Problems of journalism. Problems of humanism in modern Russian journalism: theoretical understanding. What is your biggest sin in journalism?

Speaking about the problems of modern journalism in Kazakhstan, first of all, it is necessary to note the relatively new “state procurement policy”, within the framework of which government agencies organize a kind of tenders for publishing houses and television and radio companies to receive funding from the country’s budget. A study conducted in 2010, as part of the project “Monitoring government orders in the media of Kazakhstan,” showed that government orders “are still opaque, the goals of competitions are often unclear, and many private media have actually stopped developing their management, relying solely on funding through government orders.” . Also, as part of this study, it was revealed that, “according to various sources, in Kazakhstan, 50-70% of private media are recipients of state orders in the field of information policy.”

Just one of many examples of this is that the largest party media holding, Nur-Media, created at the end of 2008, is owned by the ruling Nur Otan party. It includes the Astana TV channel, the republican radio station NS and the RDV radio broadcasting in Astana, the republican newspapers Liter, Aikyn, Izvestia - Kazakhstan, Turkistan, Dala Men Kala, Country and World, "Nur Astana" and "Kazakhstan Temirzholshysy".

State orders became widespread in 2009, when funding for this area increased significantly, and due to the growing economic crisis, the number of advertisers and other sources of media funding sharply decreased, which caused a manifold increase in the influence of state policy on published materials. All this has led to the fact that at present the concept of “Independent media” has practically ceased to exist. “If it’s independent, it means it’s oppositional. The state controls everyone else even without a state order, through the editorial board, through the owners.” According to Alexey Venediktov, editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, “I emphasize that the press is just a tool for the authorities. Those media that fit this vision are supported. Those that do not comply are either destroyed or the authorities do not pay any attention to them.”

A striking example of this can be problems with the timing of providing the requested information, because journalists in their actions are guided by the law “On the Mass Media,” and government organizations by the law “On the procedure for considering appeals from individuals and legal entities.” Due to the fact that information material quickly becomes outdated, a large number of “undesirable” publications simply “get stuck” in this bureaucratic red tape.

Kazakh media are increasingly turning into an information system in which the main task is to report information paid for by politicians, oligarchs, etc.

The situation is aggravated by the lack of a clear and defined information policy of the state, which leads to arbitrary assessments and actions in relation to the media, in other words, makes it possible to manipulate them.

In particular, the Law on Mass Media is not specific on some issues. Article 1, paragraph 1 states that “freedom of speech, creativity, expression in print and other forms of one’s views and beliefs, receiving and disseminating information in any way not prohibited by law are guaranteed.” Also, Article 1, paragraph 2 states that government agencies are obliged to provide every citizen with the opportunity to become familiar with documents, decisions and sources of information affecting his rights and interests. However, paragraph 3 speaks of “the prohibition on the dissemination of information constituting state secrets or a secret protected by law,” without naming the methods by which it could be determined whether this information is a secret protected by law or not.

What is even more interesting is Article 145, paragraph 1 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, according to which “No one has the right to use the image of any person without his consent, and in the event of death, without the consent of the heirs.” It turns out that a journalist must ask almost every passerby who gets into the frame for permission to use his image. But it is practically impossible to do this, which gives the authorities scope to interpret objectionable materials in their favor. And there are a great many such examples.

Regarding the rights of a journalist: in Chapter 5, paragraph 2, “Rights and responsibilities of a journalist,” it is said that a journalist has the right to be in places where government bodies are located, but must be accredited by the government bodies themselves, which means, again, , limiting the number of dissident journalists able to obtain accreditation.

This is indirectly confirmed by the results of public procurement competitions published on the website of the Ministry of Information and Communications. Thus, “a number of competitions have the same composition of participants, among which are the state publication “Kazakhstanskaya Pravda” and the publication “Liter”, controlled by the ruling Nur Otan party. At the same time, they alternately win several competitions.” Gaining access to information often becomes a real problem, especially if this information belongs to government authorities. Accreditation of only loyal media, answers to questions and requests only to “our own” or ideologically close ones, screening of “opposition” journalists is not a complete list of restrictions.

“Today, thanks to certain provisions in the law, any official or politician can sue a journalist and the media that published critical material about him, and ... will win, because often journalists do not know the law well and therefore make distortions. But even if journalists know the law, the court will still rule in favor of the official.”

