Media Education. 2023. n 4.

rds education, media literacy, media culture, d ia literacy, media culture, distance learning, media texts, mass media, media-related tasks, social media, the COVID–19 pandemic, quarantine. Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie) Issued since 2005 ISSN 1994-4160. E-ISSN 1994-4195 2023. 19(4). Issued 4 times a year Alexander Fedorov (Editor in Chief ), Prof., Ed.D., Rostov State University of Economics (Russia) Imre Szíjártó (Deputy Editor–in–Chief), PhD., Prof., Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Eger (Hungary) Ben Bachmair, Ph.D., Prof. i.r. Kassel University (Germany), Honorary Prof. of University of London (UK) Oleg Baranov, Ph.D., Prof., former Prof. of Tver State University Elena Bondarenko, Ph.D., docent of Russian Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), Moscow (Russia) David Buckingham, Ph.D., Prof., Loughborough University (United Kingdom) Emma Camarero, Ph.D., Department of Communication Studies, Universidad Loyola Andalucía (Spain) Irina Chelysheva, Ph.D., Assoc. Prof., Anton Chekhov Taganrog Institute (Russia) Alexei Demidov, head of ICO “Information for All”, Moscow (Russia) Svetlana Gudilina, Ph.D., Russian Academy of Education, Moscow (Russia) Tessa Jolls, President and CEO, Center for Media Literacy (USA) Nikolai Khilko, Ph.D., Omsk State University (Russia) Natalia Kirillova, Ph.D., Prof., Ural State University, Yekaterinburg (Russia) Sergei Korkonosenko, Ph.D., Prof., faculty of journalism, St. Petersburg State University (Russia) Alexander Korochensky, Ph.D., Prof., faculty of journalism, Belgorod State University (Russia) W. James Potter, Ph.D., Prof., University of California at Santa Barbara (USA) Robyn Quin, Ph.D., Prof., Curtin University, Bentley, WA (Australia) Alexander Sharikov, Ph.D., Prof. The Higher School of Economics, Moscow (Russia) Art Silverblatt, Ph.D., Prof. Emeritus, Webster University (USA) Vladimir Sobkin, Acad., Ph.D., Prof., Head of Sociology Research Center, Moscow (Russia) Pier Cesare Rivoltella, Ph.D., Full Professor in Education Technology Catholic University of Milan (Italy) Kathleen Tyner, Assoc. Prof., Department of Radio– Television– Film, The University of Texas at Austin (USA) Svetlana Urazova, PhD., Assoc. Prof., Head of the Research Section, Academy of Media Industry; Editor–in–chief of the “Vestnik VGIK” Journal (Russia) Elena Vartanova, Ph.D., Prof., Dean, faculty of journalism, Moscow State University (Russia) Journal is indexed by: Web of Science (USA, Q3, IF 0,6), ERIH PLUS (Norway), OAJI (USA), MIAR (Spain), EBSCO (USA), Russian Scientific Citations Index. All manuscripts are peer reviewed by experts in the respective field. Authors of the manuscripts bear responsibility for their content, credibility and reliability. Editorial board doesn’t expect the manuscripts’ authors to always agree with its opinion. Founders: UNESCO Moscow Office, Russian Association for Film and Media Education, ICO “Information for All”. Release date 15.12.23 Format 21  29,7/4. Editor: Cherkas Global University Headset Georgia. Postal Address: 1717 N Street NW, Suite 1, Washington, District of Columbia, USA 20036 Order № 77 Website: https://me.cherkasgu.press E–mail: [email protected] Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie) EDITORIAL BOARD 2023 Is. А © Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie), 2023 4 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) CONTENTS Media as a Reflection of the Buzzword Functional Dynamics L. Brusenskaya, E. Kulikova, V. Barabash ……………………………………………………………. 513 Theoretical Articles of the Film Expert V.E. Baskakov (1921–1999) in Cinema Art Journal O. Gorbatkova ………...……….………...……………………………………………………………………………….. 521 Exploring the Relationship Between Social Media Use and Health Information-seeking Behaviour During COVID-19 Among Chinese Students L. Jianmo, H.M. Adnan, F. Abdullah …………....…………..…………………………………….….. 531 Expert Media Content in the Media and Educational Practices T. Kaminskaya, O. Erokhina …………………………………………………..…………………………… 539 Features of Preparation of Students of the Secondary Vocational Education System in the Direction of Screen Arts E. Lomteva, A. Demidov ……………………………………………………………………………………… 549 The Model of Cultural Identity Represented in the Soviet Cinematography of the 1920s R. Salny, A. Katrich ………………….…………………….……………………………………………………………. 561 Image Repair Strategies in Apology Videos by YouTube Creators F. Sayogie, H.H. Zakiya, Khairunnisa, P. Nabillah ………….…………………………………………… 574 Cityscapes and Social Issues: A Critical Examination of Cities in Documentary Film N. Yadav, S. Mehta ……………………………………………………………..……………………………. 581 Voices of Resilience: Women, Media and the Revitalisation of Cultural Heritage in Yobe and Borno States, Nigeria M.H. Yelwa, A.M. Ibrahim, A.M. Kolo ….......................................................................... 589 512 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Copyright © 2023 by Cherkas Global University Published in the USA Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie) Issued since 2005. ISSN 1994-4160 E-ISSN 1994-4195 2023. 19(4): 513-520 DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.4.513 https://me.cherkasgu.press Media as a Reflection of the Buzzword Functional Dynamics Ludmila Brusenskaya a , *, Ella Kulikova a , b, Victor Barabash b Rostov State University of Economics, Russian Federation Рeoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba (RUDN University named after Patrice Lumumba), Russian Federation a b Abstract Despite the popularity and frequency of the use it is impossible to make clear and unambiguous definitions to linguistic fashion and a buzzword. The criteria of the buzzword have not been established with sufficient arguments, the reasons for the drift of some words into the category of buzzwords, and others to the loss of this status are not fully understood. Based on the material of modern media discourse the article, to a certain extent, fills in these lacunae and attempts to trace the functional dynamics of words that can be attributed to the fashionable language units of the Russian language of the XXI century. Changes related to the fashion category in many areas of communication, in functional styles and speech genres have been noted. Borrowings (mainly anglicisms) and substandard (jargon and vernacular) are among the sources of buzzwords. There are few cases of transformation of rearchaic elements into buzzwords. The functional dynamics of buzzwords is due to both linguistic and extralinguistic factors. The modern language material presented by media is studied in the article using a descriptive method with elements of linguoculturological and linguopragmatic analysis. A sociolinguistic technique revealing the conditionality of linguistic fashion by social parameters was also used. Keywords: media discourse, linguistic fashion, buzzword, linguistic taste, pragmatic comeaning of the word, dynamics of lexical connotations, social changes, anglicism, jargon, slang. 1. Introduction Although the concepts of linguistic fashion and a buzzword have become firmly established in scientific usage, it is still not easy to give them an acceptable definition, since the only formal criterion (frequency) is not at all decisive. The attitude to fashion in general is ambiguous, and even more so to the linguistic fashion. There is a lot of evidence that not all the native speakers accept words that have reasons to be considered as buzzword more than others. Of course, the buzzword cannot be attributed to the traditional objects of linguistics. However , a number of special works are devoted directly to the phenomenon of the buzzword (Cherneyko, Bashkatova, 2008; Klepach, 2000; Vlasova, Titova, 2015; Vrublevskaya, 2015; Zhuravleva, 2010), three issues of dictionaries of buzzwords have been published (Novikov, 2005; Novikov, 2008; Novikov, 2016), several thematic collections of the “Language and Fashion” have been published (for example, articles with representative titles: Huseynova, 2017; Pishchalnikova, Panarina, 2017; Tomskaya, 2017; Troshina, 2017), where different aspects of the correlation of the categories of fashion, prestige and language, communicative categories and media strategies are studied. It is proved that “a buzzword is a Corresponding author E-mail addresses: [email protected] (L. Brusenskaya), [email protected] (E. Kulikova), [email protected] (V. Barabash) * 513 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) pragmatic entity” (Zhuravleva, 2010: 8), and therefore, when investigating the causes of the dynamics of buzzwords (the entry of language units towards this group or, conversely, the exit from it), it is necessary to focus on the pragmatic content of a particular unit in the media text that presents the development of the Russian language. The article attempts to explain this dynamic in the language of media, in media texts about scientific discourse and in colloquial speech reflected in the media discourse. 2. Мaterials and methods The modern language material presented in media is studied in the article using a descriptive method with elements of linguoculturological and linguopragmatic analysis. A sociolinguistic technique revealing the conditionality of linguistic fashion by social parameters was also used. 3. Discussion V.I. Dal defined fashion through two concepts: walking custom and changeable whim, and denoted an obviously ironic attitude to it: through the proverb Po mode i mysh' v komode (according to fashion and a mouse in the chest of drawers chest of drawers) (Dal, 1955: 337). Fashion is considered to be a phenomenon that “is able to leave a deep and culturally significant mark in different areas of human life, despite certain chronological limits of its manifestation” (Troshina, 2017: 7). Fashion associated with the popularity of a particular language as a whole or individual foreign language elements can significantly affect social processes (Yefanov, 2022: 767). For example, the characteristic title of the article “Fashion for language as a way of implementing “soft power” in the context of modern geopolitical changes” (Huseynova, 2017: 28-48). Fashion is essentially related to a person's need to designate and change social symbols (Kang et al., 2022; Langer, Gruber, 2021). The researchers are quite right that the actualization of certain words, expressions and language pattern is associated with changes in cognitive structures, which, in turn, are caused by changes in basic values. As V. Tokareva wrote in the story “The Bird of Happiness”, during perestroika, the word biznes (noun business), which had previously been shameful, became the buzzword (Tokareva, 2005). Indeed, the explanatory dictionaries of the Soviet power last years interpreted biznes (noun business) through such units as a scam, dishonest. In colloquial speech, the words kruto (adverb; slang – very good), krutoi (adjective; slang – very good) and the word zhest' (noun; slang – very good) that has recently replaced them, which is used by the addressee to express an emotional attitude – both positive and negative one (undifferentiated) to something, could have become (and have become) buzzwords in recent decades, but not in the 60s of XX century. Researchers point out changes related to the fashion category in many areas of communication (Algavi et al., 2021: 6), in functional styles and speech genres. The researchers note “conspicuous specific intonation features of youth speech, demonstrating carelessness, inconsequence of communication for speakers, often disdainful attitude towards communication partners, which manifests itself in intentional slurring of speech” (Pishchalnikova, Panarina, 2017: 173). A kind of xenophilia is also a typical feature of youth speech. “Today's children know perfectly well what “kheiter” (hayter) or “bulling” (bullying) is. But at the same time they do not understand Russian classical poetry – they do not know these words” (Serdechnova, 2022: 15). Of course, the focus on anglicisms is a sign not only of youth speech (Shin et al., 2022), but a sign of almost all the spheres of communication such as advertising, mass media (Kulikova, 2022; Kulikova et al., 2023; Osipovskaya, Savelyeva, 2023; Shilina et al., 2023; Van Duyn, Collier, 2019), even scientific speech (Manca, 2020; Wenzel, 2019). On the one hand, the fashion for Englishlanguage terminology has more than good reasons (borrowed terms can act as eliminated conceptual lacunae, for example, in the economics), and on the other hand, in many humanitarian spheres they turn out to be more prestigious, status names but not essentially proved. The fascination with English-language terminology correlates with characteristics such as imitation and phatic communication, not inherent in scientific discourse before (Brusenskaya, Kulikova, 2019: 133). 514 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) G.G. Khazagerov wrote about the direct proportionality between the use of fashionable terms kognitivnyi (adjective cognitive) and kreativnyi (adjective creative) and “standard solutions and formulaic statements” camouflaged by these words (Khazagerov, 2010; 2013). “The spectacular word diskurs (discourse) often becomes the subject of quasi-scientific speculations” (Novikov, 2008: 44). It must be admitted that N.M. Shansky in one of his last articles protested against the novomodnyi (newfangled) term diskurs (discourse) (Shansky, 2010: 101), and after 20 years V. Novikov writes: “And at the same time, maybe we should flaunt less scientific beauties such as diskurs (discourse), paradigma (paradigm), kognitivnyi dissonans (cognitive dissonance). I am sure that kognitivnyi dissonans (cognitive dissonance) is an imaginary concept that Leon Festinger invented in America in order to be paid more for the work of a psychologist. There is no phenomenon that could only be called so, it is decorative sciolism” (Interview…, 2023b). In the article “Someone else's name”, V. Novikov expressed his opinion on the fashionable term intertekst (intertext): “It is a foreign and alien word for me. When it is necessary, I use it to contact with colleagues. But in my intimate consciousness, such a category does not exist. In a widely quoted anecdote, the boy Vovochka argues with those who say that there is no word “w...”. How is it: there is “w...”, but there is no word? And here, in my opinion, there is such a case when there is a word, but “w...”..., that is, there is no real essence. There is no such phenomenon that can be called only intertekst (intertext) and nothing else. For any text within another text, there are ancient and quite adequate designations: quotation, reminiscence, allusion, parody, etc. I will not argue here with the concept of intertekstual'nost' (intertextuality) introduced by Yulia Kristeva. I think that it will live not long and will die a natural death. Because through this concept, truisms are either smeared, or deliberate inventions are proved” (Novikov, 2023). V. Novikov left an evidence of the attitude of representatives of elite speech culture to buzzwords: “I did not communicate personally with Dmitry Sergeyevich Likhachev, but his speech was truly intelligent. Or the speech of Mikhail Viktorovich Panov. They didn't flaunt buzzwords, especially scientific ones” (Interview…, 2023b). Fashion in science is connected not only with terminology, but with favourite topics and characteristic references (instead of Marx and Engels now Foucault and Derrida are used), for example, the title of the article “The study of gender as a manifestation of research fashion in Russian linguistics” (Tomskaya, 2017: 146-158). That is, fashion, which most often reflects the superficial (not essential) aspects of life, is also relevant to the field of science (in any case, humanitarian one) with its aim to the search for truth. Its own linguistic fashion is formed in Internet communications, which is partly reflected in the Dictionary of the Internet language: a hamster is “a person who is easily manipulated on the Internet, a fanatical thoughtless fan of an idea or a famous person” (Slovar…, 2016: 236). Thus, borrowings (mainly anglicisms) and substandard (jargon and vernacular) are among the sources of buzzwords. There are few cases of transformation of rearchaic elements into buzzwords, as happened with the word respekt (respect), which existed in the variant reshpekt back in the XVIII century and in an updated form returned to the buzzword. For example, the expression respekt i uvazhukha (in this expression two variants of the word respect are used: the first variant is anglicism (respekt – respect) and the second one (uvazhukha – respect; occasionalism) and such a modification: “Great respektishche (respect with the suffix of magnification -ishche) to the author of “KP” Evgeny Belyakov for being able to show the hypocrisy and stupidity of the Central Bank's main pozorishche (disgrace with the suffix of magnification -ishche)” (Gataullin, 2021: 2). It is clear that the origins of buzzwords are connected with factors such as the spiritual orientation to the West, typical for the domestic linguoculture of recent decades, tolerance to the substandard, on the one hand, and inattention to the traditional “root stream” of the Russian language (as a result of which many words naming important moral concepts prematurely left the language), on the other hand. All these circumstances have caused exactly such a configuration of buzzwords that has developed in the XXI century. 4. Results The qualification of a language unit as a buzzword are often included in author's reflections: “... it seems that without realizing it, keeping in mind a completely different scale of the plan, we became the initiators – or perhaps we can use a buzzword, trigger (trigger) – of some large-scale, global process affecting the entire planet” (Vlasov, 2023: 2); 515 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) “No one denies the benefits of ZOZH (abbreviation of zdorovyi obraz zhizni – healthy lifestyle), but how to force ourselves? Or rather, as it is fashionable to say now, to zamotivirovat' (motivate)” (Dobryukha, 2023: 3). The source of the fashionable lexis, along with anglicisms, are substandard units, which, when repeatedly used in a common language, for instance in media, even in public political communication – “rise in rank”. Today, the frequency of such words, originating from jargon, including criminal one, is extremely high. For example, The use of the fashionable jargonism in a strong position: The headline “Pilot Alexander Rutskoy pereobulsya (ad litteram: changed his shoes on the fly; slang meaning: radically changed his political views for benefits” (Murashev, 2021: 1). The title of the article by D. Sokolov “Vlasov sdelal (ad litteram: made, slang meaning: won a complete victory) even Schwarzenegger” (Sokolov, 2021: 21). “If you imagine an imaginary “Encyclopedia of human traits”, then I would illustrate the concept of “wholeness” with a photograph of Vladimir Menshov. “Wholeness”. Quite so. At the heart of Menshov's creative personality and character, a kind of strict crystal lattice seemed to lie and hold all his actions. No throwing, no transformation and pereobuvaniya (ad litteram: changing shoes, slang meaning: changing views for benefits) in the air – crystal. <...> Wholeness of this kind limits the creative range, I won't argue – but at a time when people almost turn from heroes into a bunch of foul-smelling substance within one day, you rather admire such wholeness” (Moskvina, 2021: 5) “Without exaggeration, crowds of paid bloggers and journalists were rushing to Batumi as if to work, praising the standard fraudulent zavlekukha (slang: lure). In words, it turned out like with a scam of the 90s called timeshare, when lokhi (slang: fools) bought out a share in an unknown hotel business, and then did not know what to do with it and where to complain” (Steshin, Alyokhina, 2021: 5); “And there is a catastrophic palevo (slang: danger, a dangerous situation in which a breakdown, failure of the case is possible) immediately in all the episodes of 20 years of marriage. Even if there was money for their own housing, there would still be 17 % overgrown with rodaki (slang: parents)” (Terentyev, 2020: 7). All three issues of the “Dictionary of Buzzwords” by V. Novikov (Novikov, 2005; Novikov, 2008; Novikov, 2016) at least half consist of units such as (babki (slang: money), bablo (slang: money), bespredel (slang: actions that go beyond any framework of written and unwritten laws; the extreme degree of lawlessness, disorder), golimyi (slang: bad, disgusting, unfashionable, not giving any pleasure, dull), goluboi (slang: homosexual), dostat' (slang: to get bored, lead to a state of irritation, dislike.), kolbasit' (slang: to feel bad), etc. And the author in his essays often express his negative view on these words, in order to recognize a language unit as a buzzword (an it must be admitted), it is not necessary to approve it as an useful lexical unit: “Gnobit' (jargon: to harass, to persecute, to drive, to press). A nasty word. I didn't want even to include it in the book, but scientific objectivity requires…” (Novikov, 2016: 53). “Po ponyatiyam (ad litteram: by concepts; jargon: to comply with the laws of the underworld). One of the ugliest expressions produced by the Russian language” (Novikov, 2016: 206). V. Novikov builds his “lexical entries” very personally, which, in fact, turn out to be original essays about buzzwords. His Dictionaries of buzzwords fairly can be attributed to linguistic publicistics, where, along with informativeness, polemicity and perlocution, distractivity (entertaining) turns out to be important. There is no verified exact definition of a buzzword anywhere: since the object is ambivalent, the author confines himself to pointing out that these are interesting words in some respect, frequent, modern ones. In fact, the texts by V. Novikov is the most complete collection of information about the pragmatics of buzzwords and about dynamic changes in this area. It is well-known fact that fashion is consumed by suicidal desire, fleeting and changeable. V. Novikov believes that the word reiting (rating) today hardly belongs to the category of buzzwords: it has become frequent in various communication spheres, but ordinary, not attracting attention. “... once the buzzword consensus lives out its life in anecdotes about Gorbachev's perestroika” (Zhuravleva, 2010: 143). According to V. Novikov’s predictions some words not only will leave the category of buzzwords, but even they will leave the language. 516 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) In the interview, in response to a question about new buzzwords that will be included in the new issues of the dictionary of buzzwords (and they are being prepared for publication), V. Novikov said: “Firstly, the unusually buzzword gender (gender). Then a little bit funny expression zakryt' geshtal't (ad litteram: close the gestalt; slang: to bring some life situation to completion)”, a very widespread word keis (case) in the meaning of judicial case. There are also not very good words of quite Slavic origin, by the way, such as nishchebrod (slang: a poor man). There are also negative characters in the dictionary! Another strange expression is ot slova sovsem (ad litteram: from the word at all; slang: completely, at all)”. I want to study it. So far, my attitude to this word is extrimely negative. And, of course, there is no getting away from khaip (hype), ehmpatiya (empathy) and toksichnyi (toxic) (Interview…, 2023a: 10). The fashion for foreign words naturally gives way to a balanced, reasonable, ecologically proved use of borrowings. It became obvious that “... in the 1990s and 2000s, a very strong linguistic blow was dealt to the Russian language. Now it is necessary to gradually get rid of harmful influences, but at the same time not to rush” (Serdechnova, 2023: 25). Dictionaries of buzzwords by V. Novikov give important information, indicate the reasons for the necessity of many anglicisms, with which there is no need to hurry at all (for example, lexical entries for the words dedlain (deadline), meinstrim (mainstream), mem (meme), n'yusmeiker (newsmaker), tresh (trash), troll' (troll), etc. The reason for the need for anglicism may be not only the notorious “lack of analogues”, it is also the brightness of the internal form (quite intelligible even with minimal familiarity with the English language, like the word laifkhak (life hack) 'hacking life'. This is something more important than just a 'useful tip' or a 'little trick'. For example: the title and lead of article by M. Paty ”Washing with water from a washing machine”. How to save on housing and communal services: 10 laifkhaki (life hacks) from the most diligent tenant” (Pati, 2023: 8). “Mironov's ehsery (social revolutionaries), soft-bodied and gentle, were cheered up by black-and-red national Bolshevism with a rattling khaip (hype) performed by Zakhar Prilepin” (Krasheninnikova, 2021: 5). Modern society has taken a course to “make Russia the leader of social, cultural, economic, technological progress, firstly; secondly, to withdraw culture, and first of all the linguistic space – education, literature, cinema – from subordination to the market, which was, is and in the future will be a space, in many ways alien to the national culture and language” (Buzgalin, 2023: 2). The movement in this direction will certainly contribute to the elimination of excessive anglicisms from all the communicative spheres, and the category of buzzwords will mainly include words created on the basis of ancestral roots. 5. Conclusion Although there is no strict definition of buzzwords, it is possible to specify their distinctive features such as frequency in all the styles and genres, or in one of them; “aura of novelty and freshness” (pragmatics of novelty). V. Novikov writes, “a buzzword is a word with ambition”, which often “pushes aside fellows” (Novikov, 2016: 3). These words do not always correspond to strict normativity: even the author of the “Dictionary of Buzzwords” calls to distance from many of them, especially from jargon ones, and not to rush to include them in our speech. That is, buzzwords do not have a sign of unequivocal social approval. So, the criteria of a buzzword are ambivalent and very far from the scientific ideal. Nevertheless, a buzzword is a very real category, intuitively comprehended by native speakers and reproduced in media. It is possible to speak about buzzwords in connection with different communicative spheres such as colloquial speech, advertising, media discourse, the language of science. If some fashionable word is actively replicated, it can be felt as a disadvantage, as a harbinger of exhaustion – an early leaving the category of buzzwords. The functional dynamics of buzzwords is due to both linguistic and extralinguistic factors. Very often, a buzzword turns out to be a direct reflection of the most important socio-political and cultural-historical changes that are instantly picked up by media and introduced into the language. And, therefore the buzzword deserves the closest research attention. 6. Acknowledgements The reported study was funded by RFBR and MES RSO, project number 21-512-07002 “Various-level speech constituents of conflict communication”. 517 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) References Algavi et al., 2021 – Algavi, L., Volkova, I., Kadyrova, S., Rastorgueva, N. (2021). Setevoe literaturnoe tvorchestvo molodezhi kak kljuch k ponimaniju pokolenija Z [Youth literary networks as a key to understanding generation Z]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika. 3: 3-21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2021.321 [in Russian] Boulianne, 2019 – Boulianne, S. (2019). Revolution in the making? Social media effects across the globe. Information, Communication & Society. 22(1). DOI: 10.1080/1369118X. 2017.1353641 Brusenskaya, Kulikova, 2019 – Brusenskaya, L. Kulikova, E. (2019). Imitatsionnost', informativnost' i fatika v zhanrakh gumanitarnogo nauchnogo diskursa [Imitation, Informational Value and Phatic Communication in the Genres of Academic Discourse]. Russian Journal of Linguistics. 1(1): 131-148. [in Russian] Buzgalin, 2023 – Buzgalin, A. (2021). Yazyk i surzhik [Language and surjik]. Literaturnaya gazeta. 3: 2. [in Russian] Cherneyko, Bashkatova, 2008 – Cherneyko, L.O., Bashkatova, D.A. (2008). Filosofskolingvisticheskii aspekt izucheniya mody [Philosophical and linguistic aspect of the study of fashion]. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii. 2: 86-96. [in Russian] Dal, 1955 – Dal, V.I. (1955). Tolkovyi slovar' zhivogo velikorusskogo yazyka [Explanatory Dictionary of the living Great Russian language.]. Vol. 2. Moscow. [in Russian] Deligiaouri, 2018 – Deligiaouri, A. (2018). Discursive construction of truth, ideology and the emergence of post-truth narratives in contemporary political communication. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics. 14 (3): 301-315. DOI: 10.13187/me.2019.4.500 Dobryukha, 2023 – Dobryukha, A. (2023). I dazhe ezh vesnoi za ZOZH [And even a hedgehog in the spring for a healthy lifestyle] Komsomol'skaya Pravda. 26.04.2023: 3 [in Rssian] Fitzpatrick, 2018 – Fitzpatrick, N. (2018). Media manipulation 2.0: the impact of social media on news, competition, and accuracy. Athens Journal of Mass Media and Communications. 4(1): 45-62. DOI: 10.30958/ajmmc.4.1.3 Gataullin, 2021 – Gataullin, R. (2021) Litsemerie glavnogo pozorishcha Tsentrobanka [Hypocrisy of the Central Bank's Main disgrace]. Ehkspress gazeta. 26: 2. [in Russian] Golan et al., 2019 – Golan, G.J., Arceneaux, P.C., Soule, M. (2019). The Catholic Church as a public diplomacy actor: An analysis of the pope’s strategic narrative and international engagement. The Journal of International Communication. 25: 95-115. DOI: 10.1080/13216597.2018.1517657 Huseynova, 2017 – Huseynova, I.A. (2017). Fashion for language as a way to implement “soft power” in the context of modern geopolitical changes [Fashion for language as a way to implement “soft power” in the context of modern geopolitical changes]. Yazyk i moda – Language and fashion. Moscow: 28-48. [in Russian] Interview…, 2023a – Interview with V. Novikov, (2023). Zhizn' – ehto soavtorstvo [Life is co–authorship]. Literaturnaya gazeta. 9: 10. [in Russian] Interview…, 2023b – Interview with V. Novikov, (2023). Rechevaya moda stanovitsya bolee sderzhannoi [Speech fashion becomes more restrained]. Uchitel'skaya gazeta. 6. [in Russian] Jang, Kim, 2018 – Jang S.M., Kim J.K. (2018). Third person effects of fake news: Fake news regulation and media literacy interventions. Computers in Human Behavior. 80: 295-302. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.11.034 Kang et al., 2022 – Kang, S., Luo, F., Yang, C. (2022). New media literacy and news trustworthiness: An application of importance–performance analysis. Computers & Education. 185. DOI: 10.1016/j.compedu.2022.104529. Kayal, Saha, 2023 – Kayal, Sh., Saha, R. (2023). Decoding the myth of luxury in cosmetics herbal products advertisements. RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism. 28(1): 175-186. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22363/2312-9220-2023-28-1-175-186 Khazagerov, 2010 – Khazagerov, G.G. (2010). Obessmyslivanie nauchnogo diskursa kak sistemnoe yavlenie [The meaninglessness of scientific discourse as a systemic phenomenon]. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii. 2: 5-20 [in Russian] Khazagerov, 2013 – Khazagerov, G.G. (2013). Kontrproduktivnye kompetentsii [Counterproductive competencies]. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii. 1: 129-134 [in Russian] 518 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Klepach, 2000 – Klepach, E.V. (2000). Yazykovaya moda: ehvolyutsiya lingvokul'turnykh form [Language fashion: the evolution of linguistic and cultural forms]. PhD. Dis. Moscow. [in Russian] Krasheninnikova, 2021 – Krasheninnikova, V. (2021). K vam edet balagan [A farce is coming to you]. Literaturnaya gazeta. 8: 5. [in Russian] Kulikova et al., 2023 – Kulikova, E., Barabash, V., Tedeeva, Z. (2023). Russian-Speaking Media Space Anglicization in the Aspect of Linguoecology. Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 19(1): 61-70. DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.1.61 Kulikova, 2022 – Kulikova, E. (2022). Mediatekst: nuzhna li smena issledovatel'skikh i lingvodidakticheskikh paradigm. Retsenziya na knigu: Panasenko, N., Greguš, Ľ. 2022. Media text in the mirror of linguistics. 1st edition. Prague: Wolters Kluwer ČR a. s., 2022, 166 p. [Media text: is there a need for a change of research and linguodidactic paradigms. Book review: Panasenko, N., & Greguš, Ľ. (2022). Media text in the mirror of linguistics. Prague: Wolters Kluwer ČR a.s.]. Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Seriya: Literaturovedenie. Zhurnalistika – RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism. 27(4): 838-844. DOI: 10.22363/2312-92202022-27-4-838-844 [in Russian] Lane, 2020 – Lane, D.S. (2020). Social media design for youth political expression: Testing the roles of identifiability and geo-boundedness. New Media & Society. 22(8): 1394-1413. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819879103 Langer, Gruber, 2021 – Langer, A.I., Gruber, J.B. (2021). Political agenda setting in the hybrid media system: Why legacy media still matter a great deal. The International Journal of Press/Politics. 26(2): 313-340. Manca, 2020 – Manca, S. (2020). Snapping, pinning, liking or texting: Investigating social media in higher education beyond Facebook. The Internet and Higher Education. 44. DOI: 10.1016/j.iheduc.2019.100707. Moskvina, 2021 – Moskvina, T. (2021). 5 iyunya skonchalsya akter i rezhisser Vladimir Men'shov [On June 5, actor and director Vladimir Menshov died]. Argumenty nedeli. 26: 15. [in Russian] Murashev, 2021 – Murashev, A. (2021). Letchik Aleksandr Rutskoi pereobulsya na letu [Pilot Alexander Rutskoy changed his shoes on the fly]. Ehkspress gazeta. 11: 1. [in Russian] Novikov, 2005 – Novikov, V. (2005). Slovar' modnykh slov [Dictionary of buzzwords]. Moscow. [in Russian] Novikov, 2008 – Novikov, V. (2008). Slovar' modnykh slov [Dictionary of buzzwords]. Moscow. [in Russian] Novikov, 2016 – Novikov, V. (2016). Slovar' modnykh slov. Yazykovaya kartina sovremennosti [Dictionary of buzzwords. The linguistic picture of modernity]. Moscow. [in Russian] Novikov, 2023 – Novikov, V. (2023). Chuzhoe imya [Someone else's name]. Zvezda. 6. [in Russian] Osipovskaya, Savelyeva, 2023 – Osipovskaya, E., Savelyeva, A. (2023). Corporate training for developing social media literacy skills: personalized approach. RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism, 28(1): 157-164. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22363/2312-9220-2023-28-1157-164 Pati, 2023 – Paty, M. (2023). Myt'sya vodoi iz stiral'noi mashinY». Kak sehkonomit' na uslugakh ZHKKH: 10 laifkhakov ot samogo rachitel'nogo zhil'tsa [“Wash with water from the washing machine”. How to save on housing and communal services: 10 life hacks from the most diligent tenant] Moskovskii komsomolets. 22-28.03.2023: 8. [in Russian] Pishchalnikova, Panarina, 2017 – Pishchalnikova, V.A., Panarina, N.S. (2017). Modnoe pretsedentnoe imya/tekst: prichiny poyavleniya i spetsifika funktsionirovaniya [Fashionable precedent name/text: reasons for the appearance and specifics of functioning]. Yazyk i moda – Language and fashion. Moscow: 88-95. [in Russian] Serdechnova, 2022 – Serdechnova, E. (2022). Rossii khotyat vernut' russkii yazyk [Russia wants to return the Russian language] Kul'tura. 12: 15. [in Russian] Serdechnova, 2023 – Serdechnova, E. (2023). Esli nam ne nuzhna sobstvennaya kul'tura, to togda mozhno ne borot'sya [If we don't need our own culture, then we don't have to fight]. Kul'tura. 5: 25. [in Russian] Shansky, 2010 – Shansky, N.M. (2004). Russkii yazyk i televidenie segodnya [Russian language and television today]. Russkii yazyk v shkole. 5: 100-102 [in Russian] 519 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Shilina et al., 2023 – Shilina, M.G., Sokhn, M., Wirth, J. (2023). VR-mediated storytelling of experience in destination branding: hybrid 4D transformations. RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism. 28(1): 165-174. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22363/2312-9220-2023-28-1165-174 Shin et al., 2022 – Shin, M., Juventin, M., Wai Chu, J.T., Manor, Y., Kemps, E. (2022). Online media consumption and depression in young people: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Computers in Human Behavior. 128: 107129. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CHB.2021.107129 Skvortsova et al., 2022 – Skvortsova, N., Volkova, I., Sikharulidze, A., Abazov, D., Dovlatova, A. (2022). Formirovanie predvybornogo politicheskogo diskursa v audiovizual'nykh SMI Gruzii [Formation of pre&election political discourse in the audiovisual media of Georgia]. Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Seriya: Literaturovedenie. Zhurnalistika – RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism, 27(4): 788-807. DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.22363/2312-9220-2022-27-4-788-807 [in Russian] Slovar…, 2016 – Slovar' yazyka Interneta. ru (2016). [Dictionary of the Internet language.ru]. Moscow. [in Russian] Sokolov, 2021 – Sokolov, D. (2021). Vlasov sdelal dazhe Shvartseneggera [Vlasov even made Schwarzenegger] Sobesednik. 7: 21. [in Russian] Steshin, Alyokhina, 2021 – Steshin, D., Alyokhina, Yu. (2021). Domik u morya v “tylu vraga”: Rossiyane brosilis' skupat' zhil'e v Turtsii. I im ne strashno [A house at the seaside in the "enemy's rear": Russians rushed to buy housing in Turkey. And they are not afraid]. Komsomol'skaya Pravda. 29.01.2021: 5. [in Russian] Terentyev, 2020 – Terentyev, D. (2020). Vyrozhdenie otmenyaetsya: kak nas ubezhdayut v degradatsii chelovechestva [Degeneracy is canceled: how we are convinced of the degradation of humanity] Argumenty nedeli. 50: 7 [in Russian] Tokareva, 2005 – Tokareva V. (2005). Ptitsa schast'ya [Bird of Happiness]. Moscow. [in Russian] Tomskaya, 2017 – Tomskaya, M.V. (2017). Izuchenie gendera kak proyavlenie “issledovatel'skoi mody” v rossiiskom yazykoznanii [The study of gender as a manifestation of the "research fashion" in Russian linguistics]. Yazyk i moda – Language and fashion. Moscow: 146-158. [in Russian] Troshina, 2017 – Troshina, N.N. (2017). Moda i kommunikativnye praktiki lingvokul'turnogo soobshchestva [Fashion and communicative practices of the linguistic and cultural community]. Yazyk i moda. Moscow: 5-27. [in Russian] Van Duyn, Collier, 2019 – Van Duyn, E., Collier, J. (2019). Priming and fake news: the effects of elite discourse on evaluations of news media. Mass Communication and Society. 