receives information about an economic crisis through images offered by the media, and these images determine perceptions and actions regarding solving the problem. The media has the infrastructure to communicate IEC to a huge number of people. However, as data from a global online Nielsen study showed, in Russia 65% of respondents believe that the media did not sufficiently inform the population about the reasons that led to the crisis. The fact that the advent of the crisis came as a surprise to many is largely explained by the fact that at first pro-government sources stated that the onset of the crisis was observed only in the West and did not affect our country. However, by the second half of 2008, it began to affect the state of the Russian economy with a decline in stock prices of leading Russian companies. Our country’s entry into the global crisis was announced in the message of the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly dated November 5, 2008.
The most common topics in the media and official websites of government authorities on IEC problems were: strategy (prospects) for the socio-economic development of the region. 25.9% of all materials on IEC were published on this topic. The publications contained: setting urgent tasks; analysis of factors constraining economic development (weak management, irresponsible owners, outdated technologies); development of measures to support enterprises; characteristics of the socio-economic situation in the region, etc. Eremenko A.V. Business press: problems of identification and typology // Mass media in the modern world. St. Petersburg readings: Abstracts. scientific-practical conf. - St. Petersburg, 2004. - P. 201.
The category of informing about problems included materials in which several topics were simultaneously present: the main problems that led to the economic crisis, events (conferences, seminars, summits), statistical data and the general picture of the development of the region in the context of the IEC. Their content and style of presenting information resemble a kind of “help” or “memo” about the current conditions.
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The role of the media in a modern multi-ethnic society is very significant. For our subject, the most important problems are the coverage of ethnic issues, its impact on society and its use by politics. It is known that the press, radio, TV, and the Internet are the main communication channels through which support and broadcast of culture, interethnic communication and intercultural dialogue are carried out. In addition, it is also a serious ideological tool with the help of which mass ideas of people are formed. The media not only inform society about events, including in the field of ethnopolitics and interethnic relations, but, by commenting on them, introduce tolerant or conflicting values, images, guidelines and ideas into the mass consciousness. It is well known that the media play an important role in the modern ethnocultural development of many countries of the world, including the Russian Federation.
Over the past 20 years, our country has actually re-formed a diverse system of regional television channels and radio stations that are ethnocultural in nature (this phenomenon is sometimes called “ethnic media”). In 2008, in Russia, in addition to Russian-language ones, more than 400 television programs and more than 300 radio programs were registered, broadcast in 50 languages of Russian nationalities. Of the 71.5 thousand periodicals registered in the Russian Federation, almost 10 thousand are published in the languages of the peoples of the world, of which 2,335 media are in the languages of the peoples of Russia and the former USSR. By the end of 2010, the number of electronic media in the languages of the peoples of Russia increased sharply: 2,279 electronic media and 94 news agencies operate in 66 languages, including 968 publications in Tatar, 355 in Bashkir, 299 in Ukrainian, 212 in Yakut, 185 - in Chuvash, 133 - in Chechen, 128 - in Belarusian, 120 - in Azerbaijani, 115 - in Armenian, 112 - in Udmurt, 102 - in Komi, 81 - in Buryat, 87 - in Avar, 73 - in Hebrew and 19 - in Yiddish.
Many ethnocultural associations (national cultural autonomies, national public organizations) have their own periodicals - the newspapers “Tatar World”, “Azerros”, “Greek Newspaper” (monthly newspaper of the Moscow Society of Greeks), “Noah’s Ark” (newspaper of the Armenian diaspora of the CIS countries), “Jewish Newspaper”, “Russian Koreans”, etc. In 2005, the Guild of Interethnic Journalism was created in Russia, uniting journalists who write on ethnic topics. This organization organizes the annual All-Russian media competition for the best coverage of the topic of interethnic interaction “SMIrotvorets” and publishes a weekly supplement “National Accent” to the all-Russian newspaper “Arguments of the Week”. Practice shows that the media can orient mass consciousness not only to tolerant ideas of equality of people before the law, but also to the ideas of xenophobia, chauvinism, neo-fascism and racism. It largely depends on the civic position and responsibility of the media, their owners, sponsors and specific authors whether interethnic peace will be maintained in a country or region or whether interethnic tension will be intensified and interethnic hatred will be inflamed.