In conclusion, I would like to add that the main task facing the media is to instill respect for the law and create a positive image of representatives of this law. But this must be done without going beyond objectivity.

The media play an important role in reflecting the problems of our time. Any high-profile event is covered in the media and their opinions may differ regarding the issue. Journalism is an operational activity, which means that events are already difficult to hide, new technical devices are appearing that enhance mobility.

The goal of this or that publishing house is to attract attention to a social problem. In the era of mass media globalization, the traditions of the information and communication process have changed, forming a new reality in society, resorting to electronic media. The mass media play an important role in reflecting political processes, creating an opinion about the state, politics, and political activities of the country.

What is globalization? I understand this word in a broad sense as a worldwide process of integration and unification in various areas of social life, be they political, economic or religious. From the point of view of communication, this is interconnection and interdependence, leading to the strengthening of any trend in the world community, but such processes are unthinkable if there is no development of mass communications. Today, thanks to the means of mass communication, we can quickly overcome both spatial and temporal boundaries of the information space.

Humanity feels like it belongs to some kind of global society, because the consumer of information has changed qualitatively. He is not an observer, but an active user. Thus, society is included in information processes; it can be argued that social integration is taking place.

The media create an ideology that becomes their strategy. Ideology fuels the public's constant interest. So, there are channels that show news 24 hours a day.

The boundary between the consumer and the manufacturer of products becomes very blurred: feedback appears, virtual communities are created that do not depend on space and time, wide sections of society can simultaneously discuss one problem. Mass media encodes information and does not simply provide it to the consumer. Most events will be perceived as actually happening if they are talked about in the media.

In relation to traditional journalism, globalization is determined both by the concentration of capital on a national scale and by the creation of international media concerns that unite information enterprises of two or even several countries.

In informationally developed societies, both manifestations exist in parallel with each other, although currently the tendency towards the corporate merger of individual media enterprises located in different countries into single information holdings is becoming increasingly noticeable. In Western countries, this process has become so intensified that there is reason to talk about the formation of a pronounced mechanism of influence on the part of the largest media enterprises.

Thus, the world's largest information concern, News International, headed by the American tycoon R. Murdoch, unites dozens of periodicals, radio and television companies, film industry enterprises, publishing houses on five continents, thus demonstrating an example of the existence multidimensional property in the information sphere (cross-media ownership). Within the structure of the concern there are media holdings, which include information enterprises operating in various countries. For example, in the UK there is the News Corporation, a subsidiary of the concern, which unites a number of national daily and Sunday newspapers.

The above example clearly confirms the direction in which the information business strategy is developing in the modern world. Globalization in this case is not just an increase in the number of media outlets existing within the framework of one economic and financial association. Second, the news business draws investment from other businesses run by media moguls. It is natural that many media owners abroad do not limit their business only to interests in the field of journalism, but strive to control the banking, insurance, tourism and other areas that guarantee stable income. Thus, the globalization of the information space in the modern world does not exist on its own, but affects various areas of activity and represents a complex process of convergence of political and economic interests. mass information globalization merger

In principle, a similar trend is observed within the Russian information space. The last decade in our country is also characterized by a process of concentration of capital and ownership in the field of journalism. Features of the formation and development trends of media holdings created with the personal participation of B. Berezovsky, V. Gusinsky and other media owners confirm the usual typology of these processes, formed in world practice. However, one cannot help but admit that the domestic information business is going through the stage of concentration of ownership on a national scale and has not yet reached the international level. However, it can be assumed that this will happen sooner or later due to Russia’s significant economic potential, which provides large financial reserves.

As with foreign practice, it is impossible to perceive the process of globalization in the Russian information sphere only from one-dimensional positions. This complex phenomenon, which in many respects has not yet been regulated by legal norms, fully reflects the current situation in the country: the formation of a political and economic elite.

Today there is reason to talk about a relapse of the previous one-sided thinking, which is demonstrated by the current owners of information companies. This is manifested in their desire to take a tough position on this or that debatable issue, their reluctance to organize controversy on the pages of their media, or to attract a wide audience to discuss issues.