22(1): 29-48. Vlasov, 2023 – Vlasov, P. (2023). V tochke bifurkatsii [At the bifurcation point] Kul'tura. 7: 21 [in Russian] Vlasova, Titova, 2015 – Vlasova, K.A., Titova, M.N. (2015). “Modnye” slova v sovremennom angliiskom yazyke [Buzzwords in modern English]. Molodoi uchenyi. 23: 96-98. [in Russian] Vrublevskaya, 2015 – Vrublevskaya, O.V. (2015). “Modnye” slova v sovremennom angliiskom yazyke [Buzz names and titles: approaches to research]. Uchenye zapiski Orlovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye i sotsial'nye nauki. 5: 88-91. [in Russian] Wenzel, 2019 – Wenzel, A. (2019). To Verify or to disengage: coping with "fake news" and ambiguity. International Journal of Communication. 13: 1977-1995. Yefanov, 2022 – Yefanov, A. (2022). Inflyuenser kak osobyi tip lidera obshchestvennogo mneniya [Influencer as a special type of public opinion leader]. Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Seriya: Literaturovedenie. Zhurnalistika – RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism. 27(4): 767-774. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22363/2312-9220-2022-27-4767-774 [in Russian] Zhuravleva, 2010 – Zhuravleva, N.G. (2010). Fenomen “modnogo” slova [The phenomenon of a “buzzword”]. PhD. Dis. Rostov-on-Don. [in Russian] 520 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Copyright © 2023 by Cherkas Global University Published in the USA Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie) Issued since 2005. ISSN 1994-4160 E-ISSN 1994-4195 2023. 19(4): 521-530 DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.4.521 https://me.cherkasgu.press Theoretical Articles of the Film Expert V.E. Baskakov (1921–1999) in Cinema Art Journal Olga Gorbatkova a , * a Don State Technical University, Russian Federation Abstract The appeal to the Russian film studies heritage is conditioned by the need to find solutions in the construct of actual contemporary problems, which today have the status of open problems. In this correlation, our research interest is aimed at appealing to scientific heritage of one of the famous Soviet and Russian film expert V.E. Baskakov (1921–1999) in configuration of his theoretical publications on the pages of Cinema Art journal. The purpose of our study is to carry out a holistic retrospective analysis of V.E. Baskakov’s film studies views presented in his theoretical works in Cinema Art journal (1975–1999). Research material: texts of V.E. Baskakov’s theoretical film studies publications in Cinema Art journal. Research methods: content analysis, comparative-historical analysis, textual, hermeneutical method of understanding and interpretation of the text, theoretical methods: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction. The basic conceptual foundation of V.E. Baskakov’s research was a multifaceted analysis of the problems of methodological knowledge in Russian film studies. The theoretical works of the film expert outlined the following topics: the state and development of Western cinematography, the specifics of its study in the context of ideological and political, as well as social dogmas of the Soviet period; the problems of Soviet cinematography, the genre uniqueness of expressive means; the importance of studying the history of world cinematography in the focus of creation of a film work; the analysis of filmmakers’ creativity works; the relationships during the film production with the history and national culture; the development of Soviet and foreign cinematography theories influencing the cinema artists. As a result of the content-analytical discourse of V.E. Baskakov’s film studies positions presented in his theoretical articles in Cinema Art journal, several conclusions can be drawn: - in his theoretical articles, V.E. Baskakov paid special attention to the study of the main approaches and methods of film studies analysis, trying to trace their modification in the context of political, social, and cultural construct; - V.E. Baskakov’s theoretical approaches focused more on analyzing the problems of cinematographic methodology, genre specificity, and expressive means within the study of film phenomena; - the content of some V.E. Baskakov’s articles traces the problems associated with the study of the most important phenomena in the history and theory of foreign film studies; - the works of this film expert have clear tendency to reflect the ideology of the ruling Communist Party and orientation towards the study of the interrelations and influence of political and socio-cultural transformations on the development of cinematography; Corresponding author E-mail addresses: [email protected] (O. Gorbatkova) * 521 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) - V.E. Baskakov’s theoretical works are characterized by the ideological analysis of historical events and trends that shaped the Soviet cinematography in different time periods and reflection of foreign cinematography. Keywords: Baskakov, theoretical articles, film studies position, film expert, film studies, Cinema Art journal. 1. Introduction Recently, the paradigm of humanities studies has been actively developing in the direction of studying various aspects in the field of film studies, based on the fundamental principle of profound analysis and understanding of scientific heritage. The appeal to the Russian film studies heritage is not accidental, but conditioned by the need to find solutions in the construct of actual contemporary problems. The issues of the development of methodological functionality, expressive means, study of the film production deconstruction, determination of the boundaries of film study subject area are of particular importance here. Undoubtedly, the answers for many questions about cinematography and its role in the culture of society lie in a profound analysis and understanding of the scientific heritage and methodology of film studies. In this correlation, our research interest lies in appealing to scientific heritage of one of the famous Soviet and Russian film expert V.E. Baskakov (1921-1999) in configuration of his theoretical publications on the pages of Cinema Art journal. It is important to emphasize that today there are no fundamental studies related to the transformation of the theoretical conceptual views of V.E. Baskakov on the pages of Cinema Art journal. The purpose of our research is to carry out a holistic retrospective analysis of V.E. Baskakov’s film studies presented in theoretical works in Cinema Art journal (1975–1999). Analyzing the texts of V.E. Baskakov’s theoretical articles, we have made an attempt to design a systematic picture of his theoretical views and approaches to cinema art presented in the articles published on the pages of Cinema Art journal (1975-1999). Special emphasis was made on the consideration of the historical, social and political context, where V.E. Baskakov’s theoretical concepts were formulated. In our study the time limits on the basis of V.E. Baskakov’s theoretical works analysis, presented in Cinema Art journal, are determined by the beginning of his theoretical articles publication in the journal (1975) and ending with the life and professional film study path of V.E. Baskakov (1999). 2. Materials and methods Research material: texts of V.E. Baskakov’s theoretical film study publications in Cinema Art journal. Research methods: content analysis, comparative-historical analysis, textual, hermeneutical method of understanding and interpretation of the text, theoretical methods: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction. 3. Discussion In the course of the national cinematographic art development, the film trends and concepts underwent noticeable transformations depending on the era. Today, film studies are facing new challenges associated with the appearance of new technologies, digital cinema, development of the Internet and new formats for watching films. Such factors directly influence the approaches and methods of cinema research. The study of trends and conceptual views transformation in the focus of film studies of different historical stages, their evolution in correlation with the development of science and society is especially important recently, since such studies allow us to assess critically the contribution and significance of various research approaches in different historical periods, which contributes to deeper and comprehensive understanding of cinema and its role in the modern society, getting answers to problematic questions. The research of film study trends’ evolution is an important task for the scientific community, which creates the basis for maintaining the relevance and significance of film studies in a rapidly changing world and technology. 522 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) The issues of the history of cinema are reflected in the scientific texts of many researchers (Andrew, 1976; Andrew, 1984; Anosova, 1961; Aristarco, 1951; Bazin, 1971; Bergan, 2006; Braniganetal, 2015; Casetti, 1999; Dobrenko, 2008; Fedorov, 2015; Fedorov, 2016; Fedorov, 2017; Fedorov et al., 2019; Gibsonetal, 2000; Iezuitov, 1958; Kenez, 1992; Komarov, 2000; Lebedev, 1974; Levin, 1967; Livingston, 2009; McIver, 2016; Plantinga, 1993; Ryabchikova, 2014; Shlapentokh, 1993; Stam, 2000; Villarejo, 2007; Woll, 2000 and others) Currently, many scientists are actively engaged in the research and analysis of the theoretical approaches and methods used in the film studies. The purpose of these studies is to clarify the semantic shades and the role of approaches in the analysis and interpretation of deep constructs of film productions (Alakshin, 2014; Badalov, 2011; Bogomolov, 2001; Bykov, 2001; Margolit, 2001; Medvedev, 2011 and others). It is especially important to emphasize that such studies are contextual in nature. The analysis of the theoretical aspects of the film potential plays an important role in expanding and deepening our understanding of the cinema art, which results help to understand better the philosophical, aesthetic and cultural aspects of cinema, to reveal its versatility and numerous interpretations. The publications of A. Fedorov and A. Levitskaya present a profound analysis of the theoretical concepts of the film studies in Cinema Art journal of the period of 1930-s – 2000s (Fedorov, 2022; Fedorov, 2023; Fedorov, Levitskaya, 2022; Fedorov, Levitskaya, 2023; Levitskaya, 2022; Levitskaya, 2023), disclosing the film studies positions of the film experts through the lens of the retrospective analysis. These publications reveal the film studies positions of Soviet researchers through the prism of retrospective analysis, which makes it possible to understand and interpret better the historical development of cinematography. 4. Results The results of content-analytical study of V.E. Baskakov’s scientific works allow us to highlight an important trend that can be traced throughout his film studies research path: the central theme of the scientific search for a film expert was the methodological problems of film studies in different historical periods (taking into account socio-cultural and political aspects). Thus, in V.E. Baskakov’s article “Methodological problems of Soviet film studies” there is a methodological position of the film expert in the focus of bourgeois cinema, while the author very reasonably noted that “this issue was raised by K.E. Razlogov in 1975 in the article “Material, problematics, methodology” in the most acute, polemical form” (Baskakov, 1976: 84). In his article, K.E. Razlogov revealed a number of problems of the Western cinematography methodology, focusing on such theoretical issues as the phenomenon of specific refraction of history through the prism of studying the foreign film studies (i.e. reliance on the principle of historicism in the process of film texts understanding); the lack of researches focused on the study of the creativity work of Soviet and foreign film makers; the study of various trends in cinematography determined by the ideological processes, tendencies of its critical comprehension in the West; the problem of aesthetic understanding of communication systems between people and their synthesis in the configuration of cinematography integrating different audiovisual forms; the nature and genres of cinematography. Similar conceptual foundations were put forward by V.E. Baskakov from his Marxist positions focusing primarily on the following problematic issues: the need to study foreign cinematography in close connection with the processes taking place in society; methods of study of the phenomena of foreign cinematography; the need for a fundamental and deep study of Western cinema, the results of which should subsequently be presented in detailed scientific works; the importance of analyzing the creativity of foreign film makers based on research in correlation with history, philosophy, national culture; problems of nationality in relation to foreign cinematography; comprehension of the bourgeois theories of cinematography by the Soviet film experts. The author very acutely raised the issue of understanding the ways of studying foreign cinema art. At the same time, V.E. Baskakov (unlike K.E. Razlogov, who doubted the use of critical genre of essays in order to study the theoretical aspects of cinematography) proved his position and gave reasons for that on the expediency of using the essay, taking into account one condition: it is important to adhere to the main principle, the essay should “show the public essence of what is the subject of consideration” (Baskakov, 1976: 84). According to the film expert’s opinion, “superficial 523 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) essayism”, i.e. a descriptive approach to the phenomena of Western cinema, was often found in the Soviet works on the subject of cinema art of foreign countries, and this kind of process, according to the film expert’s point of view, had a disorienting effect on audiences and created conditions for replacing serious research with a kind of “fiction” (Baskakov, 1976: 84). According to V.E. Baskakov’s opinion, there were very few publications devoted to the study of the creative works of Western masters of cinema, their art criticism and journalistic performances reflecting the main historical stages of the development of cinematography in the research understanding of foreign cinematography in the Soviet film studies of the 1970-s. In this context V.E. Baskakov noted that “serious and thorough works capable of penetrating into the ideological and artistic essence of the subject are extremely necessary; we are noticeably lacking such studies now” (Baskakov, 1976: 84). The above-mentioned problematic issues of the theoretical fundamental field during the analysis of foreign cinematography, according to V.E. Baskakov’s opinion, could be solved only by forming a conscious orientation among the Soviet film experts to the development of the MarxistLeninist theory of cinema. Here the film expert argued that “based on the famous statement of V.I. Lenin about the role of cinema, the classical works of S. Eisenstein, V. Pudovkin, A. Dovzhenko, B. Balash, the works of other Soviet theorists and foreign film experts of progressive orientation have been repeatedly and comprehensively tested on practice. The principles approved in them are developed in the best works of Soviet multinational cinematography, in the cinematography of other socialist countries, in search of film makers of the capitalist world who stand on the positions of realism and humanism” (Baskakov, 1979: 90). Considering the process of cinematography development, V.E. Baskakov reasonably noted that it is the socio-political situation that determines certain changes in the nature and forms of cinematography, films act as a mirror for social and political processes, “cinema subtly and sensitively reflects the processes taking place in the social sphere…, in the cinema material one can clearly trace the fusion of traditional bourgeois myths with the new ones, left-wing extremistic” (Baskakov, 1975: 91). In addition, V.E. Baskakov reasonably believed that the relationship between the world history in general and the history of cinema in the focus of defining the boundaries of film science was clearly reflected in the importance of studying the sociological segment of cinematography, and “we set ourselves the task of creating an ideological history of world cinema to show the formation of progressive Western art, the struggle of humanistic and anti-humanistic trends, the more favorable influence of Soviet cinematography on the processes of world cinema development” (Baskakov, 1975: 92). Taking into account the socio-cultural situation, the trends in the cinematography development in the 1970-s related to the social and political processes taking place in the world, there was a need for the emergence of film productions of a new format in the USSR, an alternative to the bourgeois cinema. In this context V.E. Baskakov emphasized that “today it is impossible to consider the phenomenon of the Soviet cinema, the phenomenon of the cinema of the entire socialist community outside of its real connections with the world cinematographic process. Just as socialism today affects the entire world development, so the cinema of socialism, its ideological and artistic potential, affects the world cinema – both directly and indirectly… It is quite obvious that many artists are painfully and inconsistently looking for an alternative to the bourgeois art; the fact that it has reached a dead end, for the most part, they feel quite acutely now” (Baskakov, 1976: 84). Ideologically grounded V.E. Baskakov’s point of view in the framework of this topic is presented in his other article – “Tasks and prospects for the development of Soviet cinema science” (1975), in which he insisted on the need to create film productions reflecting the communist ideals and values, denoting the main meaning and significance of such pictures of socialist cinema art in the possibility to enter “into an acute struggle with petty-bourgeois private property layers in people’s minds, spreading the historical significance of the birth of a new person fighting for the socialist way of life and thinking of the Soviet people” (Baskakov, 1975: 90). According to the author’s deep conviction, only such films had the ability to form Marxist-Leninist worldview among the various segments of the population aimed at acute ideological struggle with other people’s ideological influences. It is obvious that, relying on the attitudes and canons of the Marxist-Leninist ideology prevailing in the USSR, V.E. Baskakov in his theoretical works tried to focus attention on the 524 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) importance of using the potential of the established ideological position in the development of film studies as a science, at that, he clearly indicated that “cinema is a powerful force actively participating in the harmonious development of ideological, moral and cultural enrichment of the individual, in the communist education of the masses. At the same time, the cinema, being in the hands of monopolistic capital and its ideological apparatus, deforms people’s consciousness. It is this feature of screen art that determines the importance of cinema in the modern ideological struggle” (Baskakov, 1975: 101). According to V.E. Baskakov’s opinion, in the period of communism construction the cinema had a huge ideological force, and the use of this powerful weapon in the interests of the party and society was the main task. The film expert believed that only careful analysis and critical reflection would help to improve the film industry and make it a powerful tool for shaping the ideology and values of the communist system. It is the active support and development of cinematography with a focus on the communist ideals and principles that will create a strong and influential means of cultural propaganda and education of the masses. V.E. Baskakov argued that “we must study the cinematic process in all its manifestations deeply, from the Marxist-Leninist positions, and then help to improve it” (Baskakov, 1975: 90). Analyzing V.E. Baskakov’s film studies of the Soviet period, it is impossible to ignore the position put forward by the film expert regarding the outline of significant problems in the development of the Soviet cinema in the 1970s. The most critical among them are the following: - issues related to the mass character of cinema and its ideological aspects. Cinema is a powerful means of mass communication, and it is necessary to analyze carefully its impact on the society and culture; - politicization of the world cinema. Cinema has always been and remains a reflection of political, social and cultural processes. It is necessary to study deeply and comprehensively how political motives and influences are reflected in the cinema, and how this affects the worldview of the audience; - evaluation of the “new” theories of cinema put forward in the West by the film experts with a left-radical orientation; - development of a complex of the most complicated issues related to the Soviet directing school, the school of cinematography, the acting school, the inventive solution of the film, etc., the lack of serious scientific works covering these issues (Baskakov, 1975). In the article “Cinema Art of Socialistic Realism and Falsification of Sovietologists” V.E. Baskakov showed special interest in the issue of artistic and ideological specifics of the Soviet cinema in the unity of new forms and content of the socialist revolution; to the study by foreign cinematographers of the structural and content segment of works inseparably associated with the reflection of the USSR historical path, socialistic construction. Here the author very reasonably indicated that “progressive foreign cinematographers… clearly saw the fundamental difference between the aesthetics of revolutionary Soviet cinema and bourgeois aesthetics. This position is typical for the authors of the first books about the Soviet cinema – Leon Mussinak, Georges Sadoul, Jay Leida, for the theoretical works of Umberto Barbaro, Jean Lods… All these critics and film theorists understood perfectly well that they were promoting not only a certain new aesthetic value, although each of them, as a professional, was well aware of how great the contribution of Soviet cinematographers to the structure of cinema, to the formation of its language was. But they understood that they were dealing with completely new, different art…” (Baskakov, 1977: 40). Discussing the patterns of the Soviet cinema interpretation by the bourgeois theory, V.E. Baskakov identified and justified their features and trends for the period of the 1970s. Criticizing the positions of bourgeois critics and film theorists, V.E. Baskakov argued that they are “in direct connection with the demands of bourgeois propaganda relentlessly glorifying the “values” of bourgeois culture and constantly putting forward new and new anti-communist myths” (Baskakov, 1977: 41). In this context, V.E. Baskakov drew the attention of Cinema Art journal readers to the fact that the works of Western film experts distorted or falsified the essence of the Soviet cinema art, there was no real correlation with the events taking place in the USSR and the world, the historical aspect, the most important differences between the Soviet aesthetics of the revolutionary cinema art and the bourgeois cinema were not reflected. According to V.E. Baskakov’s opinion, this kind of process is “an attempt to isolate the revolutionary form of the works of the Soviet cinema art founders from the revolutionary content 525 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) expressed in them, as if to “aestheticize” their creativity. The strategy of such bourgeois theorists... is to break the ties that unite the creativity works of Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Dovzhenko, Vertov with the socialist culture of the 20s – 30s and today in order to eliminate the class political content from their art, to present their films as just a partial experiment in the field of cinema” (Baskakov, 1977: 41); “ignoring the entire periods of the Soviet cinema development, often exceptionally productive” (Baskakov, 1977: 41). In this regard, continuing his reflections about the interpretation of the Soviet cinema art by the bourgeois film studies, V.E. Baskakov identified two basic trends, the semantic content of which was as follows: the first trend was all sorts of “confused, pseudoscientific, “aesthetic” reasoning detached from the context of the Soviet society life, the second was tendentious assumptions in the spirit of reactionary bourgeois propaganda” (Baskakov, 1977: 41). At the same time, V.E. Baskakov evidently noted that Western screen “largely accumulates those ideological phenomena that are typical of the bourgeois ideology as a whole: extreme forms of anti-communism, myths tested by the propaganda apparatus about the inexhaustible possibilities of “consolidated” society, traditional and new philosophical idealistic trends (existentialism, Freudianism, neo-Freudianism), and also left-wing extremist and Machism trends…” (Baskakov, 1977: 41). In many of his theoretical articles of different years V.E. Baskakov (Baskakov, 1975; Baskakov, 1976; Baskakov, 1977) turned to the analysis of the cinematic heritage of the recognized Soviet film directors S. Eisenstein, A. Dovzhenko, V. Pudovkin, L. Kuleshov and others. According to V.E. Baskakov’s opinion, “this is a huge historical and theoretical wealth, representing a very interesting legacy…” (Baskakov, 1975: 92). Thus, the subject of theoretical scientific research of the film expert V.E. Baskakov throughout his professional career includes a very wide cinematic landscape. The basic conceptual foundation of V.E. Baskakov’s scientific research was a multifaceted analysis of methodological problems in film studies. The theoretical works of the film expert disclose the topics related to the state and development of the Western cinema, the specifics of its study in the context of ideological and political, as well as social dogmas of the Soviet period; the problems of Soviet cinematography, genre originality of expressive means; the importance of studying the history of world cinema in the focus of creating a film production; the analysis of the creativity of film makers; the relationship with history and national culture in the process of creating film productions; the development of theories of Soviet and foreign cinema that influence the film artists (Baskakov, 1975; Baskakov, 1976; Baskakov, 1977; Baskakov, 1979; Baskakov, 1981; Baskakov, 1982). The semantic content of the texts of V.E. Baskakov’s theoretical works indicates that he was one of the ideologically typical researchers in the field of film studies, the results of whose scientific studies make it possible to understand the Marxist approaches to the methodological aspects of the cinematography analysis and its role in the culture. 5. Conclusion As a result of the content analysis of V.E. Baskakov’s film study positions presented in his theoretical articles in Cinema Art journal several conclusions can be drawn: - in his theoretical articles, V.E. Baskakov paid special attention to the study of the main approaches and methods of film analysis, trying to trace their modification in the context of political, social, cultural construct. The position of the film expert clearly reflected the desire to study the degree of modification in perception and interpretation of the cinematic art in various historical epochs and the impact of these processes on the film studies development. This issue was raised especially acutely during the periods of significant social and cultural changes and transformations in the USSR, when cinema played an important role in shaping public opinion and ideology. V.E. Baskakov carefully studied the Soviet period identifying the peculiarities of approaches to the cinematography analysis, engaged in comparative analysis of the film studies methodology in our country and abroad, which contributed to the identification of film studies trends and peculiarities of the film studies development and applied approaches to the cinematography study in different cultural contexts; - V.E. Baskakov’s theoretical approaches focused more on the analysis of the Soviet cinematographic methodology problems, genre specifics and expressive means in the framework of the cinema phenomena study; 526 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) - a number of V.E. Baskakov’s articles trace the problems associated with the study of the most important phenomena of the history and theory of foreign film studies. In these works, special emphasis is placed on the study of: specialized theories based on the application of private techniques in film studies borrowed from psychology, philosophy and sociology; attempts to combine approaches and methods within one film theory originally developed within the framework of various concepts; the contribution of Marxist researchers who turned to the analysis of foreign cinema problems; - in the works of V.E. Baskakov, there is a clear tendency to reflect the ideology of the ruling Communist party. The author has repeatedly referred to the ideological dogmas and resolutions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR in his publications, focusing on the analysis of the semantic content of official documents and the degree of cinematography development according to the dominant party positions. Using the ideological directives, the film expert analyzed how the film productions corresponded to the tasks and goals put forward by the government. Strongly marked ideological component, which was typical for the Soviet era, was traced in the texts of film studies articles of that period. The author actively used the ideological aspects for the analysis and interpretation of cinematography, which allowed him to fit the cinema art into the framework of communist values and tasks. - the main research direction focused on the study of the interrelationships and the influence of political and socio-cultural transformations on the cinema development is traced in the theoretical works of V.E. Baskakov. The author devotes his studies to the analysis of correlations between the historical processes and the cinematography development. V.E. Baskakov approached the study of this topic comprehensively, studying not only the internal manifestations of cinematography, but also its relation to social phenomena and ideology. - V.E. Baskakov’s theoretical works are distinguished by strongly marked ideological analysis of historical events and trends that shaped the Soviet cinema in different time periods, and reflection of certain cinema phenomena in the scientific works of the Soviet film experts and cinematographers-practitioners. - one of the important topics in V.E. Baskakov’s theoretical publications was the definition of the problematic field of the Soviet film studies. It was about the need for profound analysis of the social, political and cultural processes impact on the worldview of various segments of the population; about the study of the cinema influence degree on the development of the society and culture; about the importance of analyzing the foreign and Soviet cinema theories; about expanding the range and number of publications devoted to the study of the creative works of Western masters of cinema, the history and theory of the cinema development; about the distortion of the Soviet cinema art essence in the foreign film studies. 6. Acknowledgment This research was funded by the grant of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF, project No. 22-28-00317) at Rostov State University of Economics. Project theme: “Evolution of theoretical film studies concepts in the Cinema Art journal (1931-2021)”. References Alakshin, 2014 – Alakshin, A. (2014). Osobennosti redakcionnoj politiki v zhurnalah o kino: sravnitel'nyj analiz (na primere zhurnalov “Seans” i “Iskusstvo kino”) [Features of editorial policy in magazines about cinema: comparative analysis (on the example of the magazines Séance and Cinema Art]. Znak. 2(14): 33-35. [in Russian] Andrew, 1976 – Andrew, J.D. (1976). The Major Film Theories: An Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press. 288 р. Andrew, 1984 – Andrew, J.D. (1984). Concepts in Film Theory. New York: Oxford University Press. 254 р. Anosova, 1961 – Anosova, N. (1961). Nekotoryye problem sovremennogo kino I zhurnal “Sinema” [Some problems of modern cinema and the Cinema magazine]. Iskusstvo kino. 10: 116-125. [in Russian] Aristarco, 1951 – Aristarco, G. (1951). Storia delle teoriche del film. Torino. Einaudi. 165 p. Badalov, 2011 – Badalov, R. (2011). Chto nam “Iskusstvo kino”? [What is the Cinema Art to us?]. Iskusstvo kino. 4: 133-137. [in Russian] 527 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Baskakov, 1975 – Baskakov, V. (1975). V labirintakh elitarnoy i massovoy kul’tury [In the labyrinths of elite and popular culture]. Iskusstvo kino. 4: 101-115. [in Russian] Baskakov, 1975 – Baskakov, V. (1975). Zadachi i perspektivy razvitiya sovetskoy nauki o kino. [Tasks and prospects for the development of Soviet film science]. Iskusstvo kino. 3: 89-94. [in Russian] Baskakov, 1976 – Baskakov, V. (1976). Metodologicheskiye problemy sovetskogo kinovedeniya. [Methodological problems of Soviet film studies]. Iskusstvo kino. 12: 84-88. [in Russian] Baskakov, 1977 – Baskakov, V. (1977). Kinoiskusstvo sotsialisticheskogo realizma i fal’sifikatsii “sovetologov”. [Cinema art of socialist realism and falsification of “Sovietologists”]. Iskusstvo kino. 11: 38-52. [in Russian] Baskakov, 1979 – Baskakov, V. (1979). Nisprovergateli realizma. Mify burzhuaznogo kinovedeniya. [Detractors of realism. Myths of bourgeois film studies]. Iskusstvo kino. 9: 71-90. [in Russian] Baskakov, 1981 – Baskakov, V. (1981). Massovost’, narodnost’. K metodologii izucheniya sovremennogo kinoprotsessa. [Mass, nationality. On the methodology of studying the modern filmmaking process]. Iskusstvo kino. 3: 60-69. [in Russian] Baskakov, 1982 – Baskakov, V. (1982). Kinovedeniye – sversheniya i poiski. [Film studies – accomplishments and searches]. Iskusstvo kino. 2: 26-45. [in Russian] Bazin, 1971 – Bazin, A. (1971). What is Cinema? Berkeley, University of California Press. Bergan, 2006 – Bergan, R. (2006). Film. New York, DK Pub. 512 р. Bogomolov, 2001 – Bogomolov, Y. (2001). My byli umnee zhurnala, chto nepravil'no [We were smarter than the journal, which is wrong]. Iskusstvo kino. 2: 5-7. [in Russian] Branigan, Buckland, 2015 – Branigan, E., Buckland W. (eds.). (2015). The Routledge Encyclopedia of Film Theory. Routledge. 654 р. Bykov, 2001 – Bykov, D. (2001). 90-e. Sady skorpiona [1990s. Gardens of the Scorpion]. Iskusstvo kino. 1: 40-43. [in Russian] Casetti, 1999 – Casetti, F. (1999). Theories of Cinema, 1945–1990. Austin, University of Texas Press. 368 р. Dobrenko, 2008 – Dobrenko, E. (2008). Muzej revolyucii. Sovetskoe kino I stalinskij istoricheskij narrativ [Museum of the Revolution. Soviet cinema and Stalin's historical narrative]. Moscow. [in Russian] Fedorov, 2015 – Fedorov, A. (2015). Russia in the mirror of the Western screen. Moscow. Fedorov, 2016a – Fedorov, A. (2016). Soviet cinema in the mirror of film criticism. Moscow. Fedorov, 2016b – Fedorov, A. (2016). Western World in the Soviet and Russian Screen: From Epoch of Ideological Confrontation (1946-1991) to Modern Time (1992-2016). Moscow. Fedorov, 2017a – Fedorov, A. (2017). Reflections: West about Russia / Russia about West. Film images of people and countries. Moscow. Fedorov, 2017b – Fedorov, A. (2017). The Western World in Soviet and Russian Cinema (1946–2016). Russian Education & Society. 59(7-9): 319-464. Fedorov, 2022 – Fedorov, A. (2022). Theoretical Concepts of Film Studies in the Cinema Art Journal During the Perestroika Era: 1986−1991. Media Education. 2022. 18(4): 574-599. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13187/me.2022.4.574 Fedorov, 2023a– Fedorov, A. (2023). Foreign leaders of Soviet film distribution: selected collection. Moscow. Fedorov, 2023b – Fedorov, A. (2023). France and the French people on the Soviet and Russian screens. Moscow. Fedorov, 2023c – Fedorov, A. (2023). Statistical data on the attendance of Soviet films: 19501990. Moscow. Fedorov, 2023d – Fedorov, A. (2023). Theoretical Concepts of Film Studies in Cinema Art Journal: 1969-1985. International Journal of Media and Information Literacy. 8(1): 14-60. DOI: 10.13187/ijmil.2023.1.14. Fedorov, Kornienko, 2023 – Fedorov, А., Kornienko Е. (2023). The Ideological Topic in the Magazine Soviet Screen: 1957–1968 (Western Cinema Aspect). European Researcher. Series A. 14(1): 25-30. DOI: 10.13187/er.2023.1.25 Fedorov, Levitskaya, 2022a – Fedorov, A., Levitskaya, A. (2022). Theoretical concepts of film studies in the Cinema Art journal in the first decade (1931-1941) of Its Existence. Media 528 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Education. 18(2): 169-220. DOI: 10.13187/me.2022.2.169 Fedorov, Levitskaya, 2022b – Fedorov, A., Levitskaya, A. (2022). Theoretical concepts of film studies in Cinema Art journal: 1945–1955. International Journal of Media and Information Literacy. 7(1): 71-109. DOI: 10.13187/ijmil.2022.1.71 Fedorov, Levitskaya, 2022c – Fedorov, A., Levitskaya, A. (2022). Theoretical Concepts of Film Studies in Cinema Art Journal in the First Post-Soviet Years: 1992–2000. International Journal of Media and Information Literacy. 2022. 7(2): 355-397. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13187/ ijmil.2022.2.355 Fedorov, Levitskaya, 2023a – Fedorov A., Levitskaya, A. (2023). Evolution of theoretical film studies concepts in the Cinema Art journal (1931-2021). Moscow. Fedorov, Levitskaya, 2023b – Fedorov A., Levitskaya, A. (2023). Western Cinematography on the Pages of the Soviet Screen Magazine of 1925−1927. Media Education. 2023. 19(1): 71-96. DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.1.71 Fedorov, Levitskaya, 2023c – Fedorov, A. Levitskaya, A. (2023). Western Cinema on the Pages of the Magazine Soviet Screen: 1957-1968. Media Education. 2023. 19(2): 212-269. DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.2.212. Fedorov et al., 2019a – Fedorov, A.V., Levitskaya, A.A., Chelysheva, I.V., Gorbatkova, O.I., Mikhaleva, G.V., Seliverstova, L.N. (2019). School and university in the mirror of American, British, French, German and Russian movies. Moscow. Fedorov et al., 2019b – Fedorov, A.V., Levitskaya, A.A., Gorbatkova, O.I. (2019). School and university in the mirror of Soviet and Russian cinema. Moscow. Fedorov et al., 2023a – Fedorov, A., Camarero, E, Levitskaya, A. (2023). Theoretical Concepts of Film Studies in Cinema Art Journal: XXI Century. Media Education. 