This ability of the media to influence mass consciousness and people’s ideas in the sphere of interethnic and interfaith relations is actively used to their advantage by modern politicians in many multiethnic regions of the world. It is clear that in such situations the authorities and society must be able to influence the media and resist negative information attempts to speculate on ethnic issues. It should be recognized that ethnocultural and ethnopolitical issues are constantly present in the media of multicultural regions and countries. Moreover, it is the media that often replicate not only the values and norms that a given society professes, but also prejudices, stereotypes and attitudes that directly or indirectly contribute to the growth of interethnic tension, maintain and strengthen internal cultural boundaries between ethnic and racial communities.
Sometimes this replication is carried out deliberately, since ethnicity, as already mentioned, is used in political struggle and serves as an additional argument to justify the positions of rival political forces or leaders. But more often, the exploitation of ethnic prejudices and stereotypes is unprovoked and implicit in nature as a consequence of the general ethnopolitical unpreparedness of journalists, their reluctance to comply with the principles of journalistic ethics, their desire to play on the feelings of readers and make the material more understandable. In recent decades, Russian and world media have been transmitting in large quantities so-called ethnically charged information, which initially has or acquires a political meaning and thereby becomes an essential component of modern ethnopolitics. These are references in publications to countries and peoples, their way of life, national or ethnic customs and values, information about ethnic culture, economics, sports, medicine and other areas of public life.
The main features of ethnic information in a newspaper or in radio and TV programs are mentions of ethnonyms, for example, Uzbek, Tatar, German, English, Russian, etc. The use of terms related to ethnicity: chauvinism, nationalism, national extremism, xenophobia, national fascism and etc. Let us note once again that ethnically colored materials in the media can fulfill a humane, tolerant mission. They educate people, inform them, entertain them, can organize them for good deeds and perform many other useful functions. From the media, people learn a lot of new things not only about other nations, but often about their own. This kind of ethnic information instills in readers, listeners, and viewers patriotism and citizenship, interest and respect for other peoples, their lives and achievements, and contributes to the formation of ethnic self-awareness, a sense of national dignity, and respect for one’s ethnic community.
Ethnicity, updated and mobilized by politicians and journalists, can unite representatives of one people, for example, for the sake of protecting their national values - their native land, native country, religion and other national shrines. However, many information technologies have now been invented, with the help of which modern politicians and social activists manipulate mass consciousness, for example, not only uniting a multi-ethnic population into solidary co-citizenship, but also dividing it into friends and foes. Moreover, neighbors, guest workers, and “persons of Caucasian nationality” can be portrayed as foreign media. It is not always easy for ordinary citizens to see and realize that the massive formation of public ethnic consciousness, whipping up ethnic passions with the help of the media are often aimed at spreading attitudes of intolerance among the population: not letting in, driving away, evicting, removing “strangers”, “not us”, “ethnically others”, “not like us”.
Similar examples of intolerant ethnic journalism were especially common in the 1990s. in the press of the former Soviet and some of our Russian republics. And at present, there are numerous examples of speeches in domestic and foreign media when fears and phobias against ethnic outsiders in the person of guest workers or migrants from other regions of their own country are deliberately inflated. An example of the use of ethnic prejudices in the political struggle and the insensitivity of the media to this kind of “political propaganda” was the video of the Rodina party, broadcast by federal television channels before the elections to the Moscow City Duma in the fall of 2005. What is important is not even the scandal that erupted after the appearance of the video; the fact that the party was withdrawn from the election race, and the reason for this was material that actually called for “cleansing” the Russian capital of people from the Caucasus. Caricatured “persons of Caucasian nationality” in this video are eating watermelon and throwing watermelon rinds under the wheels of a baby stroller, and Rodina party functionaries sternly point out disorderly behavior to the troublemakers and call on them to “cleanse Moscow of garbage.” The important thing is that the video appeared on television at all and was broadcast by TV channels.