In relation to Western journalism, such situations are extremely rare, which is largely due to the historical features of its existence. In foreign conditions, the media were formed (and continue to exist) as a political and social institution independent of the state and were perceived in the mass consciousness as a “watchdog” of democracy, protecting society from the state’s encroachments on the rights and freedoms of citizens. In Russia, the situation of journalism was fundamentally different from the very beginning: the emergence of mass media at the beginning of the 18th century. was sanctioned by the supreme power, and all the activities of journalism in subsequent centuries depended entirely not on legislative priorities, but on the personal political interests of senior statesmen. In this regard, the position of journalism in the Soviet period of history was in many ways the embodiment of the traditional guidelines of power, whose one-man invasion into the information sphere (at the level of strict subordination between party bodies and editorial offices) formed a one-dimensional perception by society of all the main phenomena of reality.

The current situation clearly illustrates that the globalization of the information process, which is largely universal in nature, in relation to a single country inevitably accumulates the features of its national development, the level of pluralism, freedom of speech historically established in a given society, and the traditional degree of intervention of state and political institutions to the position of journalism. These and other factors cannot be ignored when considering the strategic prospects for the development of the globalization process in the information sphere.

Along with this, another important question is on the agenda: is it possible in the conditions of modern globalization of the information business to preserve the “face” of each national journalism? Under the influence of technological innovations, media processes in different countries are inevitably unified, affecting the content of the media. A significant amount of information enters the media through numerous news agencies, the Internet and appears unchanged on the pages of newspapers, heard on radio and television, etc.

For Russian journalism, the “problem of unification” looks complicated also due to the direct borrowing of foreign information models, which have become established today in the practice of television and individual periodicals. This was a consequence of the financing of these media by foreign capital, which, in turn, entailed borrowing, and sometimes simply copying, information approaches that were unusual for domestic perception. Russian journalists, in addition, for the most part have a rather poor understanding of the national historical experience in the field of journalism, successful substantive techniques and methods of functioning of the media that were established in pre-revolutionary and then Soviet times.

It should be recognized that a similar problem is not exclusive to Russia, but exists in many other countries whose audiences are influenced by American mass culture. Modern journalism researcher D. McVail argues that this situation creates a “cultural imbalance” in the minds of citizens of a particular society; it represents the so-called “transnationalization”, in which alien values ​​are forcibly introduced into the minds of people. Hence the demand, sounded from time to time in public discussions of politicians, cultural figures, and journalists, about the need to develop and implement measures sanctioned by government authorities and aimed at limiting “alien” information influence. The question is raised, in particular, about maintaining quotas on foreign television programs in order to protect their information producers.

The legislation of developed foreign countries takes these requirements into account. For example, Canadian information law, which determines the development of radio and television, specifically stipulates the importance of the “national factor”. Priority is given to its own programs, and the importance of radio and television companies being owned by Canadian citizens is emphasized. In the UK, the Broadcasting Acts of 1954 and then 1990 specifically stipulated the advisability of maintaining “necessary proportions” between domestic and foreign programs that are presented to listeners and viewers. German information legislation also requires “an appropriate volume of own media production.

At the same time, documents adopted at the level of the European Parliament emphasize the importance of the free flow of information and guarantee the corresponding rights to its producers - in full accordance with the general principles of the existence and development of the individual in Western society. In the 1990s. A number of memorandums have emerged from European Community commissions that emphasize the importance of upholding liberal values ​​in the production and transmission of information. This implies “freedom of speech without borders”, the absence of any regulation within the framework of the transfer of information at the level of European legislative institutions. How to combine this requirement with the wording of legislative acts of individual countries remains not entirely clear.

All of the above confirms that the problem of preserving the national information space in the context of globalization remains relevant. Its solution is possible not only on the basis of legislative support, but also provided that journalism itself understands the importance of following the traditions of their countries in the information sphere, which have accumulated over the entire previous period of their development.

Tradition, as a universal form and mechanism for preserving social continuity, is both a fundamental category of historical development and allows us to develop a civilizational model of national development. Tradition acts as the spiritual foundation of culture and, at the same time, the most important algorithm for preserving social values ​​that are significant for the formation of the “face” of the nation. Tradition can also be perceived as the manifestation of certain standards (patterns) in the way of thinking and everyday actions, involving both large social groups and individuals in its orbit. Taking this into account, tradition is a carrier of social memory, which reproduces standards of behavior that have been tested by the experience of history and correspond to the needs of the further development of society.