19(3): 353-403. DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.3.353 Fedorov et al., 2023b – Fedorov, A., Levitskaya, A., Gorbatkova, O. (2023). Evolyuciya teoreticheskih kinovedcheskih koncepcij v zhurnale “Iskusstvo kino”: 1931-2021 [Evolution of theoretical film studies concepts in the Cinema Art journal (1931-2021)]. Moscow. [in Russian]. Gibson et al., 2000 – Gibson, P.C., Dyer, R., Kaplan, E.A., Willemen P. (eds.) (2000). Film Studies: Critical Approaches. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 148 р. Gorbatkova, 2022 – Gorbatkova, O. (2022). Teoreticheskie stat'i kinoveda R.N. Ureneva (1909-2003) v zhurnale “Iskusstvo kino” [Theoretical articles of film expert R.N. Yurenev (19122022) in the Cinema Art journal]. Crede Experto. 4. [in Russian] Gorbatkova, 2023a – Gorbatkova, O. (2023). Teoreticheskie stat'i kinoveda I.V. Vajsfel'da (1909-2003) v zhurnale “Iskusstvo kino” [Theoretical articles of film expert I.V. Weisfeld (19092003) in the Cinema Art journal. Crede Experto. 2. [in Russian] Gorbatkova, 2023b – Gorbatkova, O. (2023). Theoretical Articles by Film Critic Leonid Kozlov (1933−2006) in the Cinema Art Journal. Media Education. 19(1): 24-33. DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.1.24 Gorbatkova, 2023c – Gorbatkova, O. (2023). Theoretical Articles by Film Critic Semyon Freilich in the Cinema Art journal. Media Education. 19(2): 270-280. DOI: 10.13187/me. 2023.2.270 Gorbatkova, 2023d – Gorbatkova, O. (2023). Theoretical Articles of Film Expert K.E. Razlogov in the Cinema Art Journal. Media Education. 19(3): 404-412. DOI: 10.13187/me. 2023.3.404 Jesuitov, 1958 – Jesuitov, N. (1958). Kinoiskusstvo dorevolyucionnoj Rossii [Cinema art of pre-revolutionary Russia]. Voprosy kinoiskusstva. 2: 252-307. [in Russian] Kenez, 1992 – Kenez, P. (1992). Cinema and Soviet Society, 1917-1953. Cambridge, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press. 291 p. Komarov, 2000 – Komarov, S. (2000). Zhizn dlinnoyu v vek [Life is long in a century]. Moscow. [in Russian] Kornienko, Novikov, 2023 – Kornienko, E., Novikov, A. (2023). Western Cinematography on the Pages of the Soviet Cinema Screen Magazine: 1939-1941. Media Education. 19(2): 281-289. DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.2.281. Lebedev, 1974 – Lebedev, N. (1974). Vnimaniye: kinematograf! [Attention: cinematography!]. Moscow [in Russian] Levin, 1967 – Levin, E. (1967). V zashchitu syuzheta [In defense of the plot]. Iskusstvo kino: 33-42. [in Russian] 529 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Levitskaya, 2022 – Levitskaya, A. (2022). Theoretical concepts of film studies in Cinema Art journal: 1956-1968. Media Education. 18(3): 390-438. DOI: 10.13187/me.2022.3.390. Levitskaya, 2023 – Levitskaya, A. (2023). Film Studies Discussions in Cinema Art Journal: 1969–1985. European Researcher. Series A. 14(1): 31-46. DOI: 10.13187/er.2023.1.31 Levitskaya at al., 2023 – Levitskaya, A., Kornienko, E. Novikov, A. (2023). Western Cinematography on the Pages of the Soviet Screen Magazine: 1928-1930. International Journal of Media and Information Literacy. 8(1): 122-144. DOI: 10.13187/ijmil.2023.1.122. Livingston, 2009 – Livingston, P. (2009). Cinema, Philosophy, Bergman: on film as philosophy. OUP Oxford. 215 p. Margolit, 2001 – Margolit, E. (2001). 60-e. Vospominaniya o pochtovom yashchike na vorotah [60th. Memories of the mailbox on the gate]. Iskusstvo kino. 1: 26-30. [in Russian] McIver, 2016 – McIver, G. (2016). Art History for Filmmakers. Bloomsbury Publishing. 256 p. Medvedev, 2011 – Medvedev, A. (2011). Zhurnal ne daval sovetskomu kino rasslabit'sya [The journal did not let Soviet cinema relax]. Iskusstvo kino. 4: 106-112. [in Russian] Novikov, 2023 – Novikov, A. (2013). Media Sociology Theoretical Concepts in the Cinema Art Journal: XXI Century. Media Education. 19(1): 107-138. DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.1.107 Plantinga, 1993 – Plantinga, C. (1993). Film theory and aesthetics: notes on a schism. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. 51(3): 445-454. DOI: 10.2307/431516 Ryabchikova, 2014 – Ryabchikova, N. (2014). Pervye gody sovetskogo kino I problem istoriografii [The first years of Soviet cinema and problems of historiography]. Humanities, socioeconomic and social sciences. 9: 173-175. [in Russian] Shlapentokh, 1993 – Shlapentokh, D. and V. (1993). Soviet Cinematography 1918-1991: Ideological Conflict and Social Reality. N.Y.: Aldine de Gruyter. 293 p. Stam, 2000 – Stam, R. (2000). Film Theory: An Introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 381 p. Villarejo, 2007 – Villarejo, A. (2007). Film Studies: The Basics. London: Routledge. 182 p. Woll, 2000 – Woll, J. (2000). Real Images. Soviet Cinema and the Thaw. London. New York: I.B. Tauris. 267 p. 530 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Copyright © 2023 by Cherkas Global University Published in the USA Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie) Issued since 2005. ISSN 1994-4160 E-ISSN 1994-4195 2023. 19(4): 531-538 DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.4.531 https://me.cherkasgu.press Exploring the Relationship Between Social Media Use and Health Information-seeking Behaviour During COVID-19 Among Chinese Students Li Jianmo a , *, Hamedi M. Adnan a, Fadli Abdullah a a University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Abstract This study uses semi-structured interviews to gain insight into Chinese university students’ perceptions of media exposure, social media perceptions and media trust during the Covid-19 pandemic. While most past studies have focused on quantitative research, this study attempts to analyse it from a qualitative perspective. The study found that during the covid-19 epidemic, Chinese university students mainly relied on social media and official government news media. The complementary nature of the media channels could meet their primary cognitive information needs, Social media bridges the gap between interpersonal and group communication on a virtual level, but this still does not fill the gap in the comprehensiveness of health-related knowledge. Meantime there were also problems with information overload and information anxiety. This study used the technology acceptance model (TAM) model for social media health information seeking. Chinese university students mainly focus on the reliability of information and social support; they also evaluate the authenticity of the news in relation to the source and content of the information. Chinese university students have a high degree of professionalism and dependability on news media practitioners. The majority of respondents were not satisfied with the existence of online health information access platforms. Keywords: Covid-19, health information seeking, social media, reliability information, health literacy. 1. Introduction Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) refers to pneumonia caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus infection (Rothan, Byrareddy, 2020). The cumulative positive cases worldwide are now over 600 million, and there is still no effective treatment other than a vaccine. With the development of online technology, social media has become one of the most important means of accessing relevant information, expressing public opinion and sharing information during a public health issue (Stellefson et al., 2021). The various types of interactive information on social media are also a reflection of real society. In addition to epidemics, inappropriate dissemination of information can also be harmful to individuals and society. Research has been conducted in several countries on the use of different social media platforms for COVID-19 disease surveillance and prediction, access to information and health services, and reflection of public opinion (Cinelli et al., 2020; Davalbhakta et al., 2020). In fact, misinformation about COVID-19 is wildly passed around social media and the internet, which fundamentally distorts people’s perception of the risk of the virus (Vander et al., 2020). The information epidemic has attracted more attention. Corresponding author E-mail addresses: [email protected] (L. Jianmo) * 531 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Health Information Seeking Behaviour (HISB) is defined as “the process by which users seek and receive information or materials to reduce uncertainty about their health status (Cotton, Gupta, 2004). Health information-seeking behaviour is the behaviour of users in the process of acquiring, clarifying and confirming health-related knowledge or information at specific events (Beaudoin, Hong, 2011). During Covid-19, health information-seeking behaviours were of global concern. Eight out of ten people in the United States use the internet to find health-related information in their daily lives (Fox, 2011). Both the relative internet search volumes (RSV) and the social media search index (SMSI) are information generated by users’ search behaviour, which reflects the public interest in a topic and can be used to analyse and predict the characteristics of an epidemic in its early stages (Abdekhoda et al., 2022; Bhagavathula et al., 2020). In the above description of the research context, we can find that both theoretical and empirical studies have proven that social media use has an impact on health behaviour. But how does media use affect health behaviours? What factors influence health information-seeking behaviour? How do these factors influence users’ health information-seeking behaviour? What is the relationship between the two? Especially for the covid-19 outbreak. Based on this, this study was guided by interpersonal behavioural theory and a qualitative interview to explore the impact of social media use and health information-seeking behaviour among Chinese university students. What are their perceptions of social media as a platform for health information seeking (related to Covid-19)? a. Credibility, trustworthiness, validity, reliability of the information. b. Availability, accessibility of the information. 2. Materials and methods This article draws on online semi-structured interviews and uses the NVivo qualitative research tool. The interviewees were 15 university students from the Beijing University of Technology. The author will send the information on recruiting research volunteers on the Weibo homepage and WeChat homepage of the Beijing University of Technology. A snowballing approach was mainly used to recruit interviewees. The interview questions, for example, “Would you like to get your health information from the internet? Why?” “What concerns do you have about seeking health information online?” etc. The semi-structured questions place no restrictions on the user’s responses, ensuring that the theoretical points encoded in the interview text are as comprehensive as possible. To obtain the basis of respondents’ ideas about seeking online health information. NVivo’s text encoding is based on Grounded theory and divided into open, spindle, and selective coding. 3. Discussion In the early years of the covid-19 epidemic around the world, including in China, Europe, and the United States, as reflected in the Google Trends (Walker et al., 2020), Baidu Index and Sina Weibo Index, shows a significant lagging correlation with the daily number of confirmed and suspected cases (Li et al., 2020). This correlation peaked between 6 and 14 days (Yin et al., 2021). A model built for the behavioural characteristics of Sina Weibo user discussions suggests that public attention to relevant information also increased early in the Covid-19 outbreak (Li et al., 2020) found that Between 23 December 2019 and 30 January 2020, there was a positive correlation between the number of daily positive cases and Sina Weibo in Hubei Province (P < 0.001), as well as a predictive value for the trend of increasing percentage of cases (P < 0.001). However, The study found that although Google Trends showed a significant association with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across Europe in the early stages of the epidemic (Mavragani, Gkillas, 2020), the correlation coefficient decreased in the middle and late stages, and the association was time-limited (Strzelecki, 2020). Social media has become an essential way for people around the world to access information about the Covid-19 epidemic (Hussain, 2020), medical science and health advice. In a survey of 4016 urban and rural residents in Anhui Province, China (Chen Yan et al., 2020) found that online social media such as WeChat and QQ were the main channels through which the majority of residents (97.8 %) obtained information about the epidemic, even they are got how to prevent and control the Covid-19 measures. 532 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) A survey of 559 residents in 23 Egyptian governorates showed that the most important way of acquiring knowledge was through social media (66.9 %) (Abdelhafiz et al., 2020), more than through communication with healthcare professionals (35.4 %) (Talevi et al., 2o2o). It is noted that during the covid-19 period, the Chinese student community relied on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Weibo to obtain information. It is of interest to note that, a survey of 453 healthcare workers (HCWs) from around the world, showed that more than half (61 %) of HCWs also use social media to access relevant information (Bhagavathula, 2020). However, the quality of covid-19 related information in social media is of concern (MacKay et al., 2021; Mansoor, 2021; Rocha et al., 2021). A survey of 673 COVID-19 messages on Twitter by found that 24.8 % of the content contained incorrect information (Kouzy et al., 2020). While 17.4 % included unconfirmed information. A survey of the content of Telegram and WhatsApp messages posted by the Iranian Medical Organization found that misinformation can lead to psychosocial effects such as stress and fear of incorrect preventive treatment and even individual health effects (Bastani et al., 2021). 4. Results Demographics Descriptive statistics were conducted to understand the distribution of study participants (Fisher, Marshall, 2009). Simple percentage distributions were estimated to assess social media use, covid-19 health information queries and perceptions of online health information, and healthrelated issues due to the lockdown. All analyses were conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version: 25). Table 1. Charateristics of the study participants (n-15) Characteristics Age of students Frequency(n) Percentage (%) 21 years and below 9 60.0 22 years and above 6 40.0 Sex Female 8 53.33 Male 7 46.67 Social media accounts Less than 3 3 20.0 More than 4 12 80.0 Rural 4 26.67 Urban 11 73.33 Monthly spending Below 2000RMB 2000-4000RMB 2 9 13.33 60.0 Above 4000RMB 4 26.67 Social media using time Less than 2 hours per day 2-4hours per day 0 11 0 73.33 Over 4hours per day 4 26.67 Residential area 533 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Stream of study Arts and social science 6 40.0 Commerce 5 33.33 Science 4 26.67 Open code All the sentences from the interviews were organised to produce a total of over 400 original sentences. To ensure that the nodes coded were as representative as possible of the respondents’ attitudes and opinions, all nodes in the open coding were naturally drawn from the respondents’ original statements. For coding, one researcher selected 11 interview texts for coding, and the remaining four texts were coded by another researcher using a sample coding method to check theoretical saturation. The codes of the two researchers were checked for consistency, some ambiguous codes were adjusted, and nodes with frequencies less than three times were excluded, resulting in a total of 30 free nodes. Some of the high-frequency free nodes are shown in Table 2. Table 2. High-frequency free nodes Nodes Name Reliability of information Information is easily accessible Information Validity Health status during Covid-19 Learning Covid-19 knowledges Disease association Reference Statements Too much disinformation; Health information has not been reviewed The quality of information is a concern; It is not possible to determine what information is credible Fake/false influencer accounts; parents cannot tell the difference between real and fake information. Accessible anytime, anywhere Internet fees are the cheap The mobile phone app is convenient; almost friends have social media accounts; Sharing information is the fastest. Not being able to judge your illness; sometimes was made wrong. Too many rumours Can’t read the information, too many specialised medical words Mixing official and fake accounts; Influencers are misinformation Lockdown made bad emotions; want to find the same status in social media; Mental stress Parents/grandma/grandpa is not good. Hearing some people cannot find doctors; Hospital is full Relying on social media, fowling the official account and theme Learning the relevant knowledge WeChat / Sina Weibo / QQ / Tiktok / Xiaohongshu / Zhihu / Live stream Cannot find useful information When you see symptoms similar to you, you will go to see it; a family member has the illness, lockdown cannot find the doctor Spindle code The 30 free nodes were coded at a secondary level, and the logical relationships between the free nodes were sorted out through deduction and induction, as well as constant comparison, linking the proximate codes together to form a total of seven conceptual genera (Table 3). Table 3. Spindle code No. Main categories 1 Information Self-efficacy Free nodes Self-diagnosis, learning knowledge, cost savings, health status certainty and difficulty in accessing medical care. 534 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) 2 3 4 5 6 7 Information Literacy APP System environment Social influence Habits Information reliability, information accessibility, information validity Information Psychology Intention Information anxiety, herd mentality, Peer pressure Information overload, privacy and security, medical advertising, platform authority, comprehensiveness of information. Data services, social recognition, Political reasons, lockdown during Covid19. High click-through rate and ranking, Familiarity app Self-diagnosis; knowledge learning; health status; cost savings; difficulty in accessing health care. Selective coding The main task of selective coding is to consolidate and condense the conceptual categories, identify the core categories and connect the main concepts by means of a coding paradigm. Table 4. Selective coding Core category External variables Perceived usefulness Category APP System environment; Social influence Information Literacy; Information Self-efficacy Perceived ease of use Behavioural intention Actual system use Habits Intention; Information Psychology Information Self-efficacy 5. Conclusion Perceived ease of use Are university students meeting their health information needs through online access? The first consideration is what results in the act will actually achieve for them and whether it will satisfy their needs. When an information behaviour satisfies the user’s information needs and value expectations, the user will have a positive attitude towards the behaviour, thus prompting the user to perform the information behaviour (Ferrara et al., 2020). The user’s preferred habits refer mainly to the type of information that the user is more receptive to (Fisk et al., 2020). To a certain extent, this type of information can meet users’ expectations of information content, such as users’ expectations of the platform, has been obtained authority of the information is required. When users do not have sufficient expertise to discern the quality of information. They will default to content with high likes and click-through rates of higher quality (Interviewee 7). In addition, users want to be able to access health information to find the right treatment for their condition. Or see a case similar to their condition, which is more convincing and informative for them. All information platforms have certain characteristics, and those that match users’ preferences are more likely to be recognised and favoured by users, motivating them to obtain information from the platform. This is why platforms need to take into account the behavioural attitudes of users in terms of pre-design and resource integration. External variables External variables are mainly manifested as positive or negative pressures and stimuli from the external environment on the health information-seeking behaviour of users (Cuello-Garcia et al., 2020). As natives of the information society, university students are more attentive and sensitive to the external environment (Gálik, 2019; Gáliková Tolnaiová, Gálik, 2020). The first manifestation of this is the pressure the system environment puts on the user experience and the user’s distrust of the platform. For example, information security, whether personal privacy will be compromised, and the problem of bidding rankings on platforms leading to too many medical advertisements thus affecting the authenticity and reliability of the information obtained. 535 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Therefore, the system environment (including the platform’s security settings, the comprehensiveness and authority of the platform’s information, and whether the information is focused on quantity at the expense of quality) will largely influence which platform users choose to access. From the results of the interviews, the majority of respondents were not satisfied with the existence of online health information access platforms. Social media in China already displays IP addresses when you post and reply to the information, meaning that everything we say can be targeted in real-time. (Interviewee 5). Almost all social media, Weibo, WeChat, Xiaohongshu, Tiktok, all require real-name authentication to use and need to upload our ID information. Feelings of privacy being compromised at any time. (Interviewee 3). Behavioural intention Many users report that getting health information from social media makes them feel anxious, especially when some information is contradictory (Bastani et al., 2021). In addition, users are limited by their knowledge structure when filtering information. Making it difficult to establish a better information filtering mechanism. The more information you obtain, the more you feel deprived and the more likely you are to get lost in the sea of information (Interviewee 12). Even deviate from your intended goal of obtaining it, causing your behaviour to get out of control and negatively stimulating your information-seeking behaviour. For example, some respondents indicated that they were reluctant to access online health information because the initial need for information would be overlooked during the access process (interviewee 2). Herd mentality is the tendency for users to be influenced by popular opinion when they cannot distinguish between true and false information that is consistent with their health status. Especially with covid-19, users are more likely to have a herd mentality when browsing information, leading to the spread of rumours. When users become part of the chain of spreading false information, they are no longer in control of their information and have deviated from the purpose of obtaining it in the first place. Suggestions and limitations This paper analyses the main factors that stimulate students’ health information-seeking behaviour, starting from the priming mechanism of information-seeking behaviour. The study’s shortcoming is that the sample size of students needs to be expanded. The follow-up study will expand the sample size to include other age groups. This study only focuses on one university’s students and hardly represents all of the students in China. References Abbas et al., 2021 – Abbas, J., Wang, D., Su, Z., Ziapour, A. (2021). The role of social media in the advent of COVID–19 pandemic: crisis management. mental health challenges and implications. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy. 14: 1917. Abdekhoda et al., 2020 – Abdekhoda, M., Ranjbaran, F., Sattari, A. (2022). Information and information resources in COVID–19: Awareness, control, and prevention. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. 54(3): 363-372. Abdelhafiz et al., 2020 – Abdelhafiz, A.S., Mohammed, Z., Ibrahim, M.E., Ziady, H.H., Alorabi, M., Ayyad, M., Sultan, E. A. (2020). Knowledge, perceptions, and attitude of Egyptians towards the novel coronavirus disease (COVID–19). Journal of Community Health. 45(5): 881-890. Ayyoubzadeh et al., 2020 – Ayyoubzadeh, S.M., Ayyoubzadeh, S.M., Zahedi, H., Ahmadi, M., Kalhori, S.R.N. (2020). Predicting COVID–19 incidence through analysis of google trends data in Iran: data mining and deep learning pilot study. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance. 6(2): e18828. Bastani et al., 2021 – Bastani, P., Hakimzadeh, S.M., Bahrami, M.A. (2021). Designing a conceptual framework for misinformation on social media: A qualitative study on COVID–19. BMC Research Notes. 14(1): 1-6. Bastani, Bahrami, 2020 – Bastani, P., Bahrami, M.A. (2020). COVID–19 related misinformation on social media: a qualitative study from Iran. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 14(1): 45-56. Bhagavathula et al., 2020 – Bhagavathula, A. S., Aldhaleei, W.A., Rahmani, J., Mahabadi, M.A., Bandari, D.K. (2020). Knowledge and perceptions of COVID–19 among health care workers: cross-sectional study. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance. 6(2): e19160. 536 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Cinelli et al., 2o2o – Cinelli, M., Quattrociocchi, W., Galeazzi, A., Valensise, C. M., Brugnoli, E., Schmidt, A. L., Scala, A. (2020). The COVID-19 social media infodemic. Scientific Reports. 10(1): 1-10. Cuello-Garcia et al., 2020 – Cuello-Garcia, C., Pérez-Gaxiola, G., van Amelsvoort, L. (2020). Social media can have an impact on how we manage and investigate the COVID – 19 pandemic. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 127: 198-201. Davalbhakta et al., 2020 – Davalbhakta, S., Advani, S., Kumar, S., Agarwal, V., Bhoyar, S., Fedirko, E., Agarwal, V. (2020). A systematic review of smartphone applications available for corona virus disease 2019 (COVID–19) and the assessment of their quality using the mobile application rating scale (MARS). Journal of Medical Systems. 44(9): 1-15. Diop et al., 2019 – Diop, E.B., Zhao, S., Duy, T.V. (2019). An extension of the technology acceptance model for understanding travelers’ adoption of variable message signs. Plos One. 14(4): e0216007. Ferrara et al., 2020 – Ferrara, E., Cresci, S., Luceri, L. (2020). Misinformation, manipulation, and abuse on social media in the era of COVID–19. Journal of Computational Social Science. 3(2): 271-277. Fish et al., 2020 – Fisk, M., Livingstone, A., Pit, S.W. (2020). Telehealth in the context of COVID–19: changing perspectives in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 22(6): e19264. Fisher, Marshall, 2009 – Fisher, M.J., Marshall, A.P. (2009). Understanding descriptive statistics. Australian Critical Care. 22(2): 93-97. Gálik, 2019 – Gálik, S. (2019). On human identity in cyberspace of digital media. EJTS European Journal of Transformation Studies, 7 (2): 33-44. Gáliková Tolnaiová, Gálik, 2020 – Gáliková Tolnaiová, S., Gálik, S., (2020). Cyberspace as a New Living World and Its Axiological Contexts, In Abu-Taieh, E., Mouatasim, A.E., Al Hadid, I.H. (Eds.). Cyberspace. London: Intech Open: 39-52. Hussain, 2o2o – Hussain, W. (2020). Role of social media in COVID–19 pandemic. The International Journal of Frontier Sciences. 4(2): 59-60. Jakhar et al., 2020 – Jakhar, D.E.E.P.A.K., Kaul, S.U.B.U.H.I., Kaur, I.S.H.M.E.E.T. (2020). WhatsApp messenger as a teledermatology tool during coronavirus disease (COVID–19): from bedside to phone-side. Clinical and Experimental Dermatology. 45(6): 739-740. Khandkar, 2009 – Khandkar, S.H. (2009). Open coding. University of Calgary. Kouzy et al., 2020 – Kouzy, R., Abi Jaoude, J., Kraitem, A., El Alam, M.B., Karam, B., Adib, E., Baddour, K. (2020). Coronavirus goes viral: quantifying the COVID–19 misinformation epidemic on Twitter. Cureus. 12(3). Li et al., 2020 – Li, C., Chen, L.J., Chen, X., Zhang, M., Pang, C.P., Chen, H. (2020). Retrospective analysis of the possibility of predicting the COVID–19 outbreak from Internet searches and social media data, China, 2020. Eurosurveillance. 25(10): 2000199. MacKay et al., 2021 – MacKay, M., Colangeli, T., Gillis, D., McWhirter, J., Papadopoulos, A. (2021). Examining social media crisis communication during early COVID –19 from public health and news media for quality, content, and corresponding public sentiment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 18(15): 7986. Mansoor, 2021 – Mansoor, M. (2021). Citizens’ trust in government as a function of good governance and government agency’s provision of quality information on social media during COVID–19. Government Information Quarterly. 38(4): 101597. Mavragani, Gkillas, 2020 – Mavragani, A., Gkillas, K. (2020). COVID–19 predictability in the United States using Google Trends time series. Scientific Reports. 10(1): 1-12. Montesi, 2021 – Montesi, M. (2021). Understanding fake news during the Covid–19 health crisis from the perspective of information behaviour: The case of Spain. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. 53(3): 454-465. Ni et al., 2020 – Ni, M.Y., Yang, L., Leung, C.M., Li, N., Yao, X.I., Wang, Y., Liao, Q. (2020). Mental health, risk factors, and social media use during the COVID –19 epidemic and cordon sanitaire among the community and health professionals in Wuhan, China: cross-sectional survey. JMIR Mental Health. 7(5): e19009. Obiała et al., 2021 – Obiała, J., Obiała, K., Mańczak, M., Owoc, J., Olszewski, R. (2021). COVID–19 misinformation: accuracy of articles about coronavirus prevention mostly shared on social media. Health Policy and Technology. 10(1): 182-186. 537 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Rocha et al., 2021 – Rocha, Y.M., de Moura, G.A., Desidério, G.A., de Oliveira, C.H., Lourenço, F.D., de Figueiredo Nicolete, L.D. (2021). The impact of fake news on social media and its influence on health during the COVID–19 pandemic: A systematic review. Journal of Public Health. 1-10. Rothan, Byrareddy, 2020 – Rothan, H.A., Byrareddy, S.N. (2020). The epidemiology and pathogenesis of coronavirus disease (COVID–19) outbreak. Journal of Autoimmunity. 109: 102433. Sajjadi et al., 2021 – Sajjadi, N.B., Nowlin, W., Nowlin, R., Wenger, D., Beal, J.M., Vassar, M., Hartwell, M. (2021). United States internet searches for “infertility” following COVID–19 vaccine misinformation. Journal of Osteopathic Medicine. 121(6): 583-587. Stellefson et al., 2020 – Stellefson, M., Paige, S.R., Chaney, B.H., Chaney, J.D. (2020). Evolving role of social media in health promotion: updated responsibilities for health education specialists. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 17(4): 1153. Strzelecki, 2020 – Strzelecki, A. (2020). The second worldwide wave of interest in coronavirus since the COVID–19 outbreaks in South Korea, Italy and Iran: A Google Trends study. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 88: 950. Talevi et al., 2020 – Talevi, D., Socci, V., Carai, M., Carnaghi, G., Faleri, S., Trebbi, E., Pacitti, F. (2020). Mental health outcomes of the COVID–19 pandemic. Rivista di Psichiatria. 55(3): 137-144. Valdez et al., 2020 – Valdez, D., Ten Thij, M., Bathina, K., Rutter, L.A., Bollen, J. (2020). Social media insights into US mental health during the COVID–19 pandemic: Longitudinal analysis of Twitter data. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 22(12): e21418. Van Der et al., 2020 – Van Der Linden, S., Roozenbeek, J., Compton, J. (2020). Inoculating against fake news about COVID–19. Frontiers in Psychology. 11.566790. Vraga et al., 2020 – Vraga, E.K., Tully, M., Bode, L. (2020). Empowering users to respond to misinformation about Covid–19. Media and Communication (Lisboa). 8(2):475-479. Walker et al., 2020 – Walker, A., Hopkins, C., Surda, P. (2020, July). Use of Google Trends to investigate loss-of-smell-related searches during the COVID–19 outbreak. In International Forum of Allergy Rhinology. 10( 7): 839-847. Zheng et al., 2020 – Zheng, Y., Goh, E., Wen, J. (2020). The effects of misleading media reports about COVID–19 on Chinese tourists’ mental health: a perspective article. Anatolia. 31(2): 337-340. Zughni et al., 2020 – Zughni, L.A., Gillespie, A. I., Hatcher, J.L., Rubin, A.D., Giliberto, J.P. (2020). Telemedicine and the interdisciplinary clinic model: during the COVID–19 pandemic and beyond. Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. 163(4): 673-675. 538 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Copyright © 2023 by Cherkas Global University Published in the USA Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie) Issued since 2005. ISSN 1994-4160 E-ISSN 1994-4195 2023. 19(4): 539-548 DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.4.539 https://me.cherkasgu.press Expert Media Content in the Media and Educational Practices Tatyana Kaminskaya a, Oksana Erokhina a , * a Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Russian Federation Abstract Expert media content in conditions of instability is becoming more in demand. An important factor stimulating the active interaction of journalists and experts was a significant decrease in the level of public confidence in the media on the background of information overload. The relevance of this article is due to the widespread practice of the media to attract experts, and its research task is to describe the options for obtaining and using expert media content and based on the criterion of its use to propose a typology of modern media projects. Expert media content is socially significant content in demand by target audience of a media resource, having an educational orientation, received by the media from specialists. The need for socio-political media to receive expert comments in the shortest possible time while maintaining high quality content actualizes the use of specialized digital platforms. Mass media are characterized by the difference in the place of expert content related to their specifics. Informationcentric media use expert commentary as an addition to journalistic content to reflect the current socio-political agenda. The expert-centric ones build the entire media project on expert content – these are educational projects, resources of useful tips, media of professional communities. Keywords: media content, expert, digital platforms, journalist, education. 1. Introduction The problem of this study lies in the plane of differentiation of modern media content and showing the place of expert media content in it. This problem is relevant because, according to the observations of the authors of the article, the modern media sphere is constantly becoming more complicated: on the one hand, the audience is involved in the creation of media content, on the other hand, the media tools of professional journalists using various robotic resources are expanding. The word expert is extremely frequent in Russian-speaking both socio-political mass communication and in lifestyle media and, as a rule, is associated with their educational and explanatory function. The problem of attracting experts to the media is determined by the mission of journalism to intellectualize society, which has been studied in the scientific literature (Vladimirova et al., 2020). At the same time, experts also have an educational mission: it is noted that "expert knowledge is not only knowledge and skills, but also the social role of those who possess them" (Hetmański, 2018: 11). The origin of the word is connected with the French word "expertus" – "experienced" (Shvedova, 2011). There is no interpretation of the words "media expert" or "expert for media", as well as "expert media content" in modern dictionaries. Meanwhile, the practice of attracting experts to the media as commentators and authors is expanding and needs scientific understanding and inclusion in a broad media discourse. Corresponding author E-mail addresses: [email protected] (T.L. Kaminskaya), [email protected] (O.V. Erokhina) * 539 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) 2. Materials and methods At the first stage, the authors of the article conducted a content analysis of various media projects with an audience of more than 500 thousand subscribers. First of all, these are sociopolitical federal media that widely use expert content. In our case, search queries for content analysis were carried out on the websites of publications by the keyword expert, and the resulting media texts were analyzed for the genre of publications, the use of expert statements as an information guide and the subject of publications. Thematic, specialized popular media projects officially registered as mass media, almost entirely consisting of expert content (such as Arzamas, Mel, Lifehacker) were also analyzed. The selected specialized media projects are different in terms of target audience, thematic focus and editorial policy. However, what they have in common is a constant increase in the audience over the past five years, positioning itself precisely as a media, as well as the focus of editorial policy on audience participation in content creation. At the second stage, 7 expert interviews were conducted with journalists and media editors, as well as with the manager of the Pressfeed expert platform to identify existing journalistic practices in the search for experts and identify the most widespread and effective of them. The respondents were selected based on the principles of their work experience in officially registered mass media for at least 5 years, the presence of a higher journalistic education/scientific degree, as well as their professional involvement in the current news agenda; at the same time, respondents work in the media at various levels (federal, regional). Thus, the interviewees were: A. Gavycheva, editor-in-chief of the Regional Comments portal; O. Larina, editor of the regional news feed Business Petersburg; D. Konzerko-Stolyarov, editor-in-chief of the Most TV channel (Boksitogorsky district of Leningrad region); A. Mikheeva, correspondent of Power (Moscow); A. Chausov, freelancer since 2016, author of numerous texts in the socio-political magazines Vzglyad, PolitRussia, Sensations.No (the first fact-checking media in Russia, registered as a media in 2020), candidate of historical sciences; M. Nikolayev, correspondent of Novaya Novgorodskaya Gazeta (Veliky Novgorod), E. Grebe, correspondent of the radio broadcasting service of VGTRK GTRK Slavia (Veliky Novgorod), as well as S. Syrov, head of the Pressfeed support department. In parallel with these methods, the authors of the article, as experts, gave comments to the leading media resources of the country both through personal contacts with journalists and on digital platforms. The latter circumstance made it possible to carry out research self-reflection on the relevance and quality of their own expert media content. Additional verification of the conclusions was provided by the Pressfeed journalism query service platform, which kindly provided statistics on experts registered on it and a set of case studies-responses from federal media journalists about the use of the platform. 