It is also important that the filmed footage was shown to viewers as an illustration of the parties’ election programs. The most in-depth analysis of the domestic press regarding its ethnopolitical publications was carried out by V.K. Malkova. She, in particular, notes that in the modern Russian press ethnic ideologemes are quite widely represented, among which there are integrating and consolidating ideologemes, ideologemes of positive multi-ethnicity, ideologemes of open tolerance, and at the same time there are ideologemes that exaggerate historical accusations, ideologemes of conflict and hostility, ideologemes - ridicule, ideologies of incitement, ideologies of accusation and denigration, etc. Let us note that, perhaps, in the most overt form, these ideologemes and the provocative nature of ethnopolitical publications appear when covering the topic of ethnic migrations.
Ethnic migrations are portrayed in many publications as a threat to the economic well-being of the local population, as a danger to the dominant culture. They are associated with the spread of drug addiction, the growth of terrorism and the increasing danger of Islamic extremism, and the prosperity of the criminal economy. In fact, the generalized image of a migrant appears in such publications as the image of an “enemy at the gates.” It is the topic of ethnic migration that is actively exploited on numerous Internet forums. Coverage of ethno-political problems by domestic journalism in the press often suffers from a lack of a responsible professional approach: “Changes in the composition of the authors of newspapers covering ethnic topics, their inconstancy and turnover may indicate casual interest and superficial knowledge of the subject of discussion by journalists. This may also suggest their lack of preparedness in this topic and the incompetence of people touching upon the most complex issues of interethnic interaction...
Therefore, one of the most important reserves for humanizing the interethnic atmosphere... could be a system of targeted activities aimed at improving the skills of journalists working with ethnic topics in various media,” writes V.K. Malkova. It must be said that the object of analysis is V.K. Malkova was the capital's press, which does not lack highly qualified journalistic personnel. The personnel potential of provincial publications, as a rule, is noticeably weaker, and therefore they are in more dire need of creating the aforementioned qualification system. After all, it is regional publications, especially in the republics, that, due to the specific ethnic and ethnopolitical situation on the periphery, are forced to cover the most pressing and complex problems of interethnic interaction. This coverage is not always carried out professionally. The heads of some publications, understanding the complexity of ethnopolitical commentary, try to avoid publications on the topic of ethnopolitics, because they are not sure that the level of qualifications of journalists is sufficient for an objective and high-quality analysis of this topic.
These leaders explain their position by saying that they do not want to “stir up the hive,” but hushing up the topic is not a manifestation of journalistic objectivity and a responsible approach to covering social realities, which is dictated by the duty of a journalist and journalistic ethics. In his work, V.K. Malkova offers a guide for journalists, a kind of “guide” in working with ethnic issues. What is considered tolerant or intolerant and harmful when covering the ethnic features of our life in the media? This is one of the important questions that many experts are looking for an answer to. Of course, more or less clear guidelines in this matter are well-known international and domestic documents on standards and norms of behavior in democratic societies. There are many such documents. In our country, these are the corresponding articles of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Civil and Criminal Codes of the Russian Federation, a number of special laws on the media, on citizenship of the Russian Federation, on extremism, on the languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation, etc. In addition, by analogy with other countries, we have developed a number of professional and ethical codes for Russian journalists.
The disadvantage of some legal documents and journalistic codes is their declarative nature. These are truly “framework” recommendations that do not contain specific working concepts and definitions, for example, such phenomena as incitement of ethnic hatred, humiliation of national honor and dignity, national exclusivity, chauvinism, national extremism, etc.2 Nevertheless, these documents have been in recent years began to be used in Russian practice. The principles that journalists should follow are set out in their self-adopted Code of Professional Ethics for Russian Journalists and in the Statement of the International Federation of Journalists on Principles of Conduct for Journalists, but they are not always strictly followed.
Even earlier, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a special document (Recommendation 1277 (1995) on migrants, ethnic minorities and the media), in which it pointed out the need to comprehensively and impartially cover important ethnopolitical problems, and in particular the problem of ethnic minorities and migrants. In Russian political practice, the focus of attention of regional and federal authorities is still not the problem of ethnopolitical correctness of the content of publications in the media, but the problem of supporting newspapers, magazines, radio and television in the languages of the peoples of Russia. As noted, this is, of course, an important direction in the field of state ethno-national policy. However, the problem is not the number of publications and broadcasting time, but the quality of publications and the level of preparedness of journalists. Ethnic media often lose in competition with mass regional and federal publications precisely on these parameters. There is another problem that is especially relevant primarily for the Russian press.