The information environment in general and journalism in particular cannot be considered in isolation from historical reality, which leaves a significant imprint on its everyday development. The information environment is developing in full accordance with the cultural and historical experience of society and its value guidelines. This means that today, in order to generate mass interest in the media, it is necessary to take into account the traditional and established forms of their interaction with the audience. Ignoring this factor can lead to negative consequences for the existence and prospects of the media themselves.

Like any tradition that is modified depending on the specific political situation, the forms of interaction between journalism and the audience can also undergo a certain transformation as a result of changes in surrounding realities. However, it is important to take into account their typological manifestations, formed under the influence of the mentality of the nation as a very stable manifestation, little changing under the influence of specific circumstances.

The most valuable manifestation of the mentality of any society is a cultural tradition (and in practice, a set of traditions, taking into account the multidimensionality of social development), which has a serious impact on the thoughts and actions of large social groups. This tradition explicitly or implicitly encourages people to follow the moral and ethical norms and values ​​formed in society.

One of the features of the Russian mentality has always been a kind of collectivist principle, formed under the influence of the social and living conditions of society. For this reason, only the opinions of professional journalists have never been present in the media; domestic journalism has always been strong in the formation of a “broad opinion,” which was especially clearly embodied in its content during the Soviet period. Hence the appearance of numerous letters on the pages of newspapers, special methods of interaction with readers (for example, “round tables”), etc. Today, these once stable forms of journalistic work have practically disappeared from the content of many periodicals, which, in our opinion, weakens mass interest and trust in the media.

So, in the era of globalization, the role of the mass media is increasing. First, globalization processes have provided greater opportunities for ways to access and exchange information. Secondly, mass media are adapting to a new method of control, taking into account different methods of influence, the question is raised about the consequences of the globalization of mass media.

Doroshchuk E.S.

Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University

PROBLEMS OF HUMANISM IN MODERN RUSSIAN JOURNALISM: THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING

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The ideas of humanism determine the place and role of media in the society of the future and underlie the construction of new social relations from the standpoint of resisting aggression and destructive effects on the individual. It has been established: the foundations of humanism in journalism are built on the concentration and integration of the spiritual and social, embodied in the humanistic idea reflected in the agenda. The actualization of “useful journalism” in the regions and the content it creates is used by society as a catalyst for social development.

Keywords: humanism, journalism, media system, media sphere of humanism, useful journalism.

Doroschuk E.S.

ORCID: 0000-0001-8380-9304, PhD in Pedagogy

Kazan (Volga region) Federal University

THE PROBLEM OF THE HUMANISM OF THE MODERN RUSSIAN JOURNALISM: THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING

Abstract

The ideas of humanism define the place and role of media in the society of the future, are the basis of building new social relations from the standpoint of confrontation, aggression, destructive effects on identity. Installed: basics of humanism in journalism are based on concentration and integration of the spiritual and social, embodied in the humanistic idea reflected in the agenda. Updating the “useful journalism” in the region and created its content is used as a catalyst for social development.

Keywords: humanism, journalism, media system, media sphere of humanism, useful journalism.

The main platform of public relations in Russia, as well as throughout the world, is becoming the media, which requires a revision and conceptualization of approaches to the processes of modeling media systems that can provide support and become the basis for fundamental changes in social structures. Traditional media systems are modern media systems, as they are characterized by I.N. Blokhin, are called upon to form a system of values ​​that determines the “picture of the world”, which serves to ensure the stability of social systems. The creation of a new reality or new media aesthetics proceeds in parallel with technological changes, leading to a radical restructuring of the information process itself, including information impact. The subject and his self in the media dissolve in an anthropocentric field of doubt, leading to the denial of traditions and, as a consequence, destructive personality changes. Therefore, turning to ideas that make it possible to resist the processes of destruction becomes an urgent task of modern journalism.

One of the most important ideas that determine the place and role of media in the society of the future is the idea of ​​humanism. The main figure of the philosophy of humanism becomes man as an autonomous and universal being, and the idea of ​​humanism itself can be characterized as a decisive factor in the successful development of the state.