3. Discussion The analysis of scientific publications on the topic of the article showed that media content is considered mainly within the framework of journalistic authorship, leaving out expert comments and, in general, the role of experts in media communication (Tatlock, 2018). Separately, there are studies of expert knowledge in "scientific journalism" functioning in the space of dialogue between media, educational and research institutions (Tássia et al., 2022). J. Besley, S. Garlick and others have developed a behavioral model used to assess how the attitudes and attitudes of individual scientists affect their communicative activity in the media (Besley et al., 2021). In this case, the close interaction of journalists with representatives of individual industries and the scientific community is also considered as a source of new quality of information content, more authoritative and professional. The approach of M. McCombs (Bell, Mccombs, 1996; Mccombs et al., 2004), according to which the media play a decisive role in determining the news agenda, "highlighting" socially significant topics. In this case, the role of experts is considered indirectly as part of the process of creating a certain "picture of the world" among the audience of various media, while emphasizing the influence of events that are attributed high importance on the attitude of society to the specific mentioned persons. The versatile use of information sources, on the contrary, increases objectivity and forms the basis for education in a democratic society (Knowles et al., 2023). The scientific literature discusses the criteria of professionalism in the media. J. Choi, S. Yang (Choi, Yang, 2021) presents a model of "capturing" the news market, focuses on the peculiarities of the functioning of the media in the digital age. Indirectly touching upon the problem of expert knowledge, the authors note a tendency to decrease the objectivity of the presentation of information in digital media, which is associated with the involvement of interested players in the 540 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) person of both state and non-state structures. In this case, experts are considered primarily as players acting in the interests of one or another party, and not as sources of independent objective opinion (within the framework of the concept of "market capture", it can hardly exist on a scale significant for society). E. Merkley notes that journalists do not approach the choice of expert opinions objectively enough, often focus on sensational information occasions through the analysis of information, there is also a tendency to choose one-sided expert opinions more often, but not to form a multilateral explanation (Merkley, 2020; Rindermann et al., 2020). Continuing this idea, some authors come to the conclusion that the expansion of the circle of people who can act as experts in the media, especially on political issues, leads to a decrease in citizens' confidence in democratic institutions and poses a threat to their effective work (Crease, 2023). The works of J. Jerit and co-authors devoted to the study of the peculiarities of perception of expert media information, which are characteristic of people with different levels of education, deserve attention (Jerit et al., 2009; Jerit, 2006). J. Jerit notes that in order to increase the general level of awareness about key events and processes, primarily political, it is important to provide citizens with information in the most accessible for understanding of the form, taking into account the opportunities of citizens with a low level of education (the role of television is evaluated positively in this sense). That is, the role of experts explaining the meaning of events increases as the volume of incoming information increases (Jaeger, 2021). The relevance of studying differences in the perception of experts of different genders by the audience is increasing. Some studies show that women experts are less trustworthy than men, and their opinion is less authoritative, especially in the field of politics (Ozer, 2023). The fundamental differences of the expert source in the activities of the media were considered by E. Albek, in whose work an analysis of the interaction between journalists and experts is carried out (Albæk, 2011). He emphasizes that in modern conditions of multiple sources of information and the transition to "research" journalism, it is experts who form the basis for media materials. According to Albek, an expert view helps to get a deeper analysis in a short time and avoid excessive simplification of the presentation, as well as to confirm the conclusions that the journalist could come to independently. In this context, it is worth noting studies that study the large-scale phenomenon of fake news as a strategy for managing public opinion, in the implementation of which experts play a significant role (Buschman, 2023). The discussion about the components of the concept of "expertise" is continued by researchers J. Wai and K. Perina, who raised the question of the criteria of expert knowledge in the field of media (Wai et al., 2011). In the discussion on the criteria of professional journalism, it is also worth noting the work of S. Miller-Carpenter and D. Kanver, in which a set of variables for evaluating expert knowledge was proposed: specialized education, previous professional experience in journalism, awards, specialization, technical skills of the profession and the social role of the author, which is assessed by content analysis of open source materials in social media (Carpenter, Kanver, 2017). The role of journalists as "conductors" of knowledge is interpreted in the work of M. Nisbet and F. Declan (Declan, Nisbet, 2015). Separately, it is worth noting the works devoted to the possibilities of using artificial intelligence technologies in the field of media. In the article Y. Galili talks about the future of "automated journalism", created on the basis of automated content generation as one of the achievements of technological progress that cannot be stopped (Galily, 2018). According to T. Laor and J. Galily, digital reality has contributed to the spread of online media promoting personal opinions and ideologies (Galily, Laor, 2020). In this regard, "impersonal" artificial intelligence can be considered as a new technological path to professional quality media. Russian-language scientific publications on the topic relate, as a rule, to certain aspects of expert communication in the media, genres or channels. Thus, considering the expert influence in news reports, I.S. Dushakova notes that during the analysis of text news reports, the main problem is connected with the exact definition of who can be considered an expert, and further suggests distinguishing an expert who creates content from a journalist and participant in events by a communicative situation that attracts an expert with an external in relation to the events covered, the position (Dushakova, 2016). O.I. Lyakhovenko considers political telegram channels as expert communication, emphasizing that despite the obvious manipulativeness, political telegram channels form a special expert system, a kind of "distributed think tank" that analyzes in real time domestic political and international agenda (Lyakhovenko, 2022). 541 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) The importance of the authorship of an expert from the field of science in the conditions of sanctions pressure is emphasized by I.N. Telnova, noting that one of the proven and effective ways is to popularize the results of research and expert opinion of a scientist on specialized electronic platforms and the publication of expert opinion in the media (Telnova, 2022). She also rightly points out that the demand for expert opinion is growing in a situation of uncertainty. Summing up the review of scientific literature, we note that the issue of current practices of using expert knowledge in media activities and the differentiation of media based on these practices of use needs further development in relation to the study of the Russian experience. 4. Results Expert media content is used by all media resources that occupy high positions in national ratings and have more than half a million subscribers. Socio-political media, as a rule, introduce an expert comment on an event/situation into the journalistic text, or designate it as an informational occasion, reflecting the role of the expert in the title: The expert commented on the situation in the capital's real estate market. In the electronic versions of the federal media (Kommersant, Izvestia), which for several years in a row have been included in the TOP 10 ratings according to Medialogy service, expert content is very common. We are talking about expert commentary, which is most often introduced with the words: notes, considers, explained, according to experts, and mainly concerns forecasts regarding the development of the situation, markets. So, in the electronic version of the newspaper Kommersant, although it does not meet with a title with this word, we received more than 1,000 publications per year with the word expert in media texts (the research period from June 27, 2021 to June 27, 2022 was randomly selected), mainly in the news and article headings. The same situation applies to the genre affiliation of texts using the expert opinion in Izvestia. In Izvestia, out of 1,680 texts with the word "expert" for the selected period in 383 publications, the word expert stands in the strong position of the text (title and lead), and the expert's opinion in this case acts as an information guide. A randomly taken date – June 27 – demonstrates using expert commentary: 60 publications in Kommersant, 59 publications in Izvestia.ru (41 of them are in the News category, 17 are articles and 1 publication is in the Opinions category). Izvestia.ru actively uses the fact of expert assessment of the situation/event by an expert as an information guide, including the word in the headline complex in a quarter of publications with the word expert: The expert assessed the possibility of the EU adopting new sanctions against Russia; The military expert spoke about the decline in morale in the VFU; The expert revealed ways to protect home Wi-Fi from neighbors; The expert told about the development of Avito in the event of a merger with VK; The expert called it unprofitable for the western countries to disconnect Russia from the Internet; The expert spoke about the impact of Japanese sanctions on the ruble exchange rate; The expert named the cause of the explosion of an electronic cigarette in the mouth of a teenager in Khimki; The expert commented on the G7 plans to impose sanctions against the enterprises of the defense industry of the Russian Federation. Sometimes the word expert is replaced in Izvestia.ru contextual synonym analyst, for June 27, two such publications with an indication in the title: Analyst Demidov called the information about the creation of a trap for the West groundless; The analyst said there was no threat to the Russian Federation from the G7 sanctions on gold imports. As for the quantitative distribution of publications using expert content on the subject, politics leads in both media, followed by economics (mainly real estate and construction), followed by sports and culture topics. A different way of using expert content is carried out in educational and specialized media. Let's consider options for this kind of media projects. Arzamas project, which emerged in 2015, is dedicated to the history of culture and consists almost entirely of expert content, which is reflected in the motto of the publication: History, literature, art in lectures, cheat sheets, games and expert answers: new knowledge every day. The basis of the project's website today, indeed, consists of materials and courses on history, literature, art, anthropology, philosophy, culture and man, and the designated authors, whose number has grown every year, today there are more than 200 on the site. Most of the authors have academic degrees and university teaching experience, and, according to the editorial board, they are motivated precisely by the opportunity to create educational content outside of university formalities and in a form attractive to a wide audience. The range of topics of the Arzamas project is very large. For example, it opened with the following four courses: "English Renaissance 542 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Theater", "Historical Forgeries and Originals", "Truth and Fiction about Gypsies" and "The Greek Project of Catherine the Great". In a program interview with the project team, it is stated that this is "one hundred percent journalism", and the enlightenment of the resource has a different principle from the university one – not the consistency and consistency of knowledge, but the collection of knowledge like a patchwork quilt, however, which ultimately leads the reader to the idea of universal connectivity of events and phenomena of the world. With regard to experts, the authors indicated an intention to rehabilitate humanitarian knowledge and show that there are people who understand it (Vorotynseva, 2020). The name of the project refers to history and literature: on the one hand, it is the name of the historically well-preserved Russian city of Arzamas, on the other hand, the name of a closed society and a literary circle of the 19th century, which united supporters of the new "Karamzin" trend in literature. In 2020, the project's website had approximately 1 million 400 thousand unique visitors every month, and a million people subscribed to Arzamas' social networks (no later data is provided). The project has both publicly available free materials and a paid subscription, which gives full access to all lectures, recordings and courses. At the beginning of the journey, the Arzamas team consisted of seven people, and the main emphasis was on video, and by 2022, the editorial staff grew to 27 people. The Russian-language project Lifehacker does not pretend to increase the level of education of the audience and was created as a media service of useful tips in 2008 by entrepreneurs from Ulyanovsk by analogy with the English-language project lifehacker.com initially, only for the target audience of programmers, and in 2014 the project changed its concept and began to focus on a wider target audience. Today, about 20 texts are published daily on the resource, the main source of income is advertising and special projects, but the authors of the project say that the main focus in management is not on design and attracting advertising, but on creating high-quality content (Rumak, 2021). The demand for the resource is impressive: until 2016, the audience doubled annually, and today exceeds 10 million people; Lifehacker is one of the few profitable media projects in the Russian media sphere – this is how it defines its mission: publications on how to make life easier and interprets the concept of an expert extremely broadly: An expert is a professional in any fields: nutritionist, lawyer, plumber, trainer and so on. A real expert can confirm his competence: he has a specialized education, work experience, the experience you need in any issue (for example, he has traveled 20 countries), is known in the public field. Thus, almost anyone with unique experience or possessing unique knowledge in any field can become an expert and author of this resource (here the interpretation of the word is consistent with its etymology – "experienced"). Another interesting example of using expert media content is a specialized site with daily updated content Executive.ru – presents itself as a crowdsourcing project that has no analogues in Runet, a community of managers united by the idea of professional growth. Community members exchange knowledge in order to improve their skills and, as a result, their own capitalization in the labor market. In just five years, the project has gathered more than 400 people to the League of Experts (they are the authors) on the site, and more than half a million subscribers. The project carefully studies its audience, publishes data about it and attracts experts to create content in various ways (through personal contacts, registration on the site with expert text). This resource invites people to become experts only with a specialized education in management and successful experience in organizational and managerial work. The Internet publication Mel, which appeared in 2015, is also specialized in the subject of media, which in 2020 was included in the list of domestic socially significant resources on the Internet (Raspopova, 2020), received several professional awards and gained tens of thousands of subscribers and several hundred authors. In an interview with the Journalist magazine (Alevizaki et al., 2020), the editor-in-chief of the Mel resource (Mel.fm) tells, in particular, about the publications of experts (for example, just parents with their interesting and revealing stories of upbringing and education). The specialization of this media is expressed both in its thematic focus and in the clear identification of its audience, which, on the one hand, is huge (school students and their teachers with their parents), and, on the other hand, is a community seriously interested in the problems of upbringing and education. As a result of editorial efforts, a kind of expert community of regular authors is being created around the media. This is consistent with the researchers' conclusion that a journalist today is becoming a media worker who performs impressive functionality for the preparation of content, its placement, promotion, etc. 543 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) The authorities are also making efforts to create digital platforms for expert communication. One of the latest examples of this kind is the Expert Club news site Expertclub.online, which reflects the agenda of actions of federal and regional governments in the news. Created in 2021 as a project of the Presidential Administration, the project has received curators in each regional government, who attract regional experts to it. At the moment, more than a thousand experts from all regions of the country (mainly political scientists and managers, including the authors of the article) are registered on it, but news views do not exceed several dozen, and only about 10 % of publications receive the same type of individual expert comments. The Regional Comments site which has appeared online since 2012, has designated the mission of the widest possible expert interpretation of everything that happens in the regions of Russia, and, indeed, has a large number of experts from the regions (more than 200). The editor of the site, A. Gavycheva, in an interview indicated three ways of selecting experts: the proposal of his candidacy by himself, the method of recommendation by another expert and the search by the editor of the site for an expert among media persons. Humanitarian experts are preferred here (the authors of the article from among them, invited by the site): it should be a historian, a political scientist, a practicing political strategist and the like. In addition, a position loyal to the authorities is desirable. The interviewed journalists first of all pointed out the need for each media to have its own pool of experts and the difficulty of finding them, especially in regional media and at the stage of entering the profession: – it will be difficult for a novice journalist in this case: not because of lack of skills, level of knowledge or professionalism in general, but because of the lack of connections at first; – at the beginning of my journalistic career, the editorial board of the TV channel instructed me to ask a question to the head of the health committee of the Leningrad region at one of the official events. But other journalists had a lot of questions, so they didn't give me the floor again. I told this to a colleague from another publication, a more experienced journalist. He helped to agree on a whole, so to speak, exclusive, comment for us after the event; The journalists were unanimous in the opinion that with experience, difficulties in finding experts disappear: – over the years of his activity, a journalist literally "acquires" experts in one field or another, with whom he "friends", for example, on social networks, sometimes even for some third-party reason; – you just need to use not only the possibilities of social networks, but also phones, and personal connections, and all at once; – I have the following specifics: I initially do not set the task to take a comment from A. Pugacheva, I take the bar more real; At the same time, journalists working with economic media information noted that in terms of creating expert media content, the situation has become more complicated in recent years: – With the beginning of the pandemic and then the military special operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, since then there have been more comments (especially on the economic topic) from experts who ask the media not to name their personal data, especially when it comes to the real situation in industries and economic forecasts that sharply differ from those voiced at the state level; – Since the beginning of the military operation, a huge amount of static and data has been hidden from public access, which does not allow internal economic agents, including experts, to analyze and draw conclusions about what is happening in all spheres of the country's life. It is very difficult to find speakers who could without company data (reporting, information about facts, management structure, etc.), foreign trade and financial statistics (statistics of the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance, the Federal Customs Service, data on exports, imports, and so on) to give an objective and informative expert comment; – Many leading financial economists and analysts left the country after February 24 and cannot always give a sober assessment of the economic situation in Russia. This also applies to experts from foreign companies, for example, the big three Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings, who had high-quality expertise. Agencies have withdrawn the ratings of the sovereign rating of Russia, stopped rating Russian companies and banks, experts left Russia. The unwillingness of an expert to identify his authorship also poses a problem for journalists, since the audience's trust in an anonymous comment is less: 544 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) – There are experts, especially from relevant departments, to whom the authorities have put a "block" for commenting. And here it is possible that an expert gives a comment, but at the same time insists that his name should not be indicated. Or he refuses to comment. Among the problematic points in the search for experts, there were differences in the political position of the media and experts, a journalist and an expert: – There are, of course, popular experts who are difficult to reach, there are also those who, for reasons of principle, do not comment on certain journalists (or the media) – for example, liberal-minded people do not communicate with the state Media, and foreign media agents will not turn to experts-"turbo patriots" with aggressive rhetoric. At the same time, it was noted that each media has its own pool of experts, the situation is especially good in the federal media: – there are entire departments in the media, or special people who are engaged in finding expert contacts and entering them into the appropriate databases; – federal TV channels have their own pool of experts who comment on the situation (more often geopolitics) almost on a regular basis (and receiving remuneration for it); – there is a situation when some speakers themselves seek to act as experts in the media, for example, on issues of current politics. Especially such activity increases among public politicians during the pre-election period. Interestingly, even those journalists from the respondents who know about Pressfeed have never used it, which indicates the conservative approach of a large number of journalists and the unwillingness to move away from personal contacts to impersonal digital communication, even if it is more effective. It is noteworthy that one regional journalist, unaware of Pressfeed, proposed the idea of creating a regional digital platform of this type: – The main reason for the problems in finding experts for comments from regional journalists, it seems to me, is the lack of some kind of neutral communication platform where university professors, scientists or employees would be presented as experts in their field and a narrow-profile topic. 5. Conclusion Thus, in conditions of increasing uncertainty and the media audience's demand for, on the one hand, authoritative, on the other, reliable information, the role of expert media content is constantly growing. Authors research task was to describe the options for obtaining and using expert media content and based on the criterion of its use to propose a typology of modern media projects. The study was conducted using the following methods: content analysis of media with an audience of more than half a million; expert interviews of professional journalists and media editors (7 in total); self-reflection of expert activity in the media (mainly on the digital platform Pressfeed.ru) the authors of the article. The following conclusions can be summarized. Firstly, in the modern media situation, expert commentary becomes an integral part of news and analytical publications of top media. Secondly, expert media content becomes the basis for the creation of successful media, in which the role of the journalist itself is reduced to resource management and text moderation. In the second case, any person who has knowledge on some narrow topic, or has experience in solving a life problem, becomes an expert, is referred to in the editorial policy of the resource by this word. Thus, in relation to the use of expert media content, modern media can be divided into information-centric and expert-centric. In the first type of media, one of the biggest difficulties in the work of a journalist is to quickly obtain expert content, often on problems that suddenly arise in society or events that are taking place, and in this regard, the digital platform Pressfeed.ru seems to be the most suitable tool. For journalists working in them, digital platforms for requests to experts seem to be the most suitable. At the same time, platforms like Pressfeed.ru it is mainly used by journalists of cities with millions of people; journalists in the regions, even knowing about it, do not seek to automate their work, perhaps they need to create regional expert platforms. Both identified types of media today have two main effective practices for obtaining expert content. The first is digital intermediary platforms independent of specific media, on which both experts and the media are registered. The second method – the creation of a community around the editorial office in the form of an expert community (its own pool of experts) – is more suitable for media that do not work with 545 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) current news information, aimed at a narrower target audience interested in a specific topic. These are, as a rule, specialized educational media or media for professional communities. In them, the concept of expert media content and the word expert itself is interpreted much more broadly, allowing to include among media experts all people who have some experience in a certain field of activity and are ready to share it. Here, the personality of the expert and the exclusivity of the content come to the fore. The role of expert media content in the era of post-truth and problematization of media fake content has obviously grown and, according to the forecasts of the authors of the article, will increase even more. By analogy with the American service HARO, owned by Cision, a world leader in technology, information, PR and marketing communications, in 2014 there was Pressfeed.ru, positions itself primarily as a PR tool for brands and opinion leaders, but today we can talk about a whole information ecosystem that includes a symbiosis of media, experts, media education and marketing trajectories of brands. According to the observations of the authors of the article, Pressfeed, created to optimize the work of journalists and PR specialists, is increasingly working on the principles of a business project, monetizing its educational and media services. However, this does not negate the possibility of free work on the service. Previously, the authors of the article referred to this service in their studies of media crowdsourcing (Kaminskaya, Erokhina, 2022). The experience of the authors of the article indicates the usefulness of the service when you need to collect a large number of opinions in a short time, find an expert on a highly specialized topic or a "new expert person", in the case of a "multi-channel" journalist who has to write every day on a new topic. Experts registered on the service indicate the subject of their expert niche and scientific interests, set the frequency of sending journalists' requests to their mail (from several times a day to once a week). The authors of the article chose a free basic account, which excludes access to the educational resources of the service and paid services for image promotion of personality in the media sphere but allows you to write comments on the requests of journalists twice a month. As a result of writing an expert text on the AI platform, the system informs the expert by e-mail whether the comment was accepted or rejected by the journalist and in the first case sends the publication. The journalist often explains his refusal: the conversion rate of 58 % is considered average on the site, we managed to get a higher percentage of accepted comments (65 %). In just a year of work on the site, the authors of the article created 27 expert texts on the problems of education, communication, and intergenerational differences. Taking into account the demand for experts in the media space and the need to moderate the process of creating expert content, students of media specialties (journalists, specialists in advertising communications) are offered related tasks in the classroom. Firstly, it is the selection of experts for a simulated situation-an information guide (a largescale fire, overcrowded hospitals during an epidemic, an increase in crime in the city). Secondly, the task is to take an expert interview when writing research papers by students. Thirdly, students create longreads on topics in which they themselves feel like experts with the selection and composition of other expert opinions. As for the student longreads on the Tilda platform, in 2022 their theme was related to student hobbies, places of student leisure and their small homeland. 6. Acknowledgments The article was prepared based on the results of research carried out at the expense of budget funds for the state assignment of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. References Albæk, 2011 – Albæk, E. (2011). The Interaction between experts and journalists in news journalism. Journalism. 12: 335-348. DOI: 10.1177/1464884910392851 Alevizaki et al., 2019 – Alevizaki, O.R., Smirnova, O.V., Svitich, L.G., Shkondin, M.V. (2019). Avtorskaya i redaktorskaya deyatel`nost` zhurnalista v rossijskom mediaprostranstve [Journalist as Author and Editor in Russian Media Environment]. Voprosy teorii i praktiki zhurnalistiki. 8(4): 679-703. DOI: 10.17150/2308-6203.2019.8(4).679-703 [in Russian] 546 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Besley et al., 2021 – Besley, J.C., Garlick, S., Fallon, L.K., Tiffany, L.A. (2021). The Role of communication professionals in fostering a culture of public engagement. International Journal of Science Education. 11(1): 1-17. Buschman, 2023 – Buschman, J. (2023). Fake news as systematically distorted communication: an LIS intervention. Journal of Documentation. Vol. ahead-of-print. DOI: 10.1108/JD-03-2023-0043 Carpenter, Kanver, 2017 – Carpenter, S., Kanver, D. (2017). Journalistic Expertise: A Communicative Approach. Communication and the Public. 2: 197-209. Choi, Yang, 2021 – Choi, J., Yang, S. (2021). Investigative journalism and media capture in the digital age. Information Economics and Policy. 57(c): 100942. DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol. 2021.100942 Crease, 2023 – Crease, R. (2023). Mistrust of experts by populists and politicians. In: Eyal, G., Medvetz, T. (eds). The Oxford Handbook of Expertise and Democratic Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 145-155. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190848927.013.7 Dushakova, 2016 – Dushakova, I.S. (2016). Novostnaya gramotnost`: rol` e`ksperta v novostny`x soobshheniyax. [News Literacy: the role of the expert in news messages]. Kommunikatsii. Media. Dizain. 1(3): 8-18. [in Russian] Galily, 2018 – Galily, Y. (2018). Artificial intelligence and sports journalism: Is it a sweeping change? Technology in Society. 54: 47-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2018.03.00 Galily, Laor, 2020 – Galily, Y., Laor, T. (2020). Offline VS Online: Attitude and Behavior of Journalists in social media era. Technology in Society. 61. DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101239 Hetmański, 2018 – Hetmański, M. (2018). Expert knowledge: its structure, functions and limits. Studia Humana. 7: 11-20. DOI: 10.2478/sh-2018-0014 Jaeger, Taylor, 2021 – Jaeger, P., Taylor, N. (2021). Arsenals of lifelong information literacy: educating users to navigate political and current events information in world of ever-evolving misinformation. The Library Quarterly. 91(1):19-31. DOI: 10.1086/711632 Jerit et al., 2006 – Jerit, J., Barabas, J., Bolsen, T. (2006). Citizens, knowledge, and the information environment. American Journal of Political Science. 50: 266-282. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00183.x Jerit, 2009 – Jerit, J. (2009). Understanding the knowledge gap: the role of experts and journalist. Journal of Politics. 71: 442-456. DOI: 10.1017/S0022381609090380 Kaminskaya, Erokhina, 2022 – Kaminskaya, T.L., Erokhina, O.V. (2022). Mediakraudsorsing i mediakraudfanding v cifrovoj srede kak faktory` novogo kom`yuniti dlya SMI [Media crowdsourcing and media crowdfunding in the digital environment as factors of a new community for the media]. Medialingvistika. 9: 96-112. DOI: 10.21638/spbu22.2022.202. [in Russian] Knowles et al., 2023 – Knowles, R., Camicia, S., Nelson, L. (2023). Education for democracy in the social media century. Research in Social Sciences and Technology. 8: 21-36. DOI: 10.46303/ressat.2023.9 Lyakhovenko, 2022 – Lyakhovenko, O.I. (2022). Telegram-kanaly` v sisteme e`kspertnoj i politicheskoj kommunikacii v sovremennoj Rossii [Telegram channels in the system of expert and political communication in modern Russia]. Galactica Media: Journal of Media Studies. 4(1): 114-144. DOI: 10.46539/gmd.v4i1.230 [in Russian] Mccombs et al., 2004 – Mccombs, M., Chyi, H., Kiousis, S. (2004). How the News Media Set the Agenda. Doxa Comunicación. Revista interdisciplinar de estudios de comunicación y ciencias sociales. 2: 217-223. DOI: 10.31921/doxacom.n2a13 Mccombs, Bell, 1996 – Mccombs, M., Bell, T. (1996). The Agenda-Setting Role of Mass Communications. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.infoamerica.org/documentos_ pdf/mccombs01.pdf Merkley, 2020 – Merkley, E. (2020). Are Experts (News)Worthy? Balance, Conflict and mass media coverage of expert consensus. Political Communication. 37(4): 530-549. DOI: 10.1080/10584609.2020.1713269 Nisbet, Declan, 2015 – Nisbet, M.C., Declan, F. (2015). The Need for knowledge-based journalism in politicized science debates. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 658: 223-234. Ozer, 2023 – Ozer, A. (2023). Women experts and gender bias in political media. Public Opinion Quarterly. 87(2): 293-315. DOI: 10.1093/poq/nfad011 547 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Raspopova, 2020 – Raspopova, S. (2020). Formaty`, distribuciya i den`gi. Kak rabotaet media ob obrazovanii [How the educational media “mel” works]. Zhurnalist. 11. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://jrnlst.ru/mel [in Russian] Rindermann et al., 2020 – Rindermann, H., Becker, D. Coyle, T. (2020). Survey of expert opinion on intelligence: Intelligence research, experts' background, controversial issues, and the media. Intelligence. 78: 2-18. DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2019.101406 Rumak, 2021 – Rumak, N. (2021). Lajfxaker: kak predprinimateli iz Ul'yanovska sdelali pribyl'noe media (kotoroe chitayut milliony) [Lifehacker: How Entrepreneurs from Ulyanovsk made a profitable media (Which is read by millions)]. Inс. Russia. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://incrussia.ru/fly/lajfhaker-kak-predprinimateli-iz-ulyanovska-sdelali-pribylnoemedia-kotoroechitayutmilliony/ [in Russian] Shvedova, 2011 – Shvedova, N.Yu. (2011). Tolkovyi slovar' russkogo yazyka s vklyucheniem svedenij o proisxozhdenii slov [Explanatory dictionary of the russian language with the inclusion of information about the origin of words]. Moscow. [in Russian] Tássia et al., 2022 – Tássia, G., Rayanne, P., Noll, S., Noll, M. (2022). The Contexts of Science Journalism in the Brazilian Federal Institutes: Characterizing Realities and Possibilities of Communication Products. Heliyon. 8(1): e08701. DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08701 Telnova, 2022 – Telnova, I.N. (2022). Ekspertnoe mnenie uchenogo v massmedia kak novaya al'tmetrika v usloviyax sankcionnogo davleniya [Expert scientist's opinion in mass media as a new altmetric during the period of sanctions]. Media Linguistics. Materials of the VI International Scientific Conference. St. Petersburg. [in Russian] Tetlock, 2018 – Tetlock, P. (2018). Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? Princeton: Princeton University Press. Vladimirova et al., 2020 – Vladimirova, T.N., Panferova, V.V., Smirnova, O.V., Svitich, L.G., Shkondin, M.V. (2020). Zhurnalistika i intellektual'nyi potencial obshhestva: teoreticheskie podxody` k sistemnomu analizu intellektual`nogo vzaimodejstviya v mediaprostranstve [Journalism and intellectual potential of society: theoretical approaches to system analysis of intellectual interaction in media space]. Voprosy teorii i praktiki zhurnalistiki. 9(1): 90-105. DOI: 10.17150/2308-6203.2020.9(1).90-105 [in Russian] Vorotyntseva, 2020 – Vorotyntseva, K. (2020). Obshhestvo Arzamas: Kak sdelat` znanie modny`m [Arzamas society: how to make knowledge fashionable]. Newspaper Culture. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://portal-kultura.ru/articles/country/327251-ob-shchestvo-arzamas-kaksdelat-znanie-modnym/. [in Russian] Wai, Perina, 2011 – Wai, J., Perina, K. (2011). Expertise in Journalism: Factors Shaping a Cognitive and Culturally Elite Profession. Journal of Expertise. 1: 58-78. 548 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Copyright © 2023 by Cherkas Global University Published in the USA Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie) Issued since 2005. ISSN 1994-4160 E-ISSN 1994-4195 2023. 19(4): 549-560 DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.4.549 https://me.cherkasgu.press Features of Preparation of Students of the Secondary Vocational Education System in the Direction of Screen Arts Elena Lomteva a , *, Alexey Demidov a , b , c a Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, Russian Federation b Public movement "Information for All", Russian Federation c Moscow State Institute of Culture, Russian Federation Abstract Creative industries today is a fast–growing branch of the economy that covers a wide range of areas, from design and media to art, music and computer games, capturing animation and the film industry as a whole. In the conditions of digitalization and globalization, this area is becoming more and more popular and promising. In Russia, creative industries have now become one of the priority areas of economic development, the engine of the leisure and entertainment industry, but also a means of preserving and developing the spirituality and morality of the population. In 2022, the volume of the creative industries market in Russia amounted to 6.9 trillion rubles, which is about 3.5 % of the country's GDP. According to experts, by 2025 this figure will grow to 9.2 trillion rubles. In this regard, the system of secondary vocational education and training (VET) faces the task of training qualified personnel for creative industries. The relevance of this topic is determined by the demand for personnel in the field of screen arts with secondary vocational education, especially in the conditions of withdrawal from the Russian market of foreign film studios, whose share in 2021 was about 75 % of the total rental in Russia. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that currently the system of career guidance is poorly focused on college applicants in the areas of training 55.02.00 Screen arts. For a sufficiently large proportion of graduates of the vocational education system, obtaining a specialty in the field of creative industries is an intermediate link for admission to a higher educational institution. The conducted sociological survey showed that this category of young people has not formed an idea about their professional prospects when the main motive for employment is migration to Moscow and St. Petersburg. According to respondents, career support services of educational organizations of vocational education and training provide all possible assistance in finding employment, but this, according to students, is not enough. It can be concluded that without a comprehensive solution to the problem, starting from career guidance at school or even in kindergarten and ending with the involvement of employers in the educational process within the framework of the creation of colleges of creative industries, this issue will be quite difficult to solve.The article was written on the basis of the RANEPA and the MSIC state assignment research programme. Keywords: animation, dual education, competencies, film industry, creative industries, secondary vocational education and training, labor market, sociology, federal state educational standard screen arts. Corresponding author E-mail addresses: [email protected] (E. Lomteva), [email protected] (A. Demidov) * 549 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) 1. Introduction In January 2023, a new federal state educational standard of secondary vocational education (FGOS SPO) 55.02.03 "Film and television production" was approved in Russia. Thus, expanding the range of training programs in the areas of 55.02.01 Theatrical and audiovisual technology (by type) and 55.02.02 Animation (by type). Today, video creation is one of the most popular forms of art. It combines imagination, fantasy, technology and modern innovative technologies. It allows us to display the world in visual images and sound compositions. Students studying these disciplines acquire the skills of creating photographs, videos, the basics of television journalism and even blogging. All these skills become an integral part of individual culture and are in demand in many professional fields. The issues of introducing media education into the educational process and the strong informational impact of the film on young people were noted back in 1987 by A. Fedorov (Fedorov, 1987). Media education is a direction in education that is deservedly considered one of the most promising in world practices. It is based on the use of mass communication (media) for the development of personality and the formation of communication skills, creative thinking, critical analysis and perception of media texts. Media literacy plays an important role in modern society, helping people to use information resources such as television, radio, video, cinema, the press and the Internet (Konkina et al., 2021; Razlogov, 2006). Media education covers a wide range of skills and knowledge. It helps to develop the ability to analyze and interpret media texts, as well as the ability to assess their reliability and reliability. Thanks to media education, people learn to be active consumers of information, and not just passive listeners or viewers. Modern technology and the availability of media means allow everyone to become a content creator (Buckingham. 2010; Gálik, 2019; Gáliková Tolnaiová, Gálik, 2020; Gibson et al., 2000; Toiskin et al., 2023). Media technology is becoming a powerful tool for self-expression and communication. Through media education, people master various forms of self-expression, such as creating animations, videos, audio recordings, blogs or podcasts (Tyner, 2000; Tyner, 2010; Demidov, 2022; Lomteva et al., 2022). This promotes the development of creative thinking and helps to find your voice in the digital age. In addition, media education helps to develop critical thinking and the ability to analyze information. In today's information society, where fake news and manipulation are becoming more common, it is important to learn to distinguish truth from lies (Chibbaro, 2007; Lee, 2007; Smith et al., 2008; Thoman, 2010; Wright, Wachs, 2020). Media literacy allows people to develop critical thinking skills and be knowledgeable citizens (Fedorov, 2004; Levitskaya, 2022). Media education also contributes to the development of a culture of communication using media. It helps people understand the peculiarities of the language of media culture, such as genres, styles and ways of transmitting information. This allows them to effectively communicate and interact with other people through various media formats. In general, media education plays an important role in modern education and personal development. It helps people become active participants in the information society and knowledge societies, develops their creativity and critical thinking, and improves communication and communication skills. In the modern world, where media play an increasingly important role, media literacy is becoming an integral part of everyone's education (Demidov, Lomteva, 2022). Therefore, certain requirements should be imposed on the quality of training of middle-level specialists in the 55.02.00 Screen Arts programs aimed at meeting the general cultural, educational and professional needs of society. At the same time, during the preparation and holding of a number of events organized by the RANEPA and the Moscow State Institute of Culture (MSIC), a deficit was identified and fixed both in the national policy of media education development itself and in the system of training middlelevel personnel. The Center for Economics of Continuing Education of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (hereinafter – the RANEPA Center for Economics) within the framework of a series of events "Management. Financing. Education" with the participation of the laboratory "Media Culture" of the Moscow State Institute of Culture (hereinafter – IPCC) and the Public Movement "Information for All" (hereinafter – OD "Information for All") held an expert seminar "Additional education of children and youth in the field of cinema and animation: problems of interdepartmental and intersectoral coordination" on June 30, 2023 (Demidov, 2023). 550 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) And on August 20, 2023, within the framework of the round table "Development of the animation and CG industry as part of the digital economy of Russia" at the All-Russian Meeting of animators, where leading experts in the field of animation and cluster construction of Russia gathered, employees of the Center for Economics of Continuing Education of RANEPA presented a report "Education for Multimedia in numbers", demonstrating that today the industry animation is not provided with personnel not only for 150 films per year (as stated in the list of instructions of the head of state dated August 17, 2023), but even for 50 full-length cartoons, the minimum production of which was announced by the participants of the round table. In the higher education system in 2022, 735 students were admitted to such specialties as animation and computer graphics artist, animation and computer graphics (computer games) and animated film artist. Most of them entered on a commercial basis, which indicates a high demand for these professions. However, it is worth noting that only 16 % of the subjects of the Federation offer educational programs in these specialties. This means that the availability of education in these areas varies for students from different regions of the country. Also in 2022, 635 students were accepted for the specialty of multimedia director and animation and CG director. Of these, 500 students enrolled on a commercial basis. The cost of training for these programs ranges from 220 to 300 thousand rubles, which is the minimum price for obtaining such an education. However, the situation with the system of secondary vocational education in the field of animation is even worse. Most of the training programs in the field of screen arts are focused on a commercial basis, which means that students have to pay tuition. This creates additional barriers for those who want to get a quality education in this area, especially for those who cannot afford to pay for their education. Thus, although the demand for specialists in the field of animation and computer graphics remains high, the availability of education in this field is limited. This could potentially lead to a shortage of qualified personnel in the animation industry in the future. This was the conclusion reached by the speakers from RANEPA, the Moscow State Institute of Culture OD "Information for All", and leading experts in the field of animation – the real sector of creative industries (Lomteva, Demidov, 2023). 2. Materials and methods The main research methods were the analysis of statistical information from official sources; the study of normative documents on training in the field of creative industries; conducting a sociological study of college students in the areas of training 55.02.00 Screen arts, as well as the analysis of real practices of dual education and social design in the field under consideration. 3. Discussion Currently, creative industries, including cinematography and animation, are actively developing in the world. It can be noted that the film industry is a fairly significant branch of the economy, bringing quite high incomes to the state. The leading position in the film industry market is occupied by the USA, being one of the largest and dynamically developing sectors of the country's economy. In 2019, the industry provided $188 billion in wages and $9.6 billion in trade surplus. It provides millions of jobs, generates billions of dollars in revenue and has a significant impact on culture and society. According to the US Department of Commerce, in 2019, the industry's revenues from video production and distribution amounted to $ 73 billion. Of these, $34 billion was spent on cinema and animation, and $39 billion on television. The main sources of income of the industry are: - licensing of rights to audiovisual works ($19 billion); - sale of audiovisual works ($10 billion); - contract production of audiovisual works ($7 billion). - Exports of audiovisual works from the USA exceed imports by 2.3 times. The US film and television industry is actively developing, it is increasingly influenced by factors such as: - the emergence of new production technologies (especially digital); - methods of selling audiovisual content (including via the Internet); - currently, there is a tendency in the industry to increase the production of content for streaming services. 551 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) The industry employs about 2.5 million people, which is about 1 % of the US workforce. At the same time, the industry is one of the largest employers in the field of creative professions, such as directing, acting, film production and television (Analysis…, 2021). In Russia, the film industry is in the process of revival. After the collapse of the USSR, it was in disrepair, but in recent years there has been an increase in the production of domestic cinema. The development of the film industry in Russia is largely influenced by the support provided by the state. In particular, the state provides subsidies for the production of films, as well as tax incentives for film companies (Figure 1). Fig. 1. The volume of state support for film production (2015-2022). Sources: Cinema Foundation, open data portal of the Ministry of Culture of Russia In 2022, 417 feature films were released in Russia. This is a record figure for the last 20 years. The dynamics of the volume of films produced in Russia is shown in Figure 2. Fig. 2. Number of Russian films produced by year (2017-2022). Source: open data portal of the Ministry of Culture of Russia 552 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) The trend of growth in the volume of films produced in Russia is already constrained by the lack of necessary specialists. As of August 2023, over the past six months, the number of vacancies for actors in Russia has increased by 17 %, while film production specialists can boast of a 77 % increase in vacancies. Experts note that the competition for talented employees has become especially acute between online platforms developing new content and television channels. According to the HeadHunter portal, the number of vacancies in the production and distribution of TV programs and movies (including online cinemas and cable TV) increased by 24 % in the first half of the year. Industries need makeup artists (the number of vacancies increased by 33 % compared to last year), as well as installation and service specialists (an increase of 60 %). At the same time, the demand for procurement specialists in general decreased (by 20 %), and vacancies in top management fell by 17 %. The authors of the Vodacott profile Telegram channel report that there is still a shortage of technical specialists, such as mechanics, focus pullers (assistant focus operators), operators of special stabilization equipment. To solve this problem, the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation took the initiative to create a college of creative industries. A number of authors have already made an attempt to substantiate approaches to the specifics of personnel training for this field: the possibility of creating an electronic information and educational environment for advanced training in the field of creative industries was analyzed (Tabatadze, 2021); a model of personnel training infrastructure for creative industries was developed (Trufanov et al, 2023); employment of personnel in the field of culture in European countries (Dent, 2020), as well as in other jobs (Khestanov, 2018; Uvarov, 2019). However, the issues of young people's choice of specialties in the direction of 55.02.00, their employment and migration were practically not considered. 4. Results Currently, the support of domestic content producers is one of the most important tasks for the development of creative industries in Russia. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to carry out regulatory regulation of creative activity and create new projects, as well as train personnel capable of working in the field of creative industries. One of the main indicators of the effectiveness of the creative industry is its economic success. It is important that domestic content producers have the opportunity to compete in the market and achieve financial success. However, in addition to economic indicators, it is also necessary to take into account the social effect that is created through the development of creative industries. The federal project "Professionalitet" provides huge opportunities for the implementation and support of Russian media, film and animated films, content for social networks, book publishers, the fashion industry and software. This project is aimed at developing and improving the system of secondary special education in the field of creative industries, as well as training qualified specialists who are able to work successfully in these areas. The support of domestic content producers not only contributes to the development of the economy, but is also able to create a powerful social effect. Russian films, cartoons and media content can not only entertain and inspire people, but also convey national values, history and culture of the country. In addition, the development of the fashion and software industry contributes to the prestige and competitiveness of Russia on the world stage. It is important to understand that the development of creative industries requires an integrated approach and cooperation between representatives of culture, creative business and professional education. Currently, the pilot project "Training of personnel for creative industries in the system of secondary vocational education based on the model of the College of Creative Industries" is being implemented in 7 regions of Russia – Kaliningrad Region, Republic of Udmurtia, Chelyabinsk Region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra, Kemerovo Region, Krasnoyarsk Territory. The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). First of all, this is due to the fact that most of these regions already have similar experience. According to the training programs for mid-level specialists 55.02.01 Theatrical and audiovisual equipment (by type), recruitment in 2023 took place in 5 regions: Moscow, Moscow region, St. Petersburg, Rostov, Irkutsk region. According to the training programs 55.02.02 Animation (by type) this year the reception was held in 12 regions – Moscow, Moscow Region, Republic of Bashkortostan, Chuvash Republic, Orenburg Region, Chelyabinsk Region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk Region, Omsk Region, Tomsk Region, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (Figure 3). Thus, the share of students in these specialties in the total number of students in the system of secondary vocational education does not exceed 0.06 %. This can partly be explained by the low 553 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) resource capabilities of the system, including both the necessary human resources and the necessary material and technical base. In this regard, a fairly large proportion of young people choose colleges at higher educational institutions for admission – the share of those receiving secondary vocational education majors in the direction of 55.00.00 Screen Arts at universities in 2023 was 19.9 %. Fig. 3. Admission to state professional educational organizations in 2023 in the areas of training 55.02.00, people. Source: data from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation The demand for specialists in the field of creative industries suggests that the share of employed graduates of the vocational education system should be quite high. According to the Federal Service for Labor and Employment of the Russian Federation, the employment of college graduates in the direction of 55.00.00 on average in Russia in 2022 amounted to 63.9 % (Figure 4). Of the remaining share of graduates, slightly more than half (54.5 %) already had a permanent job at the time of graduation, and 8.2 % of graduates continued their studies in higher education programs. In 2 regions, the Vladimir region and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the share of employed was 100 %. When we talk about creative industries, it is impossible not to mention the Yakut cinema, which is a real phenomenon. According to the results of 2019, Yakutia ranked third among the regions of Russia in terms of film production, second only to Moscow and St. Petersburg. From 8 to 10 films are produced annually in the republic. In recent years, Yakut film producers have received many awards on the Russian and international stages. Among these films are Private Chaerin, His daughter, Scarecrow, Hara Haar, Agent Mambo and many others. A list of the most popular Soviet films can be found in the book of A. Fedorov (Fedorov, 2023). Separately, we would like to focus on the social portrait of school graduates who have linked their future lives with cinema. In April-June 2023, the Center for the Economics of Continuing Education conducted a sociological survey of final-year students of professional educational organizations. The purpose of the sociological survey was to study the educational and professional tracks of SPO graduates. The sample of the study was 1,098 respondents from the Sverdlovsk region. Volgograd and Ivanovo regions. The purpose of the study was to study the educational and professional practices of students of secondary vocational education, studying in the direction of 55.02.00 Screen arts. A large proportion of students in this field of training are girls, their share is 554 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) almost 89 %, 86.2 % went to the vocational education system after grade 9, the rest preferred to finish grade 11. Fig. 4. The share of employed college graduates in the direction of 55.00.00 Screen arts in 2022. Source: data from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation Of those who entered the specialty 55.02.00 came from an ordinary, secondary school 64.6 %, one of the best – 2.3 %. Speaking about the academic performance of those entering college, respondents noted that 72.3 % studied "well" in the last grades of school, 12.3 % – "excellent", 15.4 % received a certificate with satisfactory grades. Of interest is the answer to the question "By the time you graduated from school, did you already imagine what you wanted to do professionally?" only a third had an idea about the future specialty, 47.7 % had a general idea, and 23.1 % had practically no idea about the future specialty. This, first of all, indicates a weak system of professional orientation in the field of creative industries, which of course affects the contingent of students and with a high degree of probability it can be assumed that this part of the youth will not go into the profession. Among the main motives for choosing training in the specialties 55.02.01 Theatrical and audiovisual technology (by type) and 55.02.02 Animation (by type) was its prestige. Almost 97 % of respondents answered this way, noting also the ease of employment after graduation (Figure 5). Interest in obtaining these specialties was noted only in 46.2 % of students. Until now, a fairly large proportion of young people follow their parents' advice when choosing a specialty (16.9 % of respondents), almost 14 % of students were guided when choosing a future specialty only by the ease of admission. 555 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Fig. 5. Motives for choosing specialties according to training programs 55.00.00. Screen arts, % At the time of receiving secondary vocational education, 50.8 % of students already had a permanent job. Of those who did not work, ideas about plans after college were divided into the following groups: 41.1 % are going to get a higher education, 28.2 % are looking for a job, 2.3 % of young people do not want to work and do not want to study. When applying for employment, most graduates are going to use the connections of relatives and acquaintances, as well as the services of recruiting agencies. College career support services are not actively used by students. 23.8 % of students found it difficult to answer the question whether they have such a service in an educational organization, 27.6 % of respondents did not turn to the help of this Service and are not going to, 29.2 % plan to apply, in fact, use the potential of the educational organization when employing 19.4 % of final-year students. But it is colleges that first of all should build ties with employers in the industry at the stage of career guidance and training. make the necessary adjustments to the educational process in order to master the competencies necessary for work. When preparing educational programs for college students in the specialties 55.02.00, it is necessary to take into account the following trends: 1) Digitalization. Creative industries are increasingly relying on digital technologies. Therefore, in educational programs it is necessary to pay attention to such disciplines as programming, design, 2D and 3D modeling, etc. 2) Multidisciplinary. Creative industries often require a combination of different skills and knowledge. Therefore, educational programs should be focused on the formation of a broad outlook and flexibility of thinking among students. 3) Practical orientation. Students should have the opportunity to gain practical skills of working in real projects as part of the implementation of the policy of development of dual education. Therefore, educational programs should include internships and internships in specialized organizations. Unfortunately, this is one of the main issues that needs to be addressed in the near future. Since even when selecting applications for participation of educational organizations in the experiment on the creation of colleges of creative industries, the main reason for rejecting applications was the lack of a systematic practice of interaction of educational organizations with partners, as well as a model of partnership and interdepartmental interaction was not provided. A striking example of building a dual model with the earliest possible career guidance is the activity of the Department of Animation and Multimedia of the IPCC, where Moscow schoolchildren either directly enter the IPCC after receiving a general full education, or choose the 556 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) trajectory of higher education through the SPO system, enrolling after school in the Center for Audiovisual Technologies of the State Autonomous Professional Educational Institution of Moscow College of Entrepreneurship No. 11, where they are trained in animation and animation cinema. In addition to two computer classes, the profile department of the university has several practically production sites where MGIK students, but also schoolchildren and college students, within the framework of a partnership of educational organizations, themselves, but under the guidance of the creators of the best animation products in Russia, the same animated series "Masha and the Bear", begin to create their animation products in the techniques of shifting, puppet, 3D and so on, up to the animation of paint on glass. At the same time, the trainees' practice began not at the university bench, but at school, as part of the implementation of the social project "Animation in your smartphone", which has already covered more than half of the regions of Russia, but also Belarus, Kazakhstan, Serbia and a number of other countries. Earlier it was noted that the pilot project "Training of personnel for creative industries in the system of secondary vocational education based on the model of the College of Creative Industries" is being implemented in 7 regions of Russia – Kaliningrad Region, Republic of Udmurtia, Chelyabinsk Region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra, Kemerovo Region, Krasnoyarsk Territory. The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). It must be said that these regions, but also with the active presence of the Republic of Crimea, are most effectively involved in the implementation of the Animation in Your Smartphone project. And the Republic of Crimea and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) begin the earliest possible career guidance in the field of animation already from preschool age within the framework of the 2nd project (Yakutsk+Yalta). In Yakutia, within the framework of this project, more than 50 cartoons have already been created by preschoolers with the participation of educators and parents, placed as copyright objects on the server space of the National Library of Yakutia. The problem of migration of college graduates remains an important issue of employment, since a significant part of them are going to change their location and find employment in other regions, not always in their specialty. Summary data of the survey on youth migration plans are presented in Table 1. Table 1. Territorial and settlement orientations in employment after graduation, % of those suggesting the possibility of finding a job outside the region of study, no more than two answers were allowed Groups Generally Gendergroups Men Women Typesofsettlements Regional centers Non-capitalcities The region in which they are supposed to look for work In a region other than Moscow In Moscow or Abroad and St. Petersburg St. Petersburg 29.8 37.3 8.7 31.0 28.8 42.4 32.5 10.5 7.0 27.8 31.7 42.1 33.0 11.3 6.3 Only about 40 % of graduates are confidently focused on staying in the city of study after graduation. At the same time, attention is drawn to the number of the group (more than a third of the respondents), whose representatives have not yet made the appropriate decision. The significant factors that most influence the perception of the success of employment by young people include: the content of the job, the initial level of remuneration and prospects for its increase, career prospects, as well as the comfort of the schedule and working hours. 5. Conclusion Screen arts play an important role in educational processes, and their importance is growing every year. In the list of instructions of the head of state dated January 27, 2021, addressed to the Ministers of Education and Culture, it was instructed to prepare proposals for the development of film education at school, and in the order of August 17, 2023, the Russian Government was instructed to organize the development of animation, but also creative industries in their normative 557 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) dimension. Currently, the study of screen arts is not limited only to professionals working in the field of video production. They have become an integral part of humanitarian education and penetrate into various spheres of our life, in order to promote a correct understanding of the quality of video content, specialists in the field of film education and media pedagogy are needed, whose training begins in pedagogical colleges primarily for the preschool education system. In addition, screen arts are actively used in the media and on other media platforms. In the modern world, where information is transmitted mainly through videos and images, it is important to learn how to critically analyze and interpret media materials. Teaching media literacy skills allows people to understand the information flow and distinguish facts from opinions, which is very important in the conditions of information confrontation and, in fact, information wars. However, it is necessary not only to follow new technological trends, but also to preserve and develop traditions and creative processes. All too often forget about the importance of creativity and that digital technologies should serve as a tool for the implementation of ideas, and not become an end in itself. We cannot rely entirely on tradition alone, otherwise there is an imbalance. We need to introduce new technologies while preserving the experience gained over decades. A possible solution to this problem may be the creation of colleges of creative industries, which will be dedicated to modern media, cinema and media education in general. These educational institutions will foster the development of new talents and promote innovation in the field of screen arts, but also digital transformation and technological independence. In terms of the resource capabilities of colleges of creative arts, it is quite realistic to train personnel with not only creative, but also technical, managerial and entrepreneurial competencies, where the economic and legal aspects of management should not be in the last place. Pilot projects are already being implemented in Russia to create new educational programs for creative industries. These programs include such areas as: computer graphics and animation; design; modern media and content production; art. The new educational programs are focused on the training of highly qualified specialists with competencies in demand in the labor market. Based on the results of the study, the following recommendations can be formulated for the training of personnel for the field of creative industries in educational organizations of SPO: 1. Improving career guidance work with children and youth, starting from preschool age. 2. Expanding the interaction of colleges with employers and other social and economic partners. 3. Improvement of the system of training and retraining of pedagogical personnel for the training of specialists in the field of screen arts and media education in general. 4. Development of forms and expansion of state support for gifted students, creation of special programs to help talented children and youth. 5. The formation of a modern material and technical base necessary for the successful functioning of this system, the organization of practices based on the main employers of the industry, the development of a dual education system taking into account the specifics of creative industries. 6. Ensuring regular exchange of experience in the field of education both at the regional and federal, but also at the international level. 7. Unambiguous integration of specialized educational organizations of the SPO system into the process of creative cluster construction in all regions of the country, despite the fact that in small agglomerations colleges should assume the function of anchor structures in the created municipal creative cultural and educational clusters. References Analysis…, 2021 – Analysis of the US cinema and animation market: opportunities for promoting the services of Russian exporters (2021). All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://export.nso.ru/sites/export.nso.ru/wodby_files/files/page_1845/ssha_1.pdf Buckingham, 2010 – Buckingham, D. (2010). Media education: A global strategy for development. Cambridge: PolityPress. 124 р. Chibbaro, 2007 – Chibbaro J. (2007). School Counselors and the Cyberbully: Interventions and Implications. Professional School Counseling. 1(11): 65-68. DOI: 10.5330/PSC.n.2010-11.65 Demidov, 2022 – Demidov, A. (2022). Mediaobrazovanie v sisteme srednego professionalnogo obrazovaniya: sostoyanie i perspektivy [Media education in the system of 558 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) secondary vocational education: state and prospects]. Sovremennoe sostoyanie mediaobrazovaniya v Rossii v kontekste mirovyh tendencij. IV International Scientific Conference. Ekaterinburg. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://ifap.ru/pr/2022/221017aa.pdf [in Russian] Demidov, 2023 – Demidov, A. (2023). Dopolnitel'noe obrazovanie detej I molodezhi v oblasti kino i animacii: problem mezhvedomstvennoj I mezhsektornoj koordinacii [Additional education of children and youth in the field of cinema and animation: problems of interdepartmental and intersectoral coordination]. Moscow. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://ipei.ranepa.ru/ru/ sobytiyaceno/6255-dopolnitelnoe-obrazovanie-detej-i-molodezhi-v-oblasti-kino-i-animatsii-problemy-mezh vedomstvennoj-i-mezhsektornoj-koordinatsii [in Russian] Dent et al., 2020 – Dent T., Comunian, R., Conor B., Pica V., Wilson N., Burlina, C. (2010). Creative and cultural workforce in Europe statistics report. DISCE Publications. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://disce.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/DISCE-ReportD3.2.b.pdf Fedorov, 1987 – Fedorov, A. (1987). "Za" I "protiv": kino ishkola [Pro and Contra: Cinema and School]. Moscow. [in Russian] Fedorov, 2004 – Fedorov, A. (2004). Mediaobrazovanie i mediagramotnost [Media education and media literacy]. Taganrog. [in Russian] Fedorov, 2023 – Fedorov A. (2023). A Thousand and one most box office Soviet movies: opinions of film critics and viewers. Moscow, 1270 p. Gálik, 2019 – Gálik, S. (2019). On human identity in cyberspace of digital media. EJTS European Journal of Transformation Studies, 7 (2): 33-44. Gáliková Tolnaiová, Gálik, 2020 – Gáliková Tolnaiová, S., Gálik, S. (2020). Cyberspace as a New Living World and Its Axiological Contexts, In Abu-Taieh, E., Mouatasim, A.E., Al Hadid, I.H. (Eds.). Cyberspace. London: Intech Open: 39-52. Gibson et al., 2000 – Gibson, P.C., Dyer, R., Kaplan, E.A., Willemen P. (eds.). (2000). Film studies: critical approaches. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 148 р. Hestanov, 2018 – Hestanov, R. (2019). Kreativnye industrii — modeli razvitiya [Creative industries — development models]. Sociologicheskoe obozrenie. 17(3): 173-196. [in Russian] Konkina et al., 2021 – Konkina, E.V., Naumenko, N.M., Shavrygina, O.S. (2021). Modelirovanie protsessa razvitiya tvorcheskogo potentsiala podrostka sredstvami mediasredy [Modeling of adolescent creative potential development by means of media]. Problemy sovremennogo pedagogicheskogo obrazovaniya. 4(70): 183-187. [in Russian] Lee, 2007 – Lee, A.Y.L. (2007). Media education, critical citizenship and public sphere: The ideal and practice of media education in Hong Kong. The Chinese Journal of Communication and Society. 3: 134-155 Levitskaya, 2022 – Levitskaya, A. (2022). Theoretical concepts of film studies in Cinema Art journal: 1956–1968. Media Education. 18(3): 390-438. DOI: 10.13187/me.2022.3.390 Lomteva et al., 2022 – Lomteva, E., Vorobyeva, N., Demidov, A. (2022). Media center as a resource for the development of general competencies of college students. Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 18(2): 266-276. DOI: 10.13187/me.2022.2.266 Lomteva, Demidov, 2023 – Lomteva, E, Demidov, A. (2023). Vnedrenie kinoobrazovaniya v uchebnyj process v SPO: meropriyatiya, sociologiya, dinamika, perspektivy [The introduction of film education into the educational process in the SPO: events, sociology, dynamics, prospects]. Modernizaciya rossijskogo obshchestva i obrazovaniya: novye ekonomicheskie orientiry, strategii upravleniya, voprosy pravoprimeneniya i podgotovki kadrov. XXIV National Scientific Conference. Taganrog. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://185.207.24.19/ufo-lib/lib_files/ AADP202307040528.pdf Razlogov, 2006 – Razlogov, K. (2006). Geopolitika kul'tury [Geopolitics of culture]. Iskusstvo kino. 8: 58-60. [in Russian] Smith et al., 2008 – Smith, P.K., Mahdavi, J., Carvalho, M, Fisher, S., Russel, S., Tippett, N. (2008). Cyberbullying: Its nature and impact in secondary school pupils. Journal of Child and Psychiatry. 49: 28. Tabatadze, 2022 – Tabatadze, L. (2022). Elektronnaya informacionno-obrazovatel'naya sreda dlya operezhayushchej podgotovki kadrov v sfere kreativnyh industrij [Electronic information and educational environment for advanced training in the field of creative industries]. Professional'noe obrazovanie i rynok truda. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24412/2307-4264-2021-0148-57 [in Russian] 559 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Thoman, 2010 – Thoman, E. (2010). Skills & strategies for media education. Los Angeles: Center for Media Literacy. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/skillsand-strategies-for-media-education Toiskin et al., 2023 – Toiskin, V.S., Krasilnikov, V.V., Korchak, K.I. (2023). Informatsionnokommunikatsionnaya kompetentnost' kak rezul'tat razvitiya informatsionnoi kul'tury posredstvom instrumentariya tsifrovoi didaktiki [Information and communication competence as a result of the development of information culture through digital didactics]. Vestnik Stavropol'skogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo instituta. 1(19): 240-252. [in Russian] Trufanov, 2023 – Trufanov, D., Voroshilov, V., Borisyuk, L., Malahovskaya, A., Cherepanova, A., Sil'viyajnen, D. (2023). Model' infrastruktury podgotovki kadrov dlya kreativnyh industrij [Model of personnel training infrastructure for creative industries]. Ekonomika truda. 10(7): 1061-1078. DOI: 10.18334/et.10.7.118661 [in Russian] Tyner, 2000 – Tyner, K. (2000). Directions and challenges for media education. The Journal of Media Literacy. 1(46): 3-6. Uvarov et al., 2019 – Uvarov, A., Frumin, I. (2019). Trudnosti i perspektivy cifrovoj transformacii obrazovaniya [Difficulties and prospects of digital transformation of education]. Moscow. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://ioe.hse.ru/data/2019/07/01/1492988034/Cifra_text.pdf?ysclid= lolm287rnb981167814 [in Russian] Wright, Wachs, 2020 – Wright, M., Wachs, S. (2020). Adolescents’ cyber victimization: the influence of technologies, gender, and gender stereotype traits. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 17(4): 1293. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17041293 560 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Copyright © 2023 by Cherkas Global University Published in the USA Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie) Issued since 2005. ISSN 1994-4160 E-ISSN 1994-4195 2023. 19(4): 561-573 DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.4.561 https://me.cherkasgu.press The Model of Cultural Identity Represented in the Soviet Cinematography of the 1920s Roman Salny a , *, Anastasiya Katrich a a Rostov State University of Economics, Russian Federation Abstract The article reflects the results of comparative hermeneutical analysis of Soviet feature films of the 1920s, including the study of cultural and historical contexts in order to consider their possible influence on the author's views, reflected in the specifics of the depiction of characters and reality, in the choice of plot motifs and other structural components of the film. Based on the results of the analysis, we describe and systematize film images, types of film characters and plot motifs that reflect the prevailing "points of view" about cultural values and traditions and characterize stereotypical models of social interaction between characters in accordance with the five types of cinematic discourse (interpersonal, artistic and aesthetic, religious and ideological, historical and cultural, mythological), which constitute the content of the structural and functional model of cultural identity developed by us. The analysis of the representation of the model of cultural identity in the Soviet art cinema of the 1920s has shown that, having lost the specific features of the national worldview that constitute the core of cultural self-consciousness, the Soviet international identity retained the characteristic features of the Russian mentality, transformed into proletarian virtues. Keywords: cinema, culture, identity, Soviet Union, 1920s. 1. Introduction In the 1920s, the Soviet Union was undergoing a "cultural revolution" that gave rise to a new system of values and new models of human behavior. This period was full of contradictions. Opposing phenomena emerged and developed in the cultural sphere: a high level of ideological commitment and the "new sexual morality" (the principles of which were developed by N. Krupskaya); ideological censorship and openness of cultural boundaries; attempts to develop proletarian culture and experimentation in art; rivalry between representatives of different styles in art and the gradual unification of culture (culminating in the formation of socialist realism in the early 1930s). In order to consolidate society, the Bolsheviks introduced ritualized state holidays, disseminated new forms of leisure activities, ideas about the family and everyday life. The socialist ideals, methods of self-consciousness and self-regulation they developed were oriented towards the creation of a proletarian international society, indivisible along national and ethnic lines. Traditional cultural values were losing their significance in maintaining the cultural identity of national societies. Russian culture was under severe attack. Its patriarchal and religious traditions were declared a remnant of the past, which was actively fought against. The role of cinema was one of the main tools in this struggle. Corresponding author E-mail addresses: [email protected] (R. Salny), [email protected] (A. Katrich) * 561 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Early Soviet cinema reflected and constructed the image of the present, which contained visual features of the standardized appearance of the "new man" and normative everyday life. The representations of the antinomies "old – new", "own – alien" and the interpersonal and social relations shown oriented the audience in the space of basic values of the emerging socialist culture and acted as identification markers for them. 2. Materials and methods The article reflects the results of a comparative hermeneutical analysis of Soviet feature films of the 1920s, including the study of cultural and historical contexts in order to consider their possible influence on the author's views, reflected in the specifics of the depiction of characters and reality, in the choice of plot motifs and other structural components of the film. The technology of hermeneutic analysis of feature films in historical and cultural contexts we used is based on the developments of A. Fedorov (Fedorov, 2013; Fedorov, 2015), A. Silverblatt (Silverblatt, 2001: 80-81), and U. Eco (Eco, 2005: 209). We interpret the structure of cultural identity as a multidimensional phenomenon that forms a unity of discursive practices reflecting traditional and innovative for public consciousness forms and ways of relations between man and man, man and society, society and nature, constituting a system of functional blocks (which we formulate as interpersonal, social and being), ontologically related to the processes of a person's search for his or her own place in society and the formation of a sense of cultural belonging. Based on the obtained results of hermeneutic analysis of Soviet feature films of the 1920s, we described and systematized film images, types of film characters and plot motifs that reflect the prevailing "points of view" about cultural values and traditions and, characterizing stereotypical models of social interaction of characters in accordance with the five types of cinematic discourse (interpersonal, artistic-aesthetic, religious-ideological, historical-cultural, mythological), constituting the content of the developed on the basis of the hermeneutic analysis of Soviet feature films of the 1920s. 3. Discussion So far, the problem of cultural identity representation in the Soviet art cinema of the 1920s has not been considered in scientific research. But at the same time, it has been indirectly touched upon by authors analyzing issues related to the reflection and construction of sociocultural reality by Soviet post-revolutionary cinema. Within the framework of this direction, they conducted research on the following topics: - A.A. Kochkina analyzes the approaches of cinematographers to the creation of the image of the revolution in Soviet silent cinema, the main character of which, as the author shows, became the rebellious masses of workers supported by the Bolshevik Party (Kochkina, 2018); - E.V. Zhbankova and S.A. Smagina focus on the problems of reflection by the Soviet cinematography of the 1920s of the changed position of women in society, the formation of a "new morality" and the destruction of the traditional foundations of the patriarchal family (Zhbankova, 2019; Smagina, 2017; 2018); - O.V. Gorbachev and L.N. Mazur cover the reflection of the struggle against religion and propaganda of atheism on the Soviet cinema screen in the 1920s. According to the authors, cinematographers show religion as a reactionary and hostile to socialist culture in order to convince viewers of the historical justice of the October Revolution (Mazur; Gorbachev, 2013); - A.E. Yakimov studies the problem of representation of everyday life in the Soviet cinema of the 1920s in the context of the socially constructive function of ideology, which, in his opinion, intervenes in the cultural space of established orders and foundations (Yakimov, 2021); - analyzing the peculiarities of the representation of everyday culture on the cinema screen of the 1920s, A.N. Soboleva and O.V. Gorbachev point to the portrayal of villagers as backward and non-self-sufficient, and urban workers as progressive and successful (Gorbachev, 2015; Soboleva, 2018); - E.A. Margolit views the creative process of young filmmakers, who met the revolution as very young people, as a "revolt against the empire" a rebellion of "young children against their fathers" (Margolit, 2021: 160). He describes the embodiment of these sentiments in the aesthetics and montage principles of Soviet silent films, symbolizing the struggle between the "new" and the "old"; 562 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) - A.V. Zyablikov conducts a historiographical analysis of the problem of the construction of social reality by means of cinematography and the formation of socio-cultural stereotypes that determined the worldview of the "new man". In his opinion, the creative process of cinematographers took place under the sign of deconstruction of existing social practices and the search for images combining utopia and real life (Zyablikov, 2022); - A.V. Smirnov and I.L. Kazakova examine the processes of formation of political discourse figures in early Soviet cinema in the context of the struggle between old-regime and revolutionary forces. Within the framework of this discourse, as the authors believe, "images of the new life are constructed without images of its builders and, especially, without images of their leaders. In fact, the emphasis is not on the person, but on the movement of the person or the movement of the machine" (Smirnov; Kazakova, 2018: 87). - E.A. Margolit, G.N. Ryabova and N.A. Khrenov analyze the problems of the influence of foreign experience (Ryabova, 2012), the processes of destruction of the traditional sacral core of culture (Khrenov, 2002), and the visualization of the "high" and "low" in the context of carnival laughter (Margolit, 2021) in Soviet post-revolutionary feature films of the comedy genre. The presence of such a variety of thematic directions in the study of early Soviet cinema is due to the global restructuring of all spheres of life that took place in the 1920s and the active development of film theory and film language. New models of behavior and forms of social relations were emerging, new ideas about the family and the role of women in society were being formed, and the everyday life of urban and rural residents was changing. Cinema not only recorded these processes, but also actively created an image of the emerging Soviet society. 4. Results Peculiarities of the historical period of feature film creation The key events of the 1920s characterized the new political order and cultural situation in the country, until 1921 (accompanied by nationalization of industry, prodrazverstka, prohibition of private trade); mass education of children and adults to read and write (the decree "On the Elimination of Illiteracy in the RSFSR" was adopted in 1919; distribution of izb-reading rooms); and mass education of children and adults to read and write (the decree "On the Elimination of Illiteracy in the RSFSR" was adopted in 1919). introduction of universal labor conscription (according to the decree of the SNK, adopted in 1920, "bourgeois elements" (former representatives of privileged estates) were to be involved in street cleaning, garbage collection, and other types of socially useful work); legalization of abortion (1920); proclamation of the principles of social security (1920). ); proclamation of the principles of social equality and abolition of estates; massive famine, which lasted from 1920 to 1923 and covered 35 provinces; creation of the AllUnion Pioneer Organization named after V.I. Lenin (May 19, 1923). ); I. Lenin (May 19, 1922); the formation of the USSR (December 30, 1922); the fight against gender inequality (December 30, 1922). ); fight against gender inequality and child homelessness; fight against the church and religion (in 1922 Patriarch Tikhon was arrested; in 1925 the Union of Militant Godless People was created; church rituals were changed to civil rituals: red christening ("oktyabrina" or "zvezdina"), weddings and funerals); destruction of the traditional patriarchal family (the authorities proclaimed the independence of women from their husbands; in 1926 the family was legally recognized as a permanent joint family. the family was legally recognized as a permanent cohabitation of a man and a woman who did not officially register their relationship); the fight against prostitution; the implementation of a "new economic policy" that gave a little economic freedom to peasants and entrepreneurs (already in the late 1920s a complete ban on private trade was introduced at the end of the 1920s); the internal political struggle that developed between Lenin's successors and their opponents; collectivization and industrialization that began in the late 1920s. The Bolsheviks had a radical view of the national question. They saw the Russian people as oppressors who carried out the forced Russification of small peoples. Therefore, part of their ideology was the struggle against Russian chauvinism. Lenin believed that it was necessary to give more rights to the inhabitants of the Soviet republics neighboring the RSFSR, and, released from the tsarist "prison of nations" (in 1914 in the newspaper "Social-Democrat" he published an article "On the national pride of the Great Russians"). Stalin (from 1917 to 1923 he was People's Commissar for Nationalities) saw the danger in the unity of the people around the Russian power and considered it a threatening factor for proletarian internationalism. Thus, already at the beginning of the Soviet era, provisions were formulated on the basis of which the Communist Party 563 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) pursued a policy supporting social, cultural and economic donations to the supposedly "oppressed" nationalities. The establishment of the Soviet state was accompanied by the creation of new classes of workers and peasants, social groups of employees, the renaming of streets and cities, factories and plants, the emergence of new names, rituals, and traditions, the unfolding of a movement of mass artistic creation exposing the vices of the "old" regime and glorifying socialism. Public organizations and state bodies were engaged in the formation of a new image of the country of workers and peasants. Already in 1917, the Proletkult was founded, a mass organization aimed at developing and spreading the new communist culture. Proletkult staked on the openly class content of culture and rejected the old cultural heritage (Yudin, 2001: 17-18). In the same year, the Narkompros was established, which managed educational activities at all levels and supervised virtually all spheres of cultural life, including science, cinema, literature, and other areas. In 1920, the Agitprop was established under the Central Committee of the RCP(b) (later the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union) to manage agitation and propaganda of communist ideas. The period of the 1920s was a transitional stage. There was an ideological struggle between the "old" and the "new," and a totalitarian political regime had not yet been established. The economic, (in fact, the country had a market economy), and cultural (creative freedom controlled by ideological censorship) situation opened up great opportunities for filmmakers to experiment with film language. Directors passionate about revolutionary ideas created the Soviet school of montage, which was recognized worldwide. The authorities attached great importance to the cinema. It was assigned one of the key roles in disseminating the ideas of social equality and justice, communicating to a wide audience the goals of building a socialist society and solving educational tasks. At the "new stage, the general task becomes the communist education of the entire mass of workers, the deep remodeling of the consciousness of millions, their ideological preparation for active participation in the construction of socialist society. ... Already in the first months of peaceful construction V.I. Lenin hastened the restoration and development of the film business" (Lebedev, 1965: 100). Despite the production of a large number of entertaining films in the 1920s, the themes of the movies were increasingly linked to the tasks of ideological education of the Soviet audience. The myth of the October Revolution and the Civil War (Sickle and Hammer (1921), Red Devils (1923), Battleship Potemkin (1925), Mother (1926), etc.) was constructed in cinema. From classic works of literature, cinematographers extracted plots of exploitation of peasants by landlords and peasant uprisings (Magpie the Thief (1920), The Overcoat (1926), Gentlemen of Skotinin (1927), The Captain's Daughter (1928), etc.). Meanwhile, in the 1920s, the ideological line was constantly undergoing significant changes. In 1923, the practice of supplementing film screenings with lectures and commentaries on the construction of socialism began to spread throughout the country to somewhat correct ideologically outdated feature films in relation to new attitudes. Political events and socio-cultural phenomena contributed to the emergence of the idea and the process of creating Soviet feature films of the 1920s. During these years , films were shot about the exploits of teenagers and Red Army soldiers in the Civil War (On the Red Front (1920), Ataman Khmel (1923), The Red Devils (1923), the Gold Reserve (1925), the Forty -first (1926), Zvenigora (1927), Vanka and the Avenger (1928), etc.), the revolution (Stachka (1924), Battleship Potemkin (1925), Mother (1926), October (1927), etc.), the struggle of pioneers against the vestiges of the past (Vanka – Young Pioneer (1924), Island of Young Pioneers (1924), Little and Big (1928), Tanka the Tavernkeeper (1929), etc.), new relations in the family and the position of women in society (Prostitute (1926), Parisian Cobbler (1927), The Third Meshchanskaya (1927), etc.), the struggle against religion (About Pop Pankrat, Aunt Domna and a revealed icon in Kolomna (1918), The Miracle Worker (1922), A Poor Man's Worth – A Fist in the Side (Defense of the Peasant) (1924), The Old Man Vasily Gryaznov (1924), The Cross and the Mauser (1925), etc.), and others. The influence of historical events on the process of creating Soviet feature films of the 1920s In the post-revolutionary period, cinematographers took an active part in the enlightenment and education of a wide audience. They not only reflected many social problems on the screen but also constructed an image of the new reality. They focused on both the events of the recent historical past and the phenomena of the new Soviet life. 564 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) In the first decade of its existence, the USSR was open to Western countries. Soviet filmmakers engaged in cultural dialogue with their foreign colleagues, benefiting from the experience and discoveries of American and European film schools. Most of the comedy and adventure genre films of this period do not have ideological attitudes, but at the same time, there are many similarities with American films. For example, the films of L. Kuleshov (The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (1924)), Y. Zhelyabuzhsky (Cigarette Saleswoman from Mosselprom (1924), S. Komarov (The Kiss of Mary Pickford (1927), and other directors are shot with the use of quick editing, full of ridiculous situations, chases, shootouts, swindles, and seductions – the techniques of early Hollywood cinema. After coming to power, the Bolsheviks began to eradicate the traditions of the "old" regime, actively destroying the patriarchal foundations of the family, making private family life public. Cinematography was sensitive to these painful changes. In focus were acute social themes: adultery, abortion, and emancipation of women. In the movie Katya – Paper Rennet (1926), a girl, being pregnant, invites a homeless man to stay overnight, who will later replace her newborn son's father. The heroine of the picture The Girl with the Box (1927), wanting to help a barely known man, marries him. In the film Paris Shoemaker (1927), Komsomol Katya betrays her lover, believing that "fiddling with diapers" is shameful. In the movie The Third Meshchanskaya (1927), two men cohabit with a woman. Learning of her pregnancy, they decide that there is only one way out – to do "abortion in hoarding". The hero of the movie The Fragment of Empire (1929), coming from the not-too-distant past to modern Moscow, is surprised by the changed women's fashion: short skirts, pantyhose, heeled shoes. Soviet cinematography of the 1920s told the story of the cooperative activities of peasants, the struggle against private shopkeepers and traders. Collective forms of economic activity were contrasted with the private trade of nepmen and kulaks. For example, the film Everybody's Joy (1924) tells the story of the return of a demobilized Red Army soldier who, "with the help of peasants and a village worker, ... established cooperative trade and completely displaced the kulak" (Soviet..., 1961: 55). In the film The Cutter from Torzhok (1925), a shopkeeper who ruthlessly exploits poor townspeople complains to an acquaintance that all customers leave him for a cooperative shop. In the movie Moroka (Two Forces) (1925), Komsomol members from the village fight against private merchants, mocking them in caricatures and wall newspapers, and encouraging local residents to confront them. In the 1920s, the propaganda of atheism and the fight against religion became more and more widespread. The cinematography actively exploited anti-religious subjects. Priests appear on the movie screen as swindlers (The Old Man Vasily Gryaznov (1924), stand on the side of class enemies – kulaks, helping them to rule over the peasants and deceive them (To a poor man in good time – to a kulak in the side (1924), Dzhalma (1928)). Church values are used to solve financial problems (The Miracle Worker (1922), and the Catholic priesthood harbors spies (The Cross and the Mauser (1925). In S. Eisenstein's movie Battleship Potemkin (1925) in the episode with the impending execution of sailors a priest is shown looking like a hermit sorcerer. His gesture of putting the cross on the palm of his hand symbolizes the movement of the executioner, cutting off the head of those condemned to execution with a sword. The events of the October Revolution and the Civil War were the main materials for mythmaking in Soviet cinema. The authorities, seeing the need to form a "correct" understanding of revolutionary ideas among Soviet citizens, and above all, among peasants, formulated a state order for the creation of films. Filmmakers were to vilify class enemies and idealize freedom fighters. In most cases, they did not follow historical truth in doing so. The films of the classics of Soviet avant-garde cinema: A. Dovzhenko (Arsenal (1928), V. Pudovkin (Mother (1926), The End of St. Petersburg (1927), S. Eisenstein (Stachka (1924), Battleship Potemkin (1925), October (1927)) and other directors are devoted to the theme of the revolutionary struggle. They portrayed revolutionary events in an epic manner. The hero of their films was the people who rose up against the cruel landlords and tsarist officers who oppressed workers, peasants and sailors. The events of the Civil War were romanticized by cinematography (Ataman Khmel (1923), Red Devils (1923), Batya Knysh's Gang (1924), Red Partisans (1924), Savur-grave (1926), Bay of Death (1926), Forty First (1926), etc.). The Red Army soldiers were portrayed as intelligent, disciplined, and fearless, using cunning to achieve success with ease. White Guards, saboteurs and conspirators were portrayed as arrogant and shameless, drinking and flirting, and always defeated. 565 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Soviet silent films reflected the idea of the progressive influence of the city on the village. In many feature films of those years, there are motifs of educating villagers (Pretty Harita (1927), Mari Kujer (1928), Life is Laughing (1928), etc.). Young communists instill in them a love for cultural leisure, fashionable clothing, sports, teach them new forms of collective farming, help them to fight against patriarchal vestiges, etc. The relative economic independence and private ownership of the peasant family determined the negative attitude of the Soviet authorities towards it. The struggle against the traditional peasant way of life became one of the plot motifs of Soviet films already in the 1920s. For example, the picture by S. Eisenstein Old and New (1929) shows how the organization of a dairy artel and collective farming transforms life in the village. One of the directions of the Bolshevik cultural revolution was universal enlightenment. Movies for children's audiences were created with an educational purpose – to form a worldview based on the basic principles of socialist ideology. In them, the main characters – children and teenagers – are class fighters, builders of socialism. Art films of the silent era of Soviet cinema popularized the new ideology, creating the image of a schoolboy (pioneer) – a participant in the process of socialist construction (Island of Young Pioneers (1924), Vanka – Young Pioneer (1924), Little and Big (1928), Tanka the Tavernkeeper (1929), etc.). With their courageous actions and ability to put the collective interests above their own, the characters of these films achieve recognition among the collective of peers and young pioneers. Pioneer groups help teenagers overcome the harmful influence of the family, which imposes vicious outdated views on life. Ideology and worldview of the authors of feature films in the sociocultural context In the 1920s, a communist ideology based on an atheistic worldview was officially established in the country. Russian was transformed into Soviet, Orthodox into Communist. Church rituals were renamed (there were, for example, red christening ("oktyabrina" or "zvezdina") weddings, funerals); churches were rebuilt into working clubs, gyms, Palaces of Culture, cinemas and other municipal buildings, in which boiled bright and happy Soviet life; martyrs appeared, who sacrificed themselves for the victory of the proletariat; the figure of Lenin was sacralized (in 1924 his mausoleum was erected). "However, the process of formalization of the new religion was not, and could not be completed, because it lacked a very important quality inherent in all religious doctrines - an appeal to a specific person, his inner world" (Mazur; Gorbachev, 2013: 41). The Bolsheviks sought to break the link with the patriarchal past, with the traditional culture, and to consign to oblivion the meanings and ideals it had preserved. The concept of soul, one of the main concepts of Russian mentality, became an anachronism. It was believed that "from the soul one can reach faith, God" (Zalkind, 1927, p. 170), so its understanding changed fundamentally. It began to be considered a reflection of the psyche, and writers were called "engineers of human souls". The concept of sin associated with individual responsibility before God was forgotten. Now morality became public and one could harm collective interests rather than one's own soul. The Bolsheviks not only destroyed the core of culture formed on the basis of Orthodox traditions and values, but also severed ties with the cultural and historical past. The Proletkult, for example, imposed a ban on filmmakers turning to folkloric subjects related to the sacred concept of existence. Its violation led to the withdrawal from distribution of Yu. Zhelyabuzhsky's fairy tale Morozko (1924). The appeal to the past was possible only to justify and justify the class struggle. If in the pre-revolutionary years the opposition between good and evil was associated with the divine and the devil, now it was interpreted in the context of proletarian morality. The new idea of justice was well expressed by the well-known slogan: "Peace to the huts, war to the palaces!", which called for the harshest actions. One of the organizers of Soviet film production, IP Traynin, at the end of the 1920s. wrote: "We are not "Tolstovtsy", and the phrase "do not kill" is alien to us. We are not prudes and, if necessary, kill in the interests of the class and see nothing reprehensible in the fact that such topics are treated in theaters and movies. ... It is necessary that violence be justified logically and convincingly by the vital interests of the class" (Traynin, 1928: 43). According to Soviet ideology, goods should be public and belong to the people. This was the highest ideal on which the new communist religion was based. Belief in it gave rise to "an outbreak of religious exaltation" (Khrenov, 2006: 497), accompanied by the release of destructive passionary energy. According to N.A. Khrenov, "the peculiarity of the Russian Revolution and Bolshevik ideology in general was that it saw an explosion of chiliastic consciousness, coloring this popular 566 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) tragedy with religious connotations, which was not slow to manifest itself in the cinema, determining its aura here" (Khrenov, 2013: 201). The first post-revolutionary decade saw the transformation of the system of traditional cultural values. Not all of them were rejected. The Soviet authorities used the basic national needs for justice, contempt for hoarding and bourgeoisie to form the basis for a new cultural identity. The principles of social justice and people's power formed the basis of communist ideology. Other cultural values, however, underwent marked changes. For example, social interests begin to outweigh moral, ethical norms; the role of action and the role of contemplation and the need for spiritual, inner quests associated with the irrational way of cognition increases; a materialistic worldview based on rationalistic and mechanistic thinking is formed; "sincerity, sympathy, compassion for man" is replaced by "communist principledness, rigidity and uncompromising..." (Rassadina, 2019: 267). The worldview of the people of the world depicted in Soviet feature films of the 1920s In most Soviet feature films of the 1920s, the plot is based on the confrontation between two types of worldview: the "old" worldview, represented by landlords, nobles, and priests, and the "new" worldview, personified by revolutionary peasants, workers, and soldiers fighting for equality and justice. The insolvency and illiteracy of the villagers, the technical underdevelopment of rural farms and industries, and the homelessness of children were perceived as phenomena resulting from the functioning of the old regime. The orders and norms established by the Soviet authorities were perceived as the only possible means of correcting these shortcomings. The positive characters of Soviet feature films of the silent era were characterized by belief in the ideals of communism, atheism, a keen sense of justice, the primacy of public interests over personal interests, sacrifice for the common good, hard work, heroism, honesty, intolerance of class enemies. The main stereotype of success was the characters' actions aimed at achieving goals that corresponded to these values. Depicting the world of feature films After 1917, the country experienced large-scale changes in all spheres of social and cultural life. The everyday life and life of urban dwellers was visibly changing. In the feature films of the early Soviet era, "the limitedness and insularity of private life is contrasted with the horizon of the new Soviet, collective everyday life aimed at the common achievement of a "bright" future. Collectivity and belonging to a common time appears as a liberation of the individual from the stifling bourgeois everyday life and closed spaces" (Yakimov, 2021: 144-145). On the Soviet silent screen, urban space becomes the arena of socialist construction and proletarian struggle. Episodes with idle people are less and less common, and more and more frequently depict construction workers, janitors, shopkeepers, and other professions engaged in their labor. The masses move through the city streets, violently repelling the tsarist police and army. The first Soviet films about the Revolution and the Civil War were characterized by a high rhythm created by fast editing and slow motion. Accelerated movement on the screen conveys not only the state of the revolutionary-minded mass of people, but also the experiences of that part of society that participated in the class struggle that took place among peers, in the family, in the labor collective. In the 1920s, views on art were changing. During this period, Soviet constructivism was actively developing in painting and architecture, which was characterized by schematism, utilitarianism, functionality. Its features were borrowed by young filmmakers (most of them were under 25 years old), who created the cinematic language of avant-garde Soviet cinema. For example, they used metaphorical and symbolic images that juxtaposed people and machines (statues, animals, etc.), static and dynamic episodes, edited shots depicting masses moving in vertical, horizontal, or opposite diagonal directions, and other techniques. On the screen, they constructed the image of a "new" man – socially determined, subject to the rhythms of large-scale shifts, fundamental changes and impending industrialization. The class of workers and peasants oppressed by the landlords becomes one of the main film characters of the 1920s. In the festive and carnival action, he destroys the classical images of monumental Russian sculpture symbolizing patriarchal society, tsarist power, and the father. He perceives monumentality as an ossified world, "immobile and insisting on its immutability" (Margolit, 2021: 160). "The revolt against the Empire," writes E.A. Margolit, "turns out to be the revolt of young children against their fathers. The notions of 'Father' and 'Fatherland' reveal their 567 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) direct kinship with the image of imperial oppression" (Margolit, 2021: 160). In N.A. Khrenov's opinion, "the overthrown authority of the father is read in the overthrown monument to Alexander III in the movie October..." (Khrenov, 2006: 491). Meanwhile, the archetype of the father, which is destroyed in the post-revolutionary period, will not be lost, but will be transferred to Stalin, who usurps power. Stalin will appear at the center of the world, his postures and gestures will be monumental. He – will embody the wise "father of nations". In the 1930–1950s monumentality will become an integral part of Soviet art. Narrative structure and techniques in Soviet feature films of the 1920s Place and time of action The time period of the films: the recent past (the main events of the Revolution and the Civil War, the depiction of which often does not correspond to reality) and the present (the 1920s). The events depicted take place in the Soviet Union, in urban or rural areas. Characteristic furnishings and everyday objects: workplaces, factory premises, streets, houses of towns and villages. The furnishings of the apartments and houses of workers and peasants are modest, ascetic, and in some cases emphasized as shabby; those of kulaks, landlords, and nepmans are rich, refined, and flamboyant. Genre modifications: drama, (melodrama), comedy, adventure, political and propaganda movie. Stereotypical methods of depicting reality: positive characters are idealized. They act with optimism and faith in a "bright future". Negative characters are arrogant, angry, discontented. The events of the "old time" are portrayed mainly in a tragic and satirical way. As a rule, the characters' daily lives are presented in two main ways, representing the exploiting class and the exploited class. Character Typology: - Social status, profession: most of the positive characters belong to the working class and peasants. Negative characters in most films are former noblemen and representatives of the bourgeoisie, police and military officers of tsarist Russia, and priests. - Character's marital status: more often than not, marital status is not defined, but many films show a complete family as a sign of the order and strength of socialist society. Some films depict polygamous relationships consistent with the "new morality". - The appearance, clothing, physique of characters, and their character traits. The main character traits of positive characters in the films include: energy, initiative, determination, perseverance, courage, revolutionary spirit, self-confidence, optimism, bravery, selflessness, hard work. Their appearance is simple and ascetic. They wear peasant and work clothes, do morning exercises and take cold showers. Full of energy and athletically built young men are contrasted with the flabby and swaggering nepmans. The negative characters, in most cases of non-proletarian origin, exhibit the opposite qualities: laziness, greed, avarice, idleness, exploitation. Some films emphasize the flaws in the appearance of officials (rotten teeth) and signs of their class affiliation (pince-nez, beard, vest with a chain, bowler). Kulaks are portrayed as round-faced, obese, cleanly dressed and arrogant. There are significant differences in the depiction of peasant and urban characters and their families. Peasant families work for the kulak, live in poverty, and do hard work every day. In their house there are hungry and barefoot children, a powerless wife endures beatings from her husband. Urban families live modestly, their life and leisure time are organized (they set the table for breakfast and dinner, read newspapers, play checkers, sing to the guitar, etc.) men do exercises, take cold showers. A woman's appearance depends on her place in society. Urban women often sacrifice family to serve public interests. On the screen they smoke (a sign of emancipation), wear shortened hairstyles with a "cold wave", elegant dresses, heeled shoes. Meanwhile, the created image of the "femme fatale" was still considered a deviation from the norm, embodied by the worker-peasant type. The model of cultural identity represented in the Soviet cinematography of the 1920s The pre-revolutionary model of cultural identity was losing its relevance, while ideas about a new cultural identity were just beginning to take shape. The emerging social organism had not yet taken holistic forms. It had only begun to develop something around which this wholeness could emerge – a revolutionary narrative that included a mythological basis for constructing a consistent image of the world. 