In a democratic state, the press should play the role of a kind of catalyst for the processes of civil consolidation, strengthening civil solidarity, and through the press, public opinion mobilizes legal and political institutions to protect the rights of minorities and to counter extremism. This is exactly what happens in well-functioning democracies, although not without problems. But, as Russian ethnopolitical scientist E.A. notes. Pain, “despite the fact that the press pays critical attention to extremist antics, there is no subsequent legal and political reaction of the state to the facts noted by the press, and the public is passive towards various manifestations of extremism.”
In the intensive process of informatization of the world community, globalization trends are clearly manifesting themselves, the consequences of which are far from clear. At the same time, the formation of a “global village” saturated with communication interactions changes the life of society through information systems, emphasizes the importance of self-organization of a person making an information choice and, thereby, actualizes the role of the media in the transformation of both an individual and all of humanity as a whole.
The “Declaration of the Rights of Culture”, developed in 1995 under the leadership of D. Likhachev, introduced the concept of humanitarian culture, that is, a culture focused on the development of creative principles in man and society (Declaration of the Rights of Culture: Project / St. Petersburg State Unitary Enterprise; scientifically edited by D. S. Likhacheva. - St. Petersburg: SPbGUP, 2001. - 19 p.). The document is addressed to the international community, and since the subject of international law is the state, it is the states that must become the guarantors of the cultivation of a humanitarian culture, which provides a spiritual basis and the possibility of development and improvement of individuals and society.
Information culture, which is emerging today in the context of globalization as a systemic characteristic of a new level of development of society, determines the priority of mass media influence on the formation of public opinion. The behavior of people in society, the relative stability or state of unrest of the sociocultural system largely depends on the semantic content of media messages. Journalism as a specific type of sociological activity of a journalist in a wide range of media is intended to contribute to the implementation of the concept of globalization as a harmonious process of world cultural development, in which a balance has been established not only between great cultures and the cultures of small ethnic groups, but also between the cultures of all peoples inhabiting the country, in in particular, or, more broadly, the whole world as a whole.
The process of formation of republican identity in Tatarstan is in accordance with the dynamics of the intensity of presentation of ethnic topics in the press. The most saturated ethnic information in the information field of Tatarstan was in the 1990s. First of all, we talked about the ecology of national culture and language. However, along with this, even in such seemingly neutral topics as sports and information about events in the world, problems of national politics, the specifics of interethnic interaction between the peoples of Russia, the strengthening of religious tolerance and the relationship between the historical past and the present of our republic were touched upon.
But since journalists writing about culture do not have special education, including self-education, they, by definition, cannot meet the tasks objectively assigned to them. At the same time, mass media intended for consumption by the widest audience are, as a rule, closed to authors “from the outside” - to professional musicians, artists, directors, religious scholars, historians, philosophers, cultural experts... This is where the escalation of mass media begins. culture, reaching its apogee by the 2000s.
However, first let’s define what culture is in its modern understanding.
It seems to us that the philosopher V. Stepin quite rightly views culture “as a system of information codes that consolidate historically accumulated social experience”... 1 He shows that “from the point of view of systems theory, complex historically developing organic wholes must contain within themselves special information structures, ensuring control of the system, its self-regulation... Along with the biological, genetic code, which consolidates and transmits biological programs from generation to generation, a person has another coding system - a sociocode, through which a developing array of social experience... The condition for storing and transmitting this experience is its fixation in a special symbolic form” 2.
The scientist names many different sign structures that “consolidate and transmit social experience”: “the functioning of subjects of behavior, communication and activity as semiotic systems, when their actions and actions become models for others”; symbolism of the human body, the structure of natural and artificial language; sign structures that arise during the functioning of objects created by man and others. It shows that in the course of the development of culture, the development of new meanings and meanings, the need arises for new ways of “fragmentation and unification of accumulated experience” and, accordingly, the development of “new types of coding.”
In fact, as M. Dvorkina 1 points out, with the advent of writing as a special form of coding, a new opportunity arose to store and broadcast social experience, which was implemented in an institution specially created for this purpose - the library. With the growing needs of culture for more and more efficient systems for storing and transmitting experience, new information institutions arose to provide these functions - centers of scientific and technical information, editorial offices of printed publications, radio-television, video services and others.