Researchers of the modern media space argue that it is necessary to strive to develop more humane models of media systems. This is associated with the aggression that fills the airwaves, the Internet and the pages of newspapers and magazines. Indeed, monitoring of the regional press of the Republic of Tatarstan, carried out under our leadership for more than ten years, indicates an increase in the percentage of information that is aggressive in nature in relation to various subjects of reflection: man and his environment - up to 75% in relation to the total number of published materials; environmental component of life – up to 34%; social institutions – up to 68%; ethnicity and national identity – up to 54%. This is manifested, first of all, in the denial or rejection of the principles and way of life of a person, the imposition of ideas about the human world, the lack of dialogue with a person, the formation and appeal to consumer consciousness, etc. A similar picture can be observed in other Volga region national media systems.

The aggressiveness of a media product has nothing to do with the idea of ​​humanism, which, although associated with the degree of awareness of freedom, in the system of social relations is based on the perception of man as the highest value, realized through the ideas of autonomy and universality of the individual.

Aggression in journalism is largely related to the development of a consumer society, the beginnings of which date back to G.F. Shershenevich characterized it as a society of a large number of goods thrown onto the modern market, which leads to differences in the ways of satisfying needs associated with different degrees of wealth. All this taken together gives rise to “a painful feeling of constantly new desires, often caused not by the actual needs of the body or spirit, but only by comparison,” forcing one to sacrifice values ​​and ideals in order to satisfy new desires.

The ideas of humanism that underlie the construction of new social relations are antagonists of aggression, and their conductors are media systems, in the conditions of which changes occur associated with the activation of information and computer technologies, which cannot but influence the forms and means of journalism, creating an urgent social need to integrate the technological component of the media with the principles of their activities. The role of the factor influencing these processes is played by the principle of humanism of journalism.

Defining the humanism of journalism, F.I. Agzamov speaks of its integral essence, manifested in the relationship of journalism to man, the conditions of his existence, and the social environment; relationships to society and groups to which a person belongs; the relationship of a person to journalism and the relationship of society and communities to journalism. The idea of ​​humanism in journalism is based on the analysis of the essence of man, the search for the humanistic foundations of human relations, and ways to reveal human value as a creator. Based on the analysis of information spheres in general, it can be argued that the methodological foundations of humanism in journalism are built on a flexible combination of different approaches and pluralization of the space of opinions and facts; concentration and integration of the spiritual and social and their embodiment in a humanistic idea, acting as a mechanism for regulating relations in an intensively globalizing social field, responding to the risks of the modern world.

The humanism of journalism cannot but be considered as a system of individual competencies determined by goals, means and results of activity, the most important task of which is the formation of a worldview that reflects the humanistic goals of mastering integrated knowledge about man, his nature, patterns of development, and role in the world. The means of achieving these goals is the concentrated expression of the requirements of the laws of development and activity of the media based on the unity of the subjective and objective principles. The result can be considered the most complete implementation of the requirements of the principle of humanism as provisions on the recognition of the greatest value of man and the interests of his development as basic in the coverage of social relations by journalism.

The problems of humanizing journalistic activity are of particular importance for correcting ideas about the role of the media in solving various social problems. P.N. Kirichek emphasizes the dual nature of the social position of the media: as information support for the masses (people) and as information support for the elite (authorities), influencing public opinion. The expression of public opinion, taking into account human interests and humanitarian values, can be recognized as one of the roles of journalism in the public environment. The humanistic basis in solving social problems is reflected in the axiological principle of the new media paradigm, which is characterized by the degree of influence of media products at different levels on social relations, as well as the relationships of social institutions, their nature and degree of participation in solving social problems.

The humanism of journalism is also reflected in the widespread use of the term “useful journalism,” which, on the one hand, is associated with the development of participatory journalism that promotes social development, and on the other, actualizing such a quality of a journalistic product as its usefulness, which can be presented in two aspects: narrow , pragmatically defined, utilitarian and phatically expedient (everything that is produced to satisfy the needs for special information of a utilitarian-phatic orientation); broad, when utility is interpreted in the context of the value space of life. Then the general task of journalism becomes the creation of a humanitarian environment of education and creation that contributes to the development of public culture.