568 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) The following model of cultural identity represented by Soviet cinema of the 1920s includes five types of cinematic discourse: interpersonal, artistic-aesthetic, religious-ideological, historicalcultural, and mythological. The interpersonal type of cinematic discourse The relationship between the characters who support revolutionary, proletarian ideas shows emotional openness and sincerity. They are characterized by an attitude of trust and reciprocity. Strategies of their communicative behavior are based on the desire to achieve complete mutual understanding. "Opening the soul" to another, the characters often do not restrain themselves in expressing feelings. For example, they can embrace or pat on the shoulder, a little known person. Many positive characters in Soviet silent films are characterized by modesty and directness in communication. The embodiment of such traits becomes the protagonist of B. Barnet's film House on Trubnaya (1928) Paranya – a village girl, naive, kind and sympathetic. Her image strongly contrasts with the image of the spectacular and fashionably dressed maid Marishka. In her actions, she acts irrationally, giving herself entirely to emotions, "the call of the heart". So in one of the episodes, she runs out onto the theater stage and beats the "murderer" with a broom, and then, spreading her arms out to the sides, selflessly shouts "hurrah!". The characters' communication displays a trait peculiar to the Russian mentality – reliance on the opinion of others. For example, negative characters sarcastically mock and joke about people they do not know in order to amuse a group of friends. Positive characters appeal to public opinion when defending their position in a dispute with "dissenters". The artistic and aesthetic type of cinematic discourse was constructed by images of man and the environment he lives in. The silent Soviet cinema created an image of the "new man". What should he be like? The answer to this question was sought by both Soviet ideologists and the filmmakers themselves. The image of the peasant did not correspond to the idea of a progressive builder of the socialist future. The peasantry was considered a relic of the past. This role was more suitable for a city dweller. On the movie screen, the image of a "new man" ("new Adam" (D. Vertov believed that with the help of the "movie eye", mounting different parts of the body, creates a man more perfect than Adam)) was constructed - reorganizer of the world and "new woman" ("new Eve") – free from domestic cares and duties. "New Man" was physically strong, brave, and determined, ready to endure any trials and sacrifice himself for the greater good. He was part of the social "We". Therefore, he was ignorant of the torments of conscience and internal contradictions in which the individual "I" plunges. His sensual world was organized by the socio-political order. However, not all the positive characters of the films of this period fit into this canon. Through the thickness of ideological norms, attitudes, and values, characters with a living soul broke through. Such are, for example, the heroes of the paintings of F. Ermler. One of them – Vadka Zavrazhin (character of actor Fyodor Nikitin) from the film Katya – Paper Rennet (1926) embodies the image of a pathetic and humble man, reminiscent, according to N.M. Zorkaya (Zorkaya, 2014), of Prince Leo Myshkin – the hero of the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky, The Idiot. He faithfully and nobly cares for Katya and her newborn son. In another film by F. Ermler, Paris Shoemaker (1927), Fedor Nikitin plays a deaf-mute, weak-minded shoemaker named Kirik Rudenko, defending the honor of the deceived heroine. The appearance of these characters speaks to the strength of the traditions of Russian culture on which communist ideology rested. Meanwhile, rejecting the picture of the patriarchal world and its ideas about the soul, filmmakers began to create a psychology based on a mechanistic worldview. For example, S. Eisenstein, who was influenced by the ideas of V.M. Bekhterev and I.P. Pavlov in the field of reflexology, poetizes machines (battleship Potemkin, tractor, separator, etc.). The movement of the masses in his films takes on a mechanical appearance. Soviet cinematographers of the 1920s were not interested in the aesthetic properties of the subjects they filmed, but in their texture. The attraction to the beautiful was considered a sign of the "old" bourgeois culture. For the proletarian class, the main thing was simplicity and practicality. The inner world of the "new man" should be shaped by the external environment, materialistic stimuli. Therefore, the life of urban dwellers on the movie screen was characterized by utilitarianism and functionality. The aesthetics of the Soviet film avant-garde was strongly influenced by the struggle between "old" and "new". On the cinema screen it was embodied in the opposing images of a lively and 569 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) dynamic new world with a world "ossified, immobile and insisting on its immutability" (Margolit, 2021: 160). For example, in the movie Katya – Paper Rennet (1926), the squalor of urban dwellings contrasts strongly with the monuments referring to the grandeur of the bygone era. Religious-ideological type of cinematic discourse. In post-revolutionary Soviet feature films, anti-religious propaganda was actively carried out. The cinematography created a negative image of the priest in order to destroy the reverent feelings towards the ministers of the church and to form a hostile attitude towards them. Representatives of the clergy were portrayed as greedy and hypocritical, seeking profit by deceit and meanness, ingratiating themselves with those in power and manipulating parishioners. The revolutionary ascetics in the 1920s had not yet acquired a sacred image, and communist ideology had not yet been transformed into a religious worldview. Meanwhile, the Christian roots characteristic of Russian cultural consciousness were reflected in the Soviet cinema of that time. Thus, according to E.Y. Margolit's observations, "the mortally wounded Vakulenchuk in Battleship Potemkin hangs on the ropes, spreading his arms like a crucified man. The composition of the shot where the sailors lift the dead man to the deck is built as a removal from the cross, and the figures of women near Vakulenchuk's body on the breakwater refer to the compositions of the Pieta" (Margolit, 2021: 164). It is obvious that S. Eisenstein did not use New Testament subjects with the aim of preserving ties with traditional culture. He was interested in them for completely different reasons. In his worldview, the communist ideology appears as a new religion, bringing salvation to people, and the characters who sacrifice themselves, become new martyrs. Eisenstein gives traditional religious ceremonies the features of falsity. For example, the procession and prayer service for rain in his film The Old and the New (1929) is shown as an archaic pagan ritual. Historical and cultural type of cinematic discourse In the 1920s, ethnographic documentary cinematography constructed an image of a multinational country actively developing under the new conditions of socialist construction. One of the most large-scale in terms of coverage of the territories where filming was carried out was the picture by D. Vertov The Sixth Part of the World (1926). It depicts not only the revolutionary struggle of the working class, but also its everyday life: harvesting flax in the northern regions, growing sheep in the Caucasian republics, harvesting wheat in the southern region, loading ships in ports and much more. Early Soviet art cinema, unlike documentary cinema, was not oriented toward creating an image of socialist, international culture. Its main subjects were devoted to the themes of civil war and revolution, changes in moral norms, social and everyday life. Depicting the events of the Civil War and the Revolution, cinematographers emphasized in every possible way the gulf between the officers of the tsarist army, landlords and soldiers, workers and peasants. In many films (Sickle and Hammer (1921), Red Devils (1923), Battleship Potemkin (1925), Mother (1926), etc.) White Guards and landlords drink, flirt, behave carelessly and arrogantly towards their subordinates, exploit and brutally suppress the proletarian class, which turns into a revolutionary mass - the protagonist of Soviet silent cinema. The people sought to restore social justice not only in the revolutionary struggle, but also in labor, production activities. In some films, in the organization of collective farms, the main role is played by women. For example, in the picture of S. Eisenstein Old and New (1929) Marfa Lapkina solves the problems of establishing in the village dairy artel, helps to get a tractor for its needs. The change in the social role of women in the 1920s was one of the most significant signs of cultural transformation, which had a dual character. The Soviet cinema of that time created two fundamentally different female images. In the urban space, it depicted a young Komsomol member or a beautiful city dweller wearing elegant clothes, fashionable hairstyles, heeled shoes, and busy organizing her own life - studying at an institute, working at a factory or plant. The village space showed a woman struggling against the patriarchal patterns of the past, defending her own independence and socialist ideals. She was characterized by masculine features reflecting her firm character and inner strength. The introduction of a new "sexual morality", according to which the love of Soviet citizens knows no jealousy and marital fidelity is a manifestation of bourgeoisie, was disastrous for family life in the post-revolutionary period. The Soviet movie screen of the 1920s showed a dramatic and tragic story of the destruction of the family. For example, in the films Your friend (1927), The Parisian Cobbler (1927), The Third Meshchanskaya (1927), and Ukhaby (1928), families 570 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) disintegrate under the pressure of the norms of the "new morality," which proclaimed freedom of sexual relations and married life. Notable changes took place in the everyday life of the urban population. The Bolshevik program of "densification" envisaged the settlement of the proletariat in apartments and houses which in the recent past had belonged to private owners. Now strangers, or city dwellers who had previously belonged to different estates, were settled in them. In this way, private life began to transform into public life. The new everyday life and the new everyday life are portrayed from different angles in B. Barnet's The House on Trubnaya (1928) and A. Rohm's The Third Meshchanskaya (1927). Both directors create an image of collective urban space. But while in Barnet's film it coexists in unity and harmony with the domestic space, in A. Rohm's, they are opposed and in conflict. The protagonists of The Third Meshchanskaya - Lyudmila's husband and lover, who are totally immersed in the disconnected space of a large socialist construction site, lose sensitivity to her inner world, which has shrunk to the confines of one small room. A mythological type of cinematic discourse Physicalism, which underlies the communist worldview, determines the essence of mythologization carried out by cinema. The sacral notions of mother earth and the forces of nature, which had recently existed, are rejected. The reality depicted on the movie screen loses its metaphysical dimension. Symbolized and symbolizing phenomena are now present in the mundane world. For example, the films of D. Vertov and S. Eisenstein juxtapose mechanisms, machines and animals, people. There is their desire to fetishize technology, embodying the myth of the world generated by technical progress. "By revealing the souls of machines," writes D. Vertov, "by making the worker fall in love with the machine, by making the peasant fall in love with the tractor, by making the machinist fall in love with the locomotive, we bring creative joy to every mechanical labor, we make people kin to machines, we bring up new people" (Vertov, 1966: 47). 5. Conclusion In the post-revolutionary period, the Soviet Union actively fought against traditional culture. The new authorities rejected not only "noble" but also folk culture – Russian folklore (ditties, songs, dances, etc.). Now ideology became the basis on which new concepts were developed, forming the basic elements of collective experience. The concepts of holiday, labor, everyday life, death, family and others lost their sacredness and were filled with new content reflecting socialist values. Ritual processions and demonstrations became a state holiday, creating the illusion of approaching a "bright future". Labor embodied the collective force aimed at building a "new" world. Life was organized, simplicity and asceticism reigned. Death was supplanted by the utopian worldview of the Bolsheviks creating a society of vigorous and healthy people. The family was undergoing a great deal of destruction. Its main purpose was now to serve class interests, the home was transformed into a collective dormitory with unfamiliar neighbors, the mother was no longer its guardian, and the upbringing of children was handled by the state. All these changes led to the transformation of relations between man and man (interpersonal functional block), man and society (social functional block), society and nature (being functional block). The interpersonal relations of positive characters in Soviet feature films of the 1920s maintain the traditional Russian cultural attitude of trust and reciprocity, a commitment to close and relaxed, emotional and open communication. For example, they are expressive and impulsive in their addresses and statements, unrestrained in showing friendly feelings. However, this openness of interpersonal relations is an external form of manifestation of closeness between the characters. Its inner form remains inaccessible to Soviet post-revolutionary cinema, which did not create "silent scenes" that capture the poetics of silence and express the deep connection between the characters. In the 1920s, the Soviet cinema screen reflected and constructed new forms of relations between man and society. Cinema played one of the key roles in crystallizing the image of a "new man" who possessed the characteristics of Russian cultural identity: selflessness, aspiration for collectivism, and service to society. These traits were endowed to the hero of the films of D. Vertov, L. Kuleshov, V. Pudovkin, S. Eisenstein, and other directors. He occupied a central place in the social class structure of society, which had clear boundaries dividing it into "their own" (workers, peasants, etc.) and "strangers" (bourgeoisie, bourgeoisie, kulaks, priests, etc.). The materialistic worldview and belief in technological progress that prevailed at the dawn of the Soviet era caused changes in the relationship between society and nature. The films of this 571 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) period developed the idea of the significant advantages of technology, which increased the possibilities of collective economic activity. The tractor, automobile or separator demonstrated on the screen were animated, exuding the vital energy of the "new" life. People and machines on the screen turned into one big mechanism building socialism. The panoramic world of construction and urbanization created an image that embodied the aspiration to elevate man above nature, which was an indicator of changes in the national cultural consciousness. The vertical metaphysical dimension and horizontal spatial balance inherent in the Russian worldview were losing their positions. Deprived of the metaphysical basis, the desire for a higher meaning and higher truth was transformed into a belief in the construction of a just society in which universal happiness would be achieved. The analysis of the representation of the model of cultural identity in the Soviet art cinema of the 1920s has shown that, having lost the specific features of the national worldview that constitute the core of cultural self-consciousness, the Soviet international identity retained the characteristic features of the Russian mentality, transformed into proletarian virtues. 6. Acknowledgements This research was funded by the grant of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF, project No. 23-28-00128) at Rostov State University of Economics. Project theme: “Transformation of the Model of Cultural Identity Represented in Soviet and Russian Cinematography in the 20th – Early 21st Centuries”. Head of the project is R.V. Salny. References Eco, 2005 – Eco, U. (2005). The Role of the Reader. Studies on the Semiotics of the Text. St. Petersburg. Fedorov, 2013 – Fedorov, A (2013). Transformacii obraza Rossii na zapadnom ekrane: ot epohi ideologicheskoj konfrontacii (1946-1991) do sovremennogo etapa (1992-2010) [Transformation of the Image of Russia on the Western Screen: from the Epoch of Ideological Confrontation (1946-1991) to the Modern Stage (1992-2010)]. Moscow. [in Russian] Fedorov, 2015 – Fedorov, A. (2015). Mediaobrazovanie: istoriya i teoriya [Media Education: History and Theory]. Moscow: Information for All. [in Russian] Gorbachev, 2015 – Gorbachev, O. (2015). Sovetskij hudozhestvennyj kinematograf kak istoricheskij dokument: osobennosti analiza i interpretacii [Soviet art cinema as a historical document: peculiarities of analysis and interpretation]. Document. Archive. History. Modernity. 15: 126-136. [in Russian] Khrenov, 2002 – Khrenov N. (2002). Kul'tura v epohu social'nogo haosa [Culture in the era of social chaos]. Moscow. [in Russian] Khrenov, 2006 – Khrenov, N. (2006). Kino: reabilitaciya arhetipicheskoj real'nosti. [Cinema: rehabilitation of archetypal reality]. Мoscow. [in Russian] Khrenov, 2013 – Khrenov, N. (2013). Kino v funkcii formirovaniya i podderzhaniya kollektivnoj identichnosti (case study) [Cinema in the function of forming and maintaining collective identity (case study)]. Cinema and Collective Identity. Moscow: 66-208. [in Russian] Kochkina, 2018 – Kochkina A. (2018). Sovetskij istoriko-revolyucionnyj fil'm kak sredstvo formirovaniya massovyh predstavlenij o 1917 gode [Soviet historical-revolutionary film as a means of forming mass representations about 1917] Soviet Project. 1917-1930s: stages and mechanisms of realization: a collection of scientific works Federation. Ekaterinburg: 68-73. [in Russian] Lebedev, 1965 – Lebedev N. (1965). Ocherki istorii kino SSSR. Nemoe kino: 1918-1934 gody [Ocherki istorii kino SSSR. Silent Cinema: 1918-1934 years]. Moscow. [in Russian] Margolit, 2021 – Margolit, E. (2021). Sovetskij kinoavangard: ot uslovnoj real'nosti k zhiznennomu materialu [Soviet cinema avant-garde: from conventional reality to life material]. Koinon. 2 (1): 148-167. DOI: 10.15826/koinon.2021.02.1.007 [in Russian] Mazur, Gorbachev, 2013 – Mazur, L., Gorbachev O. (2013). Vizual'nye reprezentacii religioznoj zhizni sovetskogo obshchestva v hudozhestvennom kinematografe 1920-1980-h gg.: istochnikovedcheskij analiz [Visual representations of religious life of the Soviet society in the art cinema 1920-1980s: source analysis]. Vestnik Vyatskogo universiteta. 3(1): 40-52. [in Russian] Rassadina, 2019 – Rassadina, T. (2019). Tendencii ameliorizma v poslerevolyucionnoj Rossii [Tendencies of ameliorism in post-revolutionary Russia]. Socialno-gumanitarnye znaniya. 2: 262-271. [in Russian] 572 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Ryabova, 2012 – Ryabova, G. (2012). Sovetskaya kinokomediya 1920-h gg. kak fenomen smekhovoj kul'tury [Soviet film comedy of the 1920s as a phenomenon of laughter culture]. Izvestiya PSPU. 27: 54-57. [in Russian] Silverblatt, 2001 – Silverblatt, A. (2001). Media Literacy. Westport, Connecticut – London: Praeger. Smagina, 2017 – Smagina, S. (2017). "Novaya moral'" v sovetskom kinematografe 1920-h gg ["New morality" in the Soviet cinematography of the 1920s]. Manuscript. 12-4(86): 165-169. [in Russian] Smagina, 2018 – Smagina, S. (2018). Ekrannaya reprezentaciya "novoj zhenshchiny" v sovetskom kinematografe 20-h gg. [Screen representation of the "new woman" in the Soviet cinematography of the 1920s]. Artikult. 4(32): 174-181. [in Russian] Smirnov, Kazakova, 2018 – Smirnov, A., Kazakova, I. (2018). Konstruirovanie figur politicheskogo diskursa v sovetskom kinematografe 1920-h gg. [Constructing figures of political discourse in the Soviet cinematography of the 1920s]. International Journal of Cultural Studies. 3(32): 80-88. [in Russian] Soboleva, 2018 – Soboleva, A. (2018). Bytovaya kul'tura sovetskih gorozhan v 1920-1930-e gg. [Domestic culture of the Soviet townspeople in 1920-1930s. Bulletin of BSU. 3: 20-25. [in Russian] Soviet…, 1961 – Soviet feature films. Annotated catalog: Silent films (1918-1935) 1961. [Sovetskie hudozhestvennye fil'my. Annotirovannyj katalog: Nemye fil'my (1918–1935)]. Moscow. [in Russian] Traynin, 1928 – Traynin, I. (1928). Kino na kul'turnom fronte [Kino on the cultural front]. Leningrad. [in Russian] Vertov, 1966 – Vertov D. (1966). My. Variant manifesta [We. A variant of the manifesto]. In: Vertov D. Stat'i, dnevniki, zamysly. Moscow: 45-49. [in Russian] Yakimov, 2021 – Yakimov, A. (2021). Problema reprezentacii povsednevnosti v kinematografe [The problem of everyday life representation in cinematography]. Ph.D. Dis. Ekaterinburg. [in Russian] Yudin, 2001 – Yudin, M. (2001). Deyatel'nost' Moskovskogo Proletkul'ta v 1918—1925 gg. [Activity of the Moscow Proletkult in 1918-1925]. Ph.D. Dis. Moscow. [in Russian] Zalkind, 1927 – Zalkind, A. (1927). Celeustremlennost' [Purposefulness]. Krasnaya Nov’. 6: 169-189. [in Russian] Zhbankova, 2019 – Zhbankova, E. (2019). Sovetskaya sem'ya na ekrane 1920-h – lozh' ili pravda? [Soviet family on the screen of 1920s – lie or truth?]. Concept: philosophy, religion, culture. 3(11): 113-123. [in Russian] Zorkaya, 2014 – Zorkaya, N. (2014). Istoriya otechestvennogo kino. XX vek. [History of the Russian cinema. XX century]. Moscow. [in Russian] Zyablikov, 2022 – Zyablikov, A. (2022). Formirovanie sovetskoj identichnosti sredstvami otechestvennogo kinematografa v 1920–50-h gg.: k postanovke problemy [Formation of Soviet identity by means of domestic cinematography in 1920-50-ies: to the statement of the problem]. Vestnik Kostromskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. 28(3): 52-62. [in Russian] 573 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Copyright © 2023 by Cherkas Global University Published in the USA Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie) Issued since 2005. ISSN 1994-4160 E-ISSN 1994-4195 2023. 19(4): 574-580 DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.4.574 https://me.cherkasgu.press Image Repair Strategies in Apology Videos by YouTube Creators Frans Sayogie a , *, Hamida Hanana Zakiya a, Khairunnisa a, Putri Nabillah a a Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Indonesia Abstract This study explored the image repair strategies used in apology videos by YouTube creators. This research used the Cooperative Principle Theory by Paul Grice. All the data are collected from several English videos on YouTube that represent apology-related subjects. The method used in this research is thematic analysis to examine discursive patterns in the data. The results found the data was collected using three different sorts of maxims: maxims of quantity, relevance, and manner. This research focused on the problem of content producers who become embroiled in a dispute and are forced to release an apology video. The purpose is not only to apologize to the wronged side but also to repair the bad image or impression and regain the trust of their viewers and supporters. The correlation between this case and cooperative principles is that the maxim sets the quality of a substantial context to deliver a proper impression and image to the media. When it comes to the entertainment industry, a genuine and perfect apology is hardly found. However, an apology doesn't have to be perfect but proper, reasonable, and acceptable. This study concluded that each maxim delivered in communication has a significant impact as strategies for repairing an image. Keywords: apology videos, content creators, image repair strategies, media studies. 1. Introduction In the recent development of social media platforms, expanding space for the newly progressed content creators from amateur to professional has significantly influenced the media platforms. These online content producers illustrate the demotic turn made possible by social media and reality television, enabling regular individuals to gain notoriety among a larger audience (Dekavalla, 2020; Turner, 2006). A cultural producer is referred to as a "content creator" if they use digital tools to make and share material on social media platforms out of a business mindset and a desire to establish their own "media brand." (Arriagada, Ibáñez, 2020; Craig, 2019). Many well-known content producers attempt to restore their public image through strategies like a YouTube apology video when they fall victim to crises and contentious charges. Since many politicians and celebrities have long used traditional media, such as TV and periodicals, to make public apologies, this information is not brand-new (Sandlin, Gracyalny, 2018).PR professionals have recommended well-known individuals use social media to express regret as it has grown more popular so they may engage with their audience there. (Matejic, 2015; Sandlin, Gracyalny, 2018; Schultz et al., 2011; Ulmer et al., 2017) Sincerity is a fundamental component of an apology since it communicates to victims the offender's true, meaningful, non-coercive, and appropriate emotion toward their behavior (Choi, Mitchell, 2022; Hareli, Eisikovits, 2006; Wenzel et al., 2018). Five language components are required for an excellent interpersonal apology: accepting responsibility, acknowledging harm, expressing Corresponding author E-mail addresses: [email protected] (F. Sayogie) * 574 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) remorse, begging forgiveness, and providing compensation (Sadlin, Gracyalny, 2018; Schmitt et al., 2004). These factors raise the possibility that an apology will be taken seriously and lead to forgiveness (Darby, Schlenker, 1982; Schlenker, Darby, 1981; Sadlin, Gracyalny, 2018; Schmitt et al., 2004). Previous studies have repeatedly discovered a pattern of usage in which remedial action and minimizing offensiveness were the most effective tactics that attracted favorable public reactions, while denial was the most frequently employed but least successful technique out of the five (Arendt et al., 2017; Benoit, 2006; Choi, Mitchell, 2022; Ferguson et al., 2018). Apology videos may be meant to create clarification, but at the same time, content creators need to pay attention and avoid mistakes in conveying informational sentences. Content creators, in their apology video, must obey the cooperative principle to prevent misunderstandings and misleadings. For instance, breaking the rule of quality can result in irony (Asada et al., 2022). As more people joined the market to make videos and compete for subscribers, YouTube became overpopulated. As a result, many YouTubers began acting out in dramatic and extreme ways to gain attention (Choi, Mitchell, 2022). These behaviors include imitating kidnapping and death, playing practical jokes on the destitute, committing advertising fraud, and consuming lethal Tide pods (Choi, Mitchell, 2022; Grant, Kim, 2020). These actions show how YouTubers are willingly involved in these extremes to advance their careers (Choi, Mitchell, 2022). Racist, bullying, and prank content on YouTube has recently made some users famous. These YouTubers' older videos were found and frequently included in news reports to call attention to their misbehavior. It appears that this compelled these YouTubers to make a formal public apology. Although many people are aware of the few well-known YouTubers producing them, there is a widespread lack of understanding of how YouTubers are producing these apologetic videos. Grice distinguished between conventional and conversational implicatures (Dahlman, 2022). Conventional implicatures, on the other hand, depend on the meaning that is generally associated with a word or phrase rather than the context in which it is used (Dahlman, 2022). Conversely, conversational implicatures do not depend on a lexical item's conventional meaning; instead, they only (or also) depend on specific aspects of the conversational environment (Dahlman, 2022). The identical statement may therefore be used to transmit or not a particular message depending on the discourse context (Dahlman, 2022). Grice made a distinction between conversational implicatures that are specific and broad. The discourse setting determines which conversational or particularized implicatures are appropriate (Dahlman, 2022). Unless they are canceled, generalized conversational implicatures tend to emerge in any circumstance by using specific linguistic forms and are independent of the particularized conversational environment (Dahlman, 2022). Grice's analysis assumes that the implications of the conversation are systematically conveyed by the speaker as well as correctly calculated and interpreted by the listener because ordinary conversations are considered to be governed by the Principle of Cooperation – in which all parties involved have an equal interest in being cooperative for successful communication. (Dahlman, 2022). Informational redundancy, which has typically been described as a problem of over-informativeness, over-specification, or over-description, has been addressed using one of the parts of Grice's Quantity Maxim, which states that speakers should provide no more information than is necessary to convey their message (Kravtchenko, Demberg, 2022). In addition, this research utilizes Paul Grice's cooperative principle, which he defined as the maxims of quantity, quality, relevance, and method. It finds that apologies to viewers violate the cooperative ideal by being verbose and failing to be honest. This study identifies and explains the flouting of the maxim in the apology video on YouTube, which attempts to reshape a good image that has been destroyed in the eyes of viewers. Moreover, this research analyzes videos by some vlog and game content creators, where they apologize for their past problems or behavior and provide introspection results so that similar situations do not occur in the future. In addition, this research applies qualitative analysis to videos from some of the most successful and established content creators and finds that apologies addressed to viewers violate the cooperative principle by being verbose and not giving honesty. This research makes the case that the cooperative principle is significant in this video because of the interaction between the content producers and the viewers. Exploring the role of the cooperative principle in YouTube apology videos contributes to our understanding of the construction of clarity of information in this context. It highlights that it is not only about showing apologies but also about how content creators indirectly justified past behavior in their apology by violating maxims. 575 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) 2. Materials and methods The analysis focused specifically on English-language videos from YouTube content that served as the study's source material. These videos are specifically referred to as "apology videos", in which the creator expresses regret for an act for which they are held accountable or blamed. The author's intended audience may be addressed as a whole, a single person, or both. The focus of the analysis provided richer discursive data to examine the deployment of image repair strategies. A systematic approach to finding patterns of significance in a collection of data is thematic analysis (Clarke et al., 2019; Dekavalla, 2020). Thematic analysis is a qualitative method that uses smaller datasets than quantitative methods to examine discursive patterns in the data rather than generalizability to a larger population (Dekavalla, 2020). 