In the system of cultural information codes, the media can be represented as unique information nodes (drives). If we consider culture as a system of creation, storage, distribution and consumption of cultural values, then we can trace the significant role of these information channels in these processes.
First of all, it is necessary to emphasize the cultural preservation function of these institutions within the institution of social memory. The media, among others, store and distribute various cultural values: books, paintings, films, behavior algorithms and others. The most vivid picture of this area of activity is given, for example, by the TV channel “Russia K”, the newspaper “Culture” or the electronic publication “Culture-Portal”. But this does not mean that other media do not carry out such activities.
Printed publications, radio channels, television, and Internet portals play a significant role in preserving folk culture, traditions, rituals, national language, and regional characteristics. The media help not only preserve, but also at the same time make accessible to the majority of people (that is, ensure the continuity of culture) the most significant examples of cultural heritage. With the use of new information technologies, the opportunity to simultaneously solve both problems increases - to ensure the preservation and dissemination of cultural values.
At the same time, the question arises about the criteria for selecting broadcast values, about the ability of people of today to predict the needs of users of the future. The broadcasting function of information institutions is also significant for culture, carried out through information services that ensure the continuity of cultural heritage and its accessibility to consumers.
For example, the state radio stations “Radio Russia”, “Mayak”, “Culture” continue the best traditions of domestic radio theater, educational, literary, musical, historical programs, and at the state radio station “Orpheus” the basis of broadcasting is serious classical music. All this, of course, ensures the continuity of cultures, acquaintance with the best examples of world and domestic cultural heritage, but under one condition - the audience will be ready to press the appropriate “button”.
Therefore, there is a need to educate the audience, dissolving materials about culture in publications of the widest profile, including “yellow” printed, audio or television publications.
A. Flier points to those areas of social practice that are reflected in modern media 1.
First of all, this is the culture of social organization and regulation, the scope of which includes such specialized and non-specialized spheres of life as economic culture; legal culture; political culture.
Then - the culture of knowledge and reflection of the world, man and interhuman relations: philosophical culture, including the common sense of everyday ideas about the world and the rules of human behavior, folk wisdom; scientific culture; religious culture and various manifestations of pagan atavisms of the past); art culture.
Next comes the culture of social communication, accumulation, storage and transmission of information: the culture of interpersonal information contacts; the culture of mass communication, which includes, among other things, rumors and gossip; information-cumulative culture at the level of traditions, beliefs and legends; culture of intergenerational transmission of social experience, cultural competence and knowledge.
And finally, the culture of physical and mental reproduction, rehabilitation and recreation of a person: sexual culture; culture of physical development; culture of maintaining and restoring health; a culture of restoring human energy balance, which includes, among other things, cooking as a system and structure of nutrition; culture of recreation, mental recreation and human rehabilitation, including deviant forms of leisure.
The media audience, through the mediation of a journalist as a transmitter of cultural values, gets an idea of the beliefs and preferences of people in different national cultures, moral and legal norms, mythological, literary and artistic images and other cultural patterns. In the process of information services in the media, documents, scientific artifacts, political relationships, and philosophical conclusions are updated.
The continuity of cultural patterns is also carried out through environmental elements - the design of a publication or broadcast, equipment and technical means used in the creation of mass media, the technology for obtaining information, audiovisual or textual organization of material. Information services facilitate the broadcast of social, aesthetic, ideological, religious, technological and other cultural patterns in space and time, facilitating their inclusion in modern production, educational, self-educational, managerial and other activities of people.
In the process of information services, samples of information culture are also transmitted: ways of working with documents, searching for information, organizing card files, databases, ideas about the value of documents, and others.
By receiving information products from other organizations, the media contribute to the development of these institutions, and by broadcasting cultural samples, journalism helps to equalize the cultural potential of people from different social groups, and, consequently, to stabilize society.
I would especially like to note the creative function of journalism in culture. The media carry out analytical and synthetic processing of information - the transformation of documents in the process of analyzing them and extracting the necessary information, evaluating, comparing, summarizing and presenting information in the form of journalistic material - creating new cultural products: publications, programs, journalistic books, articles, recommendations , consultations and the like.
