WORLD OF MEDIA-2022. ISSUE №4
World of Media-2022. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies. Issue №4.
The issue was published in 2022 by the Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University.
LEAD ARTICLE
Vartanova, E., & Gladkova, A. (2022). From digital divides to epistemic divides: The rise of new inequalities in the conflict media space. World of Media. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies, 4, pp. 5—22. DOI: 10.30547/worldofmedia.4.2022.1
In this paper, we approach Russian media policy through two main areas – digital inequality, which is a complex multilayer phenomenon embracing access, skills and benefits areas (three levels of the digital divide), and influencing all social processes in the country; and digital capital approached by scholars as a new intangible meta-capital that is becoming increasingly important under current digitalization processes in Russia and worldwide, as well as remaining conflict challenges and risks to information security. We discuss how Russian media policy has been changing in recent years to address new demands posed by digitalization and the growth of information society, which calls for new competencies, skills, and knowledge of citizens/users. Within broader epistemic rights context, we draw links between digital inequality and epistemic inequality, which concerns the widening gap in information, knowledge, and understanding between the elites and the majority of the population. We stress the need to overcome both intertwined types of inequality – digital and epistemic one – and suggest that closer attention of policymakers, scholars, educators, and public authorities should be shifted to the formation of digital capital, which is becoming fundamental for successful professional and personal practices in both offline and online realms today, also when it comes to overcoming digital and epistemic inequality.
Key words: Digital divide, epistemic divide, inequality, conflict, digital capital
Received: 15.10.22
Accepted: 05.12.22
ARTICLES
Frolova, T., Ilchenko, D., & Striga, E. (2022). Science and technology agenda of Russian business magazines: Topical and thematic analysis (2017-2021). World of Media. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies, 4, pp. 24—45. DOI: 10.30547/worldofmedia.4.2022.2
The study of the science and technology agenda of leading Russian business magazines Expert, Profile, and Forbes Russia covered the period between 2017 and 2021 and used analytical publications on technology innovations as an example. The study showed that the main driver of innovative development of the economy from the perspective of business media outlets are digital technologies at the stage of implementation and diffusion, developed and embraced by experts from Russia and leading innovation countries, most particularly the U.S. and China. However, certain current trends in science and technology development were underreported by business media, and the smallest number of publications addresses innovations in the basic sectors of Russia’s economy.
Key words: Science and technology development, technology innovation, science journalism, analytical journalism, business journalism, business media, business magazines
Received: 28.10.22
Accepted: 08.12.22
Darong, H. C. (2022). What does systemic functional linguistics say about speech? A discourse-semantic analysis. World of Media. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies, 4, pp. 46—67. DOI: 10.30547/worldofmedia.4.2022.3
This comparative study uses Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) theory as analytical framework. The aim is to analyze the types of grammatical, lexical items, and language resources used regarding the experiential, interpersonal, and textual functions that are all respectively realized by the register category of field, tenor, mode along with the schematic structure, and the unity of the speech texts. After being converted into clauses, the speech texts were analyzed. Although the doer is slightly different, the result of analysis revealed that the field, as the realization of the experiential function of the texts, is similar. As such, the realization of experiencing action taken by the speaker and audience for the advancement of America is a feature shared by the transitivity patterns focusing on material process, reference, and lexical string analysis. In the meantime, the interpersonal function which is realized by the tenor, differs slightly in that Joe Biden and Barack Obama developed a close distance with the audience, whereas in Donald Trump’s text, there is no sense of intimacy and a great deal of separation from the audience. Then, all texts belong to the spoken mode resulting from simple nominal group constructions. Pushing further, the texts were written in a similar manner in terms of their schematic organization, which included an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The study also discovered that the texts are classified as being highly cohesive by the anaphoric references that were frequently employed, a strong pattern of conjunction linkages, and lexical relations between lexical items appearing across sentences.
Key words: Discourse semantic, meta function, context, speech, SFL
Received: 12.08.22
Accepted: 13.10.22
This study verifies the authors’ sociocultural concept of media generations. This concept helps to identify media generations in accordance with significant socio-political and cultural events taking place along with the technological development of the media industry, according to K. Mannheim; and behavioral patterns, according to X. Becker. This study uses a sample of 30 respondents interviewed during a series of in-depth interviews. The results showed that the most significant characteristic of this Russian generation is so-called ambivalent Soviet and Russian identity. The socio-economic transformations of the 1990s and the ubiquitous spread of the Internet and information technologies, which led to the ‘digital lifestyle’, played a big role during the formative period of the generational group. Being adherents of the analogue television in childhood and adolescence, representatives of the media generation, with some effort, have mastered digital technologies and are actively using many of the achievements of digitalization, including social networks. Although media practices of urban and rural informants differ in some ways, they still show significant conceptual similarities that allow us to classify the respondents as belonging to the same generation of media communicators - the “digital borderline” generation.
Key words: Mass media, digital media, “analogue” and “digital” media generation, media generation of “digital borderline”, formative years
Received: 10.05.22
Accepted: 03.09.22