Thus, journalism and modern media systems, forming a powerful environment, influence its value components; correlation and maintenance of harmony in it are possible by updating the principle of humanism, which will avoid increasing stigmatization of a person when people influence other people and dominate them. The humanization of social relations is becoming the subject of modern journalism.

Bibliography /References

1. Blokhin I.N. “New realism” as a response to attacks on reality / I.N. Blokhin // Journalism of the 21st century: to the truth of life. Materials of the seminar-forum “Days of Philosophy in St. Petersburg-2013”. – SPb.: SPb. State University, Higher school magazine and wt. com., 2014. – pp. 144–153.
2. Konakov D.N. Security and humanism in a risk society / D.N. Konakov // Humanism and modernity. – Kazan: Kazan Publishing House. Univ., 2013. – pp. 352–359.
3. Shershenevich G.F. General theory of law / G.F. Shershenevich. – M.: Publishing house Br. Bashmakov, 1911. – 698 p.
4. Agzamov F.I. Humanism of Soviet journalism / F.I. Agzamov. – Kazan: Kazan Publishing House. University, 1984. – 166 p.
5. Doroshchuk E.S. Humanism of modern journalism as a subject of study: genesis and prospects / E.S. Doroshchuk // Humanization of the information space in the context of the dialogue of cultures. Materials of the International Scientific and Practical Conference dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the birth of the first dean of the Faculty of Journalism of Kazan University, Florida Agzamova (February 11, 2016, Kazan) [Electronic resource] / ed. V.Z. Garifullina; comp. R.L. Zainy. – Kazan: Kazan Publishing House. Univ., 2016. – pp. 5–15.
6. Kirichek P.N. Media communication and mass consciousness: principles and mechanisms of formation / P.N. Kirichek. – M.: Publishing house RAGS, 2007 – 36 p.

List of references in English /References in English

1. Blohin I.N. “Novyj realizm” kak otvet pokushenijam na real’nost’ [“New realism” as attempted response to reality] / I.N. Blohin // Zhurnalistika XXI century: k pravde zhizni. Materialy seminara-foruma “Dni filosofii v Peterburge-2013”. – SPb.: SPb. Gos. un-t, Vyssh. shk. zhurn. i mas. kom., 2014. – Pp. 144–153.
2. Konakov D.N. Bezopasnost’ i humanizm v obshhestve riska / D.N. Konakov // Humanizm i sovremennost’. – Kazan’: Izd-vo Kazan. un-ta, 2013. – Pp. 352–359.
3. Shershenevich G.F. Obshhaja teorija prava / G.F. Shershenevich. – M.: Izdanie Br. Bashmakovyh, 1911. – 698 p.
4. Agzamov F.I. Humanizm sovetskoj zhurnalistiki / F.I. Agzamov. – Kazan’: Izd-vo Kazan. un-ta, 1984. – 166 p.
5. Doroshhuk E.S. Humanizm sovremennoj zhurnalistiki kak predmet izuchenija: genezis i perspektivy / E.S. Doroshhuk // Gumanizacija informacionnogo prostranstva v kontekste dialoga kul’tur. Materialy Mezhdunarodnoj nauchno-prakticheskoj konferencii, posvjashhennoj 80-letiju so dnja rozhdenija pervogo dekana fakul’teta zhurnalistiki Kazanskogo universiteta Florida Agzamova (11 February 2016, Kazan’) / pod red. V.Z. Garifullina; sost. R.L. Zajni. – Kazan’: Izd-vo Kazan. un-ta, 2016. – Pp. 5–15.
6. Kirichjok P.N. Mediakommunikacija i massovoe soznanie: principy i mehanizmy formirovanija / P.N. Kirichjok. – M.: Izd-vo RAGS, 2007 – 36 p.

Global problems are problems that can only be solved through the common efforts of world society. Today, the global problems of humanity include:

• Environmental threat
• Economic global issues
• Demographic problems
• Cultural and technological problems.

Problems of journalism

Modern journalism performs at least two, but very important, functions. Firstly, it is the formation of public opinion. Secondly, informing the public and the opposite reflection, in the form of public response to news blocks. In other words, global problems can be partially or completely solved with the help of journalistic materials.

As for journalism itself, it has a number of pressing problems that it increasingly has to face and fight in order to exist in the future and fulfill its main functions:

• Globalization. Over the years, an increasing number of new periodicals have appeared, which leads to the creation of a mass information product and the expansion of the English language. As a result, the finished information product is consumed en masse, and the consumer himself becomes passive.
• Inconsistencies of thoughts. Published materials from the point of view of the author or critic often do not coincide with the opinion of the readership. As a result of this, concepts are substituted, and quite often journalistic publications are accused of lying. Perhaps this is due to journalism's ignorance of the readership's desires.
• Limitation of advertisers. Today, in order for a periodical to exist, simply desire is not enough. The commercial component plays an important role. As a result, the lack of financially capable advertisers leads to the fact that publications “cut” their circulation and often refuse interesting publications.
• Many publications are strongly dependent on political structures, which dictate certain conditions for their existence in the market.
• Custom materials. Modern media are filled with custom-made or advertising materials, which not only worsens the quality of published materials, but also reduces the readership’s trust in the publication.
• Low circulations. Compared to Soviet publications, circulations have decreased significantly.
• Mass information. Large information flows do not allow for a qualitative assessment and characterization of the news.
• Journalists think too highly of themselves. The freedom of speech that exists at the moment has allowed the journalist quite a lot. As a result, journalists consider themselves infallible.
• Loss of trust in the media. Frequent publication of unverified information in pursuit of the success of the publication and the popularity of the author has led to a complete or partial loss of trust on the part of the readership.
• Information wars. Competition. All this arose as a result of a large number of periodicals; modern newspapers and magazines are so unprepared for competition that they simply rewrite the same news from each other. The uniqueness of the written text began to be completely or partially absent.
• The emergence and wide dissemination of the “yellow press”. This phenomenon is becoming more and more common. Journalists are drawn to sensational, but unverified information, which leads to the popularization of the yellow press, or as previously used by the street press.

For the media and communications, the most important thing, of course, is their content, without which neither the press’s communicative function, nor the ambitious plans to transform journalism into the “fourth estate,” nor the effectiveness of forming and managing public opinion, nor the income of media corporations are conceivable. In journalism, two people play a leading role: the journalist and the reader (listener, viewer). The nature of journalism depends on their interaction.

Today, the range of topics that journalism covers is very wide: from narrowly focused to global. The global environmental problem today forces us all to join forces, makes our world interdependent and forces us to pay more and more attention to universal problems. In this case, we are talking about such problems as health and health preservation, as well as the development of new resources, primarily in the field of knowledge. If you look at most publications that introduce ecology as a field of knowledge, it is difficult to draw a clear boundary between the social and natural science components of this discipline - they are so interconnected.

But it is obvious that all these publications define the range of topics that become the subject of conversation in other publications. One of them is the rational use of natural resources. Ecology, as is clear from almost every publication in the press, is an area of ​​knowledge where there are no secondary problems. Massive polluting impact on the environment is a serious danger to human life. Landfills and landfills, the use of fertilizers and pesticides, fumes from car exhaust, dying trees, acid rain, ozone holes - all this is our reality. And topics for those who develop environmental topics. The state is urgently seeking funds for the construction of treatment facilities, waste processing plants, and the equipment of urban waste disposal sites with the latest technology. Many publications talk about this. Some introduce the experience of richer countries. For example, in Germany, where garbage collection is a serious matter that requires responsibility, an independent branch of the country's economy. Others talk about why garbage collection in Belarus has not yet become a popular and profitable business. After all, to produce, say, one ton of PET bottles, 273 tons of oil and 95 cubic meters of natural gas are needed. And a PET bottle can be recycled up to nine times.

Belarus is called “blue-eyed” due to the large number of lakes. Belarus is called the “lungs of Europe” thanks to its numerous forests and swamps. Belarus is called the land “under white wings” - and now you can see a stork’s nest next to a rural hut. Until now, Belarus is experiencing the most terrible environmental disaster - the Chernobyl accident, which turned into a national tragedy, the consequences of which our grandchildren will still have to deal with. Unfortunately, radioactive contamination is one of the main causes of deteriorating health not only for the Belarusian nation, but throughout Europe. The “remaking of nature”, fashionable in Soviet times, also contributed to the deterioration of the environmental situation in Belarus. The drainage of the swamps did not lead to the expected results, but the unique biosphere was disrupted, which immediately affected the ecological state of all of Europe.