These are the products of information culture, which should be considered not only from the point of view of knowledge, skills and abilities associated with reading, searching and consuming information, but also as a set of knowledge, norms, rules, values, technologies created by people in the process of production and dissemination of information products, and reflecting a certain level of development of information activities and culture.
“The topic of culture in the media is not limited to events and the sphere of artistic creativity,” emphasizes T. Dedkova. – General cultural processes (philosophy of culture helps to study them); lifestyle of society, morals; the state of concert organizations, bookstores, cinemas and other cultural networks; the development of general, artistic, and musical education - all this is included in the range of cultural issues of the press and television.<…>Through the categories of culture, a person evaluates, comprehends and experiences the world, brings all the phenomena of reality into a single whole” 1 .
The media has become the main tool for disseminating messages that influence public consciousness. A. Mol rightly believes that the mass media “actually control our entire culture, passing it through their filters, highlighting individual elements from the general mass of cultural phenomena and giving them special weight, increasing the value of one idea, devaluing another, thus polarizing the entire field culture. What is not included in the channels of mass communication in our time has almost no influence on the development of society” 2.
Four spheres of production and existence of cultural values are distinguished: everyday life, ideology (including such forms as philosophy, politics, ethics, etc.), religion and artistic culture (art). Each of these areas is reflected in one way or another in the media.
A specific feature of everyday culture is that it develops simple, natural, but at the same time fundamental values, such as work, family, homeland, respect for elders, norms of behavior and the like. It is everyday life that is the custodian of the historical memory of a culture, since it is much more stable than ideology, religion and even art and changes much more slowly than them. Therefore, it is everyday culture that to a large extent contains “eternal”, universal, national values. In addition, it is everyday values that are the basis for the existence of ideology, religion, and art.
The media actively participate in the formation and dissemination of everyday values, telling in their materials about positive and negative patterns of behavior, which in turn brings us to the ethical and philosophical issues of morality, which already relate to the sphere of ideological production and existence of cultural values.
“Previously, people released from prison and former alcoholics were often sent to work at the zoo. Once I saw how these guys tried to pull a piece of meat out of his cage with a long stick in front of the astonished tiger’s eyes. I once practiced boxing, so I solved the problem with a right hook... After all, even during the war, people did not steal from animals, but, on the contrary, shared their last piece of bread with them” 1 .
“Recently, extensive research has been conducted on the causes of marriage dissolution. As it turns out, it is women who decide to break family ties first. Most often, spouses (40% of respondents) separate due to the fact that they simply cannot find a common language with each other. This reason is more typical for those over 30. But very “green” newlyweds are primarily bothered by the fact that, in connection with the general family budget, they have to tighten their belts and be deprived of their usual benefits. More than a quarter of those surveyed admitted that they did not want to save the family because of the betrayal of one of the spouses. About the same number got divorced due to their significant other’s drinking. There turned out to be quite a few husbands and wives who could not withstand the constant interference in the family affairs of close relatives” 1 .
“Ekaterina Ilyinichna, having received the funeral, for a long time could not believe that she would never see her Mishenka again. It seemed incredible to her that he died right now, when the war was over and there seemed to be no way to expect trouble.<…>It’s scary to say how many years have passed since then! And all these decades, Ekaterina Ilyinichna has been a widow, living in Maksimovka, in a small old house. He will look out the window onto a street familiar from childhood - and it will be as if he sees himself young again, and next to him - his Mishenka, alive and unharmed. Maybe that’s why, even though the district leadership gave her, as the widow of a Hero of the Soviet Union, a one-room apartment with all the amenities in Tetyushi, she rarely goes there. In Maksimovka, everything is native” 2 .
Each of the materials cited above, appealing to the concepts of “conscience”, “family traditions”, “loyalty”, addresses, first of all, the moral and philosophical problem of existence, but is based on universal spiritual values, reflected in the everyday life of Russian society .
A significant role in the development of everyday culture is played by epistolary genres, which are actively used to broadcast cultural and everyday values. Letters occupy a strong place on the pages of the republican press, not only reflecting public consciousness, but also providing the readership with the opportunity to check with modern norms of social behavior. This becomes obvious when referring to the publications of reader letters on the pages of the Tatarstan press.