3. Discussion A few of the YouTube beauty gurus who jumped on the racism bandwagon and were exposed for using racist slurs in their content include Jaclyn Hill, Kathleen Lights, Jeffree Star, and Laura Lee (Abad-Santos, 2018; Choi, Mitchell, 2022; Poston, 2018). It is commonly advised for public figures to apologize to viewers on social media platforms, especially when the offense was first committed there (Baer, Naslund, 2011; Matejic, 2015; Sandlin, Gracyalny, 2018; Schultz et al., 2011; Ulmer et al., 2013; Utz et al., 2013). The videos all conveyed remorse in some manner, but there were differences in how they decided to admit fault or pinpoint the specific transgression. It was often difficult to determine what behavior was being apologized for without gathering outside information since the apologizer did not always explicitly express or explain the precise action. The majority of these behaviors are depicted in the YouTube Content Creator's many apologies videos. Maxim of Quantity As a result, Informativity serves as the cornerstone of the majority of pragmatic explanations in the Gricean tradition: the quantity of information necessary to produce a distinctive reference in a particular context (Rubio-Fernández, 2019). Grice (Grice, 1975) explains how the amount of information to be provided relates to the maxim of quantity (Malkmjaer, 2005). Given the purpose of the conversation is to contribute only as much information as is required. An apology video was delivered by Jeffree Star, a beauty youtuber who was in a feud with his fellow beauty youtuber, James Charles, concerning accusations and defamation towards James Charles. Back in May 2019, after Tati Westbrook posted a video where she accused the beauty guru of lying, manipulating, and being disrespectful, Jeffree shared his thoughts on the matter through Twitter calling James a "danger to society" and slamming him. In a ten-minute video titled "doing what's right," Jeffree addressed their continuing dispute with James Charles on July 19, 2022. His apologetic video itself has a lot of background. Jeffree looked back at his previous dramas, acknowledged his flaws and selfishness, tried to reflect and see the bigger picture, and gave lessons and insight regarding business and social issues in addition to dramas in the entertainment and beauty industries. This implied that more significant issues were at play than just minor dramas. Nevertheless, Jeffree frequently skirts the issue despite the rich context. The Maxim of Quantity is thus demonstrated. "2020 has been very tumultuous for a lot of us, it has been a crazy year and I think that James and myself and anyone involved would agree with me that there are way bigger issues happening on this planet, I know that just some people may Jeffree you're just saying this as a distraction" (Jeffreestar, 2020). "right now outside of our walls our world is falling apart and it's truly shocking" (Jeffreestar, 2020). The second part of Grice's Quantity Maxim states that speakers should provide no more information than is necessary to convey their message (Kravtchenko, Demberg, 2022). In these few phrases, Jeffree gives information that's not necessarily required. To engage viewers and make them realize that, despite the drama involving him and anyone in the beauty industry, it is necessary to put an end to it all because other, more pressing issues require greater attention, he tries to provide insights into social issues occurring outside. The maxim of quantity requires information provided in conversation to be genuine and justified. To give information of what you believe is right with adequate evidence. Additionally, studies have shown that comprehenders frequently tolerate overly detailed explanations and may even help comprehension when describing non-canonical traits or characteristics that may facilitate faster item identification (Arts et al., 2011; Engelhardt et al., 2006; Kravtchenko, 576 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Demberg, 2022; Long et al., 2020; Mangold, Pobel, 1988; Paraboni et al., 2007; Paraboni, Van Deemter, 2014; Pogue et al., 2016; Rehrig et al., 2021; Rubio-Fernández, 2016; Sonnenschein, Whitehurst, 1982; Tourtouri et al., 2019). In July 2016, Tana Mongeau, a gaming YouTuber, published an apologetic video for his fans as a consequence of advertising various things on his channel in the first instance. She received criticism for promoting a gambling website that she and another YouTuber owned without revealing his connection with it. "The first thing I wanna talk about is the main thing, the thing that is everywhere, and that is videos of me saying the N word and more importantly the half-ass disgusting shitty way that I apologize for them in the past" (Tana Mongeau, 2017). Tana Mongeau captured a video, and it is clear that there is a Maxim of Quantity. Tana shortened the amount of the term "the first thing" by saying "the main thing" after "the first thing." The phrase "the main thing" in the sentence contributes excessively because it already conveys the idea of "the first thing," and it gives too much information. Maxim of quantity is described as trying to make your contribution true (Grice, 1975; Malkmjaer, 2005). Maxim of Manner The maxim of manners realizes that the speaker should speak clearly, directly, orderly, and briefly. Contribution to interaction is expected to be genuine, neither more nor less than is required, and clear and appropriate to the interaction. These maxims might be observed in conversations to help the recipients understand the practical significance of statements (Abdalhadi et al., 2022). In July 29, 2022, a five-minute apology video of Will Smith toward Chris Rock highlighted "My Behavior was unacceptable" became a heat in many people's eyes, including their fans and families. The controversy between them started when Chris Rock, who was a Master of Ceremony in Oscar, pulled a joke towards Will's wife, Jada Smith, regarding her bald head caused by a disease before announcing apologies with more of the components are perceived as sincere and more effective (in reducing the offender's guilt and punishment) than those with fewer components when the offense is serious. Will Smith's Oscar-winning. The feud happened when Will Smith impulsively went to the stage and slapped Chris in front of everyone at the award show to defend and give justice to his wife. Turns out, most people are drawn to Chris's side. When Will delivered his winning speech, he cried and didn't think of apologizing. Even though it's understandable that Will Smith is mad, it was not the most polite and proper thing to do. "I was fogged out by that point. It's all fuzzy. I've reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he's not ready to talk" (Will Smith, 2022). In his apology video and the scene above, people are skeptical regarding his genuineness towards Chris Rock and exaggerate it by saying it was the worst apology someone has ever made. Will mentioned and apologized not only to Chris but also to Chris's parents and brother, Will's wife and family, and everyone who was hurting and offended by his impulsive action. Furthermore, the maxim of manner is related to how an utterance is said, not paying attention to what is said (Grice, 1975; Malkmjaer, 2005). The maxim of manner is also mentioned as being perspicuous specifically to avoid ambiguity, be concise or avoid unnecessary dissemination, and be organized (Grice, 1975; Malkmjaer, 2005). People thought Will Smith was more deeply sorry, more genuine, and more enthusiastic towards everyone he mentioned except Chris. Not to mention, Will stutters a lot when he utters things towards Chris, resulting in repetition, and seems so unsure about him as if he has no idea about how to make up for his mistake since there might be unfairness left in his mind and heart for the fact that he had to apologize to someone who offended his beloved wife. The overall image that he shows regarding Chris Rock is obscure and seems ambiguous. Maxim of manners is suitable for this case. Maxim of Relevance Maxim of relevance provides relevant information to the conversation (Stepin et al., 2022). This type of maxim occurs if the speaker contributes to giving irrelevant information to the question. "However I do feel like I owe you guys an apology. I am sorry to each and every one of you who voted like that was not made clear enough to you" (Ego Rapture, 2016). Additionally, apologies with more of the components are perceived as sincere and more effective (in reducing the offender's guilt and punishment) than those with fewer components when the offense is serious (Lewicki et al., 2016; Sandlin, Gracyalny, 2018; Scher, Darley, 1997). However, the use of more complex words in order to appear sincere to other people makes Tmartn's apology irrelevant to the topic in which he involves. 577 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) 4. Results By using the concept of the cooperative principle, we have explored the maxim of quantity, relevance, and manner, which then construct the violation of the cooperative principle as it is found in a few apology videos on YouTube. The result shows that the maxim violations in apology videos by YouTube content creators essentially affect how an apology is delivered and how an image is constructed in the eyes of the viewers. The maxim violation shows that even a small talk can positively and critical impact when cooperative principles are applied correctly. The advantage of analyzing the types of maxim in the context of apology videos is also to give awareness to people regarding the importance of every aspect needed in an utterance and in delivering attitudes or manner which, in the big picture, is capable of identifying one's character. Furthermore, people consciously or unconsciously create images of what they want others to see in any expression and communication. In this case of apology acts, repairing an image can be a risky thing to deal with, especially when it's done carelessly. A good and positive image can be rebuilt while on the other hand, a continuous negative image would still be in control for those who neglect some importance in their defensive act. People have their way of receiving and processing data, meaning it is important for people with influence to bring such issues to the table and think about them thoroughly. Delivering a positive image can still result negatively for some people. However, an essentially proper and substantial apology will lead to continuous support from viewers in regaining a positive image. The consideration of using maxim in delivering ideas is to properly define what you want others to perceive and express empathy, enthusiasm, and manners decently. 5. Conclusion This research investigates the cooperative principle's linguistic features in YouTube apology videos. After conducting the study, it is found that three types of maxim, which is the maxim of quantity, manner, and relevance, occur during the videos. The analysis of the maxim found in the apology video is to understand what's missing in delivering ideas and repairing an image. Each maxim has a significant impact when it's conveyed and expressed in communication, making it a standard for how utterances and ideas are appropriately delivered. In this case, repairing an image through one-sided communication needs to be wisely understood that it is not an easy and brief thing to do as to just saying sorry. An apology from someone with influence could go a long way to being truly accepted by many viewers. A good intention can result in bad outcomes when an apology is not done properly. Therefore, it is essential to analyze the context and correlate it with types of maxims as a standard in delivering what needs to be said in an apology to regain good image. References Abad-Santos, 2018 – Abad-Santos, A. (2018). Laura Lee, Jeffree Star, and the racism scandal gripping beauty YouTube. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.vox.com/2018/8/28/1776 9996/laura-lee-jeffree -star-racism-subscriber-count Abdalhadi et al., 2022 – Abdalhadi, H., Al-Khawaldeh, N., Huneety, A., Mashaqba, B. (2022). A corpus-based pragmatic analysis of Jordanians Facebook Status Updates during COVID19. Ampersand. 2023: 1-27. DOI: 10.1016/j.amper.2022.100099 Arendt et al., 2017 – Arendt, C., LaFleche, M., Limperopulos, M.A. (2017). A qualitative meta-analysis of apologia, image repair, and crisis communication: Implications for theory and practice. Public Relations Review. 43(3): 517-526. DOI: 10.0.3.248/j.pubrev.2017.03.005 Arriagada, Ibáñez, 2020 – Arriagada, A., Ibáñez, F. (2020). "You need at least one picture daily, if not, you're dead": Content creators and platform evolution in the social media ecology. Social Media + Society. 6(3): 1-12. DOI: 10.1177/2056305120944624 Arts et al., 2011 – Arts, A., Maes, A., Noordman, L., Jansen, C. (2011). Overspecification facilitates object identification. Journal of Pragmatics. 43 (1): 361-374. Asada et al., 2022 – Asada, K., Itakura, S., Okanda, M., Moriguchi, Y., Yokawa, K., Kumagaya, S., Konishi, K., Konishi, Y. (2022). Understanding of the gricean maxims in children with autism spectrum disorder: Implications for pragmatic language development. Journal of Neurolinguistics. 63: 1-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2022.101085 Baer, Naslund, 2011 – Baer, J., Naslund, A. (2011). The now revolution: 7 Shifts to make your business faster, smarter and more social. Wiley. Benoit, 2006 – Benoit, W.L. (2006). Image repair in President Bush's April 2004 news conference. Public Relations Review. 32(2): 137-143. DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2006.02.025 578 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Choi, Mitchell, 2022 – Choi, G.Y., Mitchell, A.Y. (2022). So sorry, now please watch: Identifying image repair strategies, sincerity and forgiveness in youTubers' apology videos. Public Relations Review. 48(4): 1-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2022.102226 Clarke et al., 2019 – Clarke, V., Braun, V., Terry, G., Hayfield, N. (2019). Thematic analysis. In Liamputtong, P. (eds.), Handbook of Research Methods in Health and Social Sciences. Springer: 843-860. Craig, 2019 – Craig, D. (2019). Creator management in the social media entertainment industry. In: Deuze, M., Prenger, M. (eds.). Making media: Production, practices, and professions. Amsterdam University Press: 363-374. Dahlman, 2022 – Dahlman, R.C. (2022). Conveying meaning in legal language — Why the language of legislation needs to be more explicit than ordinary language. Journal of Pragmatics. 198: 43-53. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2022.05.009 Darby, Schlenker, 1982 – Darby, B.W., Schlenker, B.R. (1982). Children's reactions to apologies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 4: 742-753. Dekavalla, 2020 – Dekavalla, M. (2020). Facework in confessional videos by youtube content creators. Convergence. 28(3): 854-866. DOI: 10.1177/13548565221085812 Ego Rapture, 2016 – Ego Rapture. (2016). Tmartn I'm Sorry Apology (Reuploaded). [Electronic resource]. URL: https://youtu.be/h3bqw84DKe0 Engelhardt et al., 2006 – Engelhardt, P.E., Bailey, K.G.D., Ferreira, F. (2006). Do speakers and listeners observe the gricean maxim of quantity? Journal of Memory and Language. 54: 554-573. Ferguson et al., 2018 – Ferguson, D.P., Wallace, J.D., Chandler, R.C. (2018). Hierarchical consistency of strategies in image repair theory: PR practitioners' perceptions of effective and preferred crisis communication strategies. Journal of Public Relations Research. 30(5/6): 251-272. DOI: 10.0.4.56/1062726X.2018.1545129 Grant, Kim, 2020 – Grant, S., Kim, Y. (2020). 15 of YouTube's most horrifying scandals and controversies. Seventeen (2020). [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.seventeen.com/ celebrity/movies-tv/g18753797/youtube-scandals-controversies/ Grice, 1975 – Grice, H.P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In: Cole, P., Morgan, J.L. (eds.), Syntax and semantics. Vol. 3, Speech acts. Academic Press: 41-58. Hareli, Eisikovits, 2006 – Hareli, S., Eisikovits, Z. (2006). The role of communicating social emotions accompanying apologies in forgiveness. Motivation and Emotion. 30(3): 189-197. DOI: 10.1007/s11031-006-9025-x Jeffreestar, 2020 – Jeffreestar. (2020). Doing What's Right. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://youtu.be/hOuwNiCa-zU Kravtchenko, Demberg, 2022 – Kravtchenko, E., Demberg, V. (2022). Informationally redundant utterances elicit pragmatic inferences. Cognition. 225: 1-15. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105159 Lewicki et al., 2016 – Lewicki, R.J., Polin, B., Lount, R.B. (2016). An exploration of the structure of effective apologies. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research. 9(2016): 177-196. DOI: 10.1111/ncmr.12073 Long et al., 2020 – Long, M., Rohde, H., Rubio-Fernandez., P. (2020). The pressure to communicate efficiently continues to shape language use later in life. Scientific Reports. 10(1): 1-13. Malkmjaer, 2005 – Malkmjaer, K. (2005). The Linguistics Encyclopedia. (2nd ed.). Routledge. Mangold, Pobel, 1988 – Mangold, R., Pobel, R. (1988). Informativeness and instrumentality in referential communication. Journal of Language and Social Psychology. 7 (3-4). 181-191. Matejic, 2015 – Matejic, N. (2015). Social media rules of engagement: Why your online narrative is the best weapon during a crisis. John Wiley & Sons. Paraboni et al., 2007 – Paraboni, I., Van Deemter, K., Mashtoff, J. (2007). Generating referring expressions: Making referents easy to identify. Computational Linguistics. 33(2): 229-254. Paraboni, Van Deemter, 2014 – Paraboni, I., Van Deemter, K. (2014). Reference and the facilitation of search in spatial domains. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience. 29(8): 1002-1017. Pogue et al., 2016 – Pogue, A., Kurumada, C., Tanenhaus, M.K. (2016). Talker-specific generalization of pragmatic inferences based on under- and over-informative prenominal adjective use. Frontiers in Psychology. 6 (2035). Poston, 2008 – Poston, H.L. (2018). The news from the world of beauty: A close reading of a Snapchat scandal. Virginia Quarterly Review. 94(2): 16-25. 579 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Rehrig et al., 2021 – Rehrig, G., Cullimore, R.A., Henderson, J.M., Ferreira, F. (2021). When more is more: Redundant modifiers can facilitate visual search. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications. 6(1): 1-20. Rubio-Fernández, 2016 – Rubio-Fernández, P. (2016). How redundant are redundant color adjectives? An efficiency-based analysis of color overspecification. Frontiers in Psychology. 7(2016): 153. Rubio-Fernández, 2019 – Rubio-Fernández, P. (2019). Over Informative speakers are cooperative: Revisiting the Gricean Maxim of Quantity. Cognitive science. 43(11): e12797. DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12797 Sandlin, Gracyalny, 2018 – Sandlin, J.K., Gracyalny, M.L. (2018). Seeking sincerity, finding forgiveness: Youtube apologies as image repair. Public Relations Review. 44(3): 393-406. DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.04.007 Scher, Darley, 1997 – Scher, S.J., Darley, J.M. (1997). How effective are the things people say to apologize? Effects of the realization of the apology speech act. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. 26(1997): 127-140. DOI: 10.1023/A:1025068306386 Schlenker, Darby, 1981 – Schlenker, B.R., Darby, B.W. (1981). The use of apologies in social predicaments. Social Psychology Quarterly. 271-278. Schmitt et al., 2004 – Schmitt, M., Gollwitzer, M., Förster, N., Montada, L. (2004). Effects of objective and subjective account components on forgiving. The Journal of Social Psychology. 144(5): 465-486. Schultz et al., 2011 – Schultz, F., Utz, S., Göritz, A. (2011). Is the medium the message? Perceptions of and reactions to crisis communication via twitter, blogs and traditional media. Public Relations Review. 37(1): 20-27. Sonnenschein, Whitehurst, 1982 – Sonnenschein, S., Whitehurst, G.J. (1982). The effects of redundant communications on the behavior of listeners: Does a picture need a thousand words?. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. 11(2): 115-125. Stepin et al., 2022 – Stepin, I., Alonso-Moral, J.M., Catala, A., Pereira-Fariña, M. (2022). An empirical study on how humans appreciate automated counterfactual explanations which embrace imprecise information. Information Sciences. 618: 379-399. DOI: 10.1016/j.ins. 2022.10.098 Tana Mongeau, 2017 – Tana Mongeau. (2017). An apology. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://youtu.be/Fazh9Lm1kDE Tourtouri et al., 2019 – Tourtouri, E.N., Delogu, F., Sikos, L., Crocker, M.W. (2019). Rational over-specification in visually-situated comprehension and production. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science. 3(2): 175-202. Turner, 2006 – Turner, G. (2006). The mass production of celebrity: "celetoids", reality TV and the "demotic turn". International Journal of Cultural Studies. 9(2): 153-165. Ulmer et al., 2013 – Ulmer, R.R., Sellnow, T.L., Seeger, M.W. (2013). Effective crisis communication: Moving from crisis to opportunity. Sage Publications. Utz et al., 2013 – Utz, S., Schultz, F., Glocka, S. (2013). Crisis communication online: How medium, crisis type and emotions affected public reactions in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Public Relations Review. 39: 40-46. DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2012.09.010 Wenzel et al., 2018 – Wenzel, M., Lawrence-Wood, E., Okimoto, T.G., Hornsey, M.J. (2018). A long time coming: Delays in collective apologies and their effects on sincerity and forgiveness. Political Psychology. 39(3): 649-666. DOI: 10.0.4.87/pops.12421 Will Smith, 2022 – Will Smith. (2022). It's been a minu... [Electronic resource]. URL: https://youtu.be/jXrxDKwlA_s 580 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Copyright © 2023 by Cherkas Global University Published in the USA Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie) Issued since 2005. ISSN 1994-4160 E-ISSN 1994-4195 2023. 19(4): 581-588 DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.4.581 https://me.cherkasgu.press Cityscapes and Social Issues: A Critical Examination of Cities in Documentary Film Nimisha Yadav a , *, Shrutimita Mehta a a The NorthCap University, Gurugram, Haryana, India Abstract Documentaries are a medium for capturing the reality of people by constructing their everyday life. They are narratives told using sound and moving pictures that highlight the world's wonder, complexity, and contradictions. These moving photographs visually express the life of people, the hardships and the events revolving around them. Non-fiction films dramatise factual information to the readers instead of presenting creatively, and are compelling, informative and appreciated as they represent the events without moulding them. Documentaries attempt to enlighten, educate, and raise awareness by utilising interviews, archive material, reenactments, and narration. They also present a non-fictional perspective that frequently challenges and broadens viewers' perception of the world. The documentaries epitomise the social, cultural and economic facets by portraying the lives of people living in different parts of the world. The present paper studies how cities are represented through documentaries and analyses non-fiction films as a platform for encapsulating the authenticity of the select cities. The analysis includes documentaries Calcutta (1969) by Louis Malle, Bombay Our City by Anand Patwardhan and Dilli by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh. The study attempts to understand the economic disparity, social problems and other struggles in the lives of people living in cities through documentaries made on Indian metropolitan cities. Keywords: documentary, city, urban living, poverty, slums, film studies. 1. Introduction History is witness to the fact that documentaries have been used as effective mediums to present information about any event, place or person through moving pictures and actual footage and photographs. Powerful images, interviews and information are used to signify truth and facts. John Grierson, who coined the term, is also considered the father of documentary film. He first used the term 'documentary' in a review of Robert Flaherty’s film Moana (1926) on 8th February 1926, published in the New York Sun. After the first recorded mention of the term ‘documentary’, non-fiction films were used as a propaganda tool for governments, as they were a good way of narrating compelling stories having a social impact. “The best non-fiction films are best not because they are the most informative or the most persuasive or the most useful, but because they are the most creative, effective, and valuable human documents that can be made from the circumstances represented in them” (Waugh, 1977). What are documentaries? Documentary film has been defined as a “motion picture that shapes and interprets factual material for purposes of education or entertainment” (Britannica Dictionary 2003). Various Corresponding author E-mail addresses: [email protected] (N. Yadav) * 581 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) documentaries are used to educate people, bring changes or provide information on different subjects. They reflect society as it is, and the audience understands concepts explained by visualising the descriptive pictures of the everyday life of people living in cities. “Beyond art, beyond drama, the documentary is also evidential, scientific” (Winston, 1995). By watching documentaries, the audience has a better social understanding of society as they believe these non-fictional movies present facts. The perception goes that images and the sounds the camera represents aren’t fake because documentaries capture information without altering reality. Inevitably, filmmakers have captured the reality and socio-economic struggle of people living in cities throughout history. Brian Winston, in “Claiming the real: The Griersonian documentary and its legitimations”, writes, “I know of no theoretical position, no definition of documentary that does not in some way reference the relationship to the real – from the phrase coined by John Grierson, the founder of the British documentary film movement, who described it as the `creative treatment [that is, image making] of actuality [that is pre-existing reality]´ to Michael Renov’s `direct ontological claim to the real´: `Every documentary issues a “truth claim” of a sort, positing a relationship to history which exceeds the analogical status of its fictional counterpart”(Winston, 2008). People living in metropolitan cities experience various social issues in their daily lives, and by reflecting on those socioeconomic problems, documentaries have been used extensively to improve society for future generations. The objective of the study: The following are the primary objectives of the study: - To understand the depiction of different Indian cities through documentaries, - To study and evaluate the representation of social issues through documentaries. 2. Materials and methods Numerous research articles have been published examining documentaries representing life. In 1988, in his research, The Documentary Idea: A Critical History of English-Language Documentary Film and Video, Ellis Jack highlighted the characteristics of documentaries that differ from other film types. The researcher focused on mapping out the beginning of the concept of documentary from 1922 onwards and highlighted various definitions of the documentary. The study was done to understand documentaries' concepts, characteristics and origins (Ellis, 1989). The Documentary Film Art and the Truth Question is a recent research work by (Ekpenyong, 2007). The researcher questions if the documentary is a truthful cinema or the extent to which it tells the truth to the audience. The research analyses the views of critics having different opinions and compares documentary films with fiction films. Some critics believe that documentaries present ‘factual information’, whereas others believe that they expose the ‘socio-political’ condition to bring a change in society. In 2018 Won- Leep Moon, in his research Documentary and its Realism, tried to study the ‘expository documentary’ and the ‘non-expository documentary’ to understand documentary realism. In the study, ‘observational realism’ was an important concept as it is closely associated with documentary realism. It aimed to show that since the concept of documentary is confusing, the researcher contributes to finding the source of the problem. The researcher also studied ‘Gregory Currie’s theory’ by studying “Visible Traces: Documentary and the Contents of Photographs” to understand Casablanca and Reborn, the non-fictional films (Moon, 2018). John Grierson published his research article First Principles of Documentary in the book Grierson on Documentary, edited by Forsyth Hardy. After examining documentaries, Grierson highlights that non-fiction films are not lecture films or films that expose; rather, they reveal things in an aesthetic sense. Different principles were emphasised to understand the usage of documentaries. Grierson compared documentaries with studio films and illustrated that studio films fail to open up to the world, whereas documentaries photograph the living world (Grierson, 1932-34). In 2015 Pol Capdevila published his research work titled The Objectifying Documentary: Realism, Aesthetics and Temporality, where he studied objectifying documentaries. The researcher focused on understanding the characteristics of the realist style in a documentary, developing the objectifying documentary concept, and describing its visual and narrative strategies. In addition, the case study method was used to analyse and understand the visual strategy of objectifying documentaries (Capdevila, 2015). 582 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Alexandros Valsamis published his research titled Documentary Film as Evidence in the Digital Era in 2013. The researcher understands the representation of social reality through digital technology by conducting qualitative research. The study also highlights that a non-fiction film is considered a shred of evidence if a documentary does not omit facts. Case study of recent films on protests, such as This is What Democracy Looks Like, Into the Fire and Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark, has been used to understand the concept (Valsamis, 2013). Research Gap- It is evident that extensive research has been done to understand the concept of documentaries. There is also research on documentaries used as a medium of representing reality and as a piece of evidence to reflect society. However, less work is done on documentaries reflecting the socio-economic reality of Indian metropolitan cities. Earlier research reflects documentaries as revealing the reality of a society, but the researchers have not focussed on how cities have been presented through documentaries and how cities can be used to represent the reality of life. Theoretical Framework- The present study comprehends different documentaries based on Indian cities and understands social inequality and power relations reflected in the physical organisation of the space. By understanding Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of spatial segregation, the present study will understand how different neighbourhoods and spaces are portrayed in the documentaries to highlight the power and inequality present in the cities. In Bourdieu in the City: Challenging Urban Theory, Pierre Bourdieu gave his theory of spatial organisation, which explores the city through ‘the trialectic of symbolic space’, ‘social space’ and ‘physical space’. The trialectic of symbolic space refers to the mental categories through which we perceive and organise the world, social space refers to the distribution of capital in its different forms, and physical space refers to the built environment (Wacquant, 2022). Bourdieu's emphasis on the significance of cultural and symbolic practises in the reproduction of social structures and power relations is one of the main contributions of his work to urban theory. This significantly impacts comprehension of how urban environments are created and experienced and how social and economic power is allocated in metropolitan areas. According to Bourdieu, social and cultural factors influence how people use and perceive space, and the physical organisation of space reflects and reinforces preexisting power relations. He explains that the city’s physical layout reflects the present or existing power relations. Different social groups, such as rich and poor, can reflect the city's economic inequalities, and the public space designs can reflect the values of those who hold power in the city. He contends that a society's dominant culture and ideology are created and reinforced through architecture, urban planning, and other cultural practices, affecting how various social groups use and perceive space. Social inequality and power relations are reflected in the physical organisation of space. So, people with distinct lifestyles, tastes and values are directly linked to their societal position. For example, in cities, wealthy people live in houses in the suburbs, whereas the marginalised poor do not have advantages and live in slums. Research Questions Based on the review of literature, the following research questions have been framed: RQ1. What are the various ways in which different Indian cities are portrayed in documentaries, and how effectively do these films address social issues within those cities? RQ2. How does Pierre Bourdieu's theory of spatial segregation and power and inequality help to understand the social and economic dynamics portrayed in documentaries that explore urban landscapes? 3. Discussion In her published work titled Documentary Film, Truth and Beyond: On the Problems of Documentary Film as Truth-telling, Anne Lill Rajala discusses the disclosure of the truth in documentaries. The documentary film genre is frequently viewed as distinct from fiction and news, yet as something that informs us of reality and makes a claim to being true. Some people define a documentary movie as merely "art" without distinction from fiction. Her research examines documentary film as a form of truth-telling or a claim to the truth. These, in turn, are connected to knowledge and what we understand to be true or accurate (Rajala, 2017). Muzahid Sharif, in his study of Postcolonial Indian Nonfiction Cinema: The Documentaries of Satyajit Ray, has briefly covered the background of factual films in India and reviewed and evaluated 583 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Satyajit Ray's documentaries from the viewpoints of postcolonialism, content, and aesthetics. He also discusses the style and philosophy of his documentaries in his essay (Sharif, 2018). In order to build narrative visualisations using video Judd D. Bradbury and Rosanna E. Guadagno in Documentary narrative visualization: Features and modes of documentary film in narrative visualization, examines the format and methods of documentary filmmaking. It covers the documentary film's structural elements with examples pertinent to narrative visualisation. They offer content creators particular ways to increase engagement with their content by giving a clear foundation for the building of documentary narrative visualisation (Bradbury, Guadagno, 2020). Vladimir Rizov in Eugène Atget and Documentary Photography of the City, discusses the documentary photography of Eugène Atget in late 19th and 20th century Paris. It explores Atget’s position as a photographer and provides an analysis of a single image, and talks about it in relation to Jacques Ranciere and Charles Baudelaire's work (Rizov, 2020). In her article The political in Indian documentary film: Material and aesthetic interventions, post-economic liberalization, (Kishore, 2014) examines the varied forms of political knowledge and intervention being articulated by Indian filmmakers through an analysis of two recent films, Nero's Guests and Development at Gunpoint, as well as the background of the filmmaker collective Vikalp (The Alternative). In Based on actual facts”: Documentary Inscription in Fiction Films (Carrera, 2019) examines how documentary language is incorporated into fiction films through the use of phrases like "based on actual facts" and similar expressions like "based on real events," "based on a true story," "inspired by a true story," etc. Cagle (Cagle, 2012) in Postclassical Nonfiction: Narration in the Contemporary Documentary investigates the methods used by today's major documentaries to construct meaning and argument. These films combine formal, traditional documentary form with open reasoning, but instead of displaying hybridity, they rely on postclassical narration. Herzog, Landscape, and Documentary by Eric Ames examines Werner Herzog's use of the landscape as a stage for expressing his view of the documentary as a devalued genre of cinema. An alternative documentary epistemology that largely refers to the inner realm of affect and to embodied knowledge forms arises from this sarcastic performance (Ames, 2009). The immersive turn: hype and hope in the emergence of virtual reality as a nonfiction platform by (Rose, 2018) analyses and contextualises this shift towards virtual reality while taking into account the cutting-edge aspects of the format and its unique appeal for journalism and documentaries. In order to do this, I consider the discourses and interests that have coalesced to support the acceptance of virtual environments as venues for addressing the real. Jake Chapman Reeder in The function of narrative in interactive documentary demonstrates how a theory of narrative can be created that can account for interactive documentary characteristics that are distinct from those seen in conventional documentaries by approaching the subject of narrative coherence as a phenomenological premise. The philosophical method of Paul Ricoeur will be modified and expanded upon in order to rethink the function of narrative in interactive documentaries (Reeder, 2020). Sandra Gaudenzi, in her article The Living Documentary: From Representing Reality to Cocreating Reality in Digital Interactive Documentary, examines the various ways that interactive documentaries affect, form, and shape us. It contends that interactive documentaries are opportunities to create and experience reality rather than merely representing reality. The research focuses primarily on digital interactive, participative, and experiential documentaries (Gaudenzi, 2013). Sertaç Timur Demir's article The City on Screen: A Methodological Approach on Cinematic City Studies,2014, dealt with how the city is cinematised and how cinematic imagination fictionalises itself in the city. He highlights that cinema captures the city as if it were an eye and illustrates that the relationship between the city and cinema is strong and well-established. He also demonstrated how every type of film, whether popular or independent, fantastical or realistic, meaningless or didactic, has a unique dimension that invariably gathers and interprets a unique aspect of the city (Demir, 2014). In The Documentary Film Art and the Truth Question, Ibok Ekpenyong examines the complex relationship between truth and art in the documentary film genre. He claims that although documentaries are frequently perceived as objective representations of truth, they are highly subjective works of art influenced by the director's decisions and viewpoint. He uses case 584 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) studies that are very helpful since they give specific illustrations of the theoretical ideas covered in the book (Ekpenyong, 2009). Another essay, How Real is the Reality in Documentary Film? by Jill Godmilow and AnnLouise Shapiro, investigates how representation and truth interact in documentary filmmaking. The writers contend that documentaries are subjective interpretations influenced by several variables, such as the filmmaker's viewpoint, viewer expectations, and the social and political environment in which they are produced, rather than accurate depictions of reality. The authors provide an overview of the history of documentary film, ways in which different strategies are used to construct a particular representation of truth and the ethical implications of documentary filmmaking (Godmilow, Shapiro, 1977). Carl Plantinga published an article What a Documentary Is, After All in 2005, examining what makes a documentary film. According to the author, the commitment to accurately portraying reality characterises the documentary cinema genre as a whole. In his analysis, he looks at the numerous definitions of documentary filmmaking that have been put forth over time. He observes that most definitions of the genre concur that documentaries are founded on the representation of reality, even though there is no one definition for the genre. The author continues by examining how documentarians depict reality in their films. He observes that whereas some filmmakers adopt a direct strategy, others employ more individualised and experimental methods (Plantinga, 2005). 4. Results Calcutta (1969) Calcutta (1969), a documentary by the famous French director Louis Malle captures the dynamism and extremes