In the field of environmental journalism, problematic topics have long been identified, which constantly occupy the leading lines of a kind of rating: energy, energy and resource conservation; great rivers and forests, desertification and deforestation; environmentally friendly and safe products; production and consumption waste, their processing; new non-traditional plants and prospects for their use (genetically modified products).

It is clear that the list is not limited to these topics. Moreover, he is mobile. But at the moment these are the publications our press offers.

Another topic that occupies its niche in the media is the crime topic. Unfortunately, the flow of publications on this topic does not dry out, rather, on the contrary. Why does crime occupy such a significant place in our newspapers? The answer is very simple: because, first of all, it exists in society itself. It is the shortcomings of this society - unemployment, social inequality, declining living standards, alcoholism, drug addiction - that create fertile soil for crime, give rise to social depression and increase the potential for social instability." Perhaps now it will seem strange, but there was a time when crime was only reports, there were no large materials for a whole page, just as there were no colorful collages.

Now the situation has changed dramatically. Recently, journalists with a “narrow specialization” have appeared, including criminal ones. Almost every newspaper has correspondents who deal mainly only with crime. Sources of information for a journalist working with crime are the press services of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, regional, and city ones. Recently, there has been a tendency for crime reports and crime scene reports to disappear from the pages of newspapers. Also, certain requirements are imposed on crime materials by newspaper editors: the crime described in the newspaper must be special - cruel, bloody, with some shocking details. And the most depressing thing about this is that such stories are given by life itself, or rather, by the crimes committed in it. Another problem with criminal topics is the small number of high-quality publications. To create a high-quality crime publication, careful marketing is necessary, i.e. you need to study the sales market, the main circle of readers, what the publication should look like - should it be in color, and therefore expensive, or, conversely, not in color and cheap. A careful approach is needed to the creation and publication of a newspaper, especially with such a topic. After all, not every advertiser will decide to place their ad in a crime publication.

Modern society is also seriously concerned about the epidemic of drug addiction, which annually claims hundreds of thousands of human lives. In modern periodicals, there are a number of topics that journalists turn to most often. Journalists write about the need to give up drugs; drug addiction is seen as an addiction and a disease from which it is almost impossible to completely recover. If previously it was believed that taking drugs was fashionable, now the emphasis is on a healthy lifestyle, and there is nothing fashionable, fun and interesting about using drugs.

The rural topic also occupies a certain place among other equally important topics, since it is the most important sector of the Belarusian economy and the main component of the country’s agro-industrial complex. Producers of various forms of ownership and management participate in the production of agricultural products: agricultural enterprises, farm (peasant) farms, household plots, and other forms of management. However, the number of unprofitable organizations there still remains quite large - 10.7% of the total number of operating enterprises, against 2.3% in the entire economy of the republic. This is practically the only factor influencing the fact that currently the level of wages in agriculture lags significantly behind the republican average (315 thousand Belarusian rubles against 614 thousand on average in the republic and 1 million 100 thousand Belarusian rubles in the highest paid industry of the republic - oil refining.) Also not encouraging is the figure that as of today, 23.4% of the total volume of overdue debt in Belarus is accounted for by agriculture. Modern media (newspapers, television) sensitively reflect this deplorable state of the country's agro-industrial complex.

Thus, we examined only some of the topics from the whole variety of topics covered by journalists today. There are, indeed, a great variety of topics and it is not possible to cover them all. However, all of them are united by one criterion - their relevance. Relevance - (from Late Lat. actualis actually existing present, modern), importance, significance of something for the present moment, modernity, topicality ... (Big Encyclopedic Dictionary) The way this publication responds to the topic of the day at the present time and will speak about its relevance . However, topics associated with any event may lose their relevance after some time, others, on the contrary, are always relevant, because the problems associated with them continue to exist in society. These are, for example, unemployment, corruption, prostitution, drug addiction, alcoholism, social inequality, crime, etc. However, not everything is so gloomy. Journalism also raises other topics related to the positive aspects of life.