“I notice that recently not only people, but even animals and birds have become somewhat more aggressive. Either a crow attacks a child, then pigeons fly straight into the face, as if intending to peck in the eye, then wild animals come out of the forest and attack people. What happened to our fauna? It seems to me that this is primarily due to environmental degradation. Intensive urbanization, an increase in the network of highways, and thoughtless cutting down of forests lead to the destruction of the original homes of animals, which, by the way, have the same right to a niche in the environment as people” 1.
“I was raised in such a way that throwing a chocolate wrapper past a trash can is not cultural, not respecting everyone around me is bad, not loving our nature is not normal. I try to instill the same thing in my child, so that my daughter becomes a good, decent and well-mannered citizen of Russia, and not a pig who, excuse me, lives there. To learn and teach our children not to flee the country, but to make it better, is the main task of each of us!” 2.
“I express my deep gratitude and gratitude to the General Director of Kazankompressormash OJSC I.G. Khisameev, Chairman of the Trade Union Committee V.V. Borisov, Chairman of the Council of Veterans F.F. Fayzrakhmanova, Chairman of the Shop Committee of the 21st Shop E.V. Mayorova, Shop Driver No. 23 I.A. Fakhrutdinov for financial assistance - purchasing and delivering a gas water heater, meter and gas stove to my home. With respect and gratitude to V.G. Bakaeva, inv. II gr.” 3.
“Yesterday, while walking through Uritsky Park, I noticed a lot of birdhouses on the trees. I was so happy, I think people care about birds. And then I looked closer - the birdhouses were made by the same company and painted yellow. But starlings usually do not live in painted houses. We need to do something” 4 .
“I witnessed the following incident. A cool jeep drove up to the pet store. A man got out, all pissed off, and walked into the store.
“According to my horoscope, my wife is a Pisces,” he told the seller. – What do you advise her to buy on March 8?
“Of course, fish,” answered the seller. They chose for a long time. We started with expensive fish and ended up with some tiny ones, for 80 rubles. They bargained for a long time, finally agreeing on fifty rubles. The one who was full of himself demanded a free jar and, satisfied, left. And I felt sorry. No, not a fish. And not even this big and fat man. I felt sorry for my husband, that’s what” 1 .
Each of the quoted remarks is an incentive to self-reflection, a look at one’s own behavior, a kind of trying on the situation for oneself. Only in this way, when mastering cultural wealth, does a person “disobjectify” the world around him, assessing his ability to be receptive to a complex system of information codes that consolidate historically accumulated social experience.
Humanity of the new millennium in its sociocultural development has faced many crisis problems in the field of history, economics, politics, demography, ethics, with the devaluation of ideals and value systems, the destruction of traditional life ideas and ideological principles. Trying to overcome the protracted crisis of modern culture, characterized by the predominance of material progress over spiritual progress, the media constantly remind their audience that for every person beauty, goodness, truth, eternal life are unconditional values, but what is good and evil, for example, a person is forced decide for himself, in each specific situation, thereby acting as an interpreter of culture.
Journalism, according to Yu. Kazakov, “feels its social connections, recognizes itself as part of a culture that is obviously not limited to its own professional tasks and framework, and tries to establish a productive dialogue with society, including on the issue of its own destiny” 2 . Developing this topic, T. Dedkova believes that “journalism covering cultural problems<…>has the opportunity to contribute to the improvement of relationships between man and society” 3.
This is called upon to be helped by “second order” reflection, the object of which is not the reconstruction of the moral and ethical world of the individual in certain cultural and everyday ideas, but these ideas themselves as one of the products of intellectual creativity.
Let's take a look at the thematic palette of publications in the first quarter of 2010, dedicated to professional culture, which found its outlet in works of art. For the analytical cross-section, we selected four republican printed publications: “Republic of Tatarstan” as an official government body (Table 1), “Kazanskie Vedomosti” as a city newspaper (Table 2), “Youth of Tatarstan” as a youth publication (Table 3) and “Evening Kazan” » positioning itself as an independent press (Table 4). Summary Table 5 shows data on the thematic range of publications in all of the above publications.
All materials were distributed according to genre and were counted quantitatively (publication was taken as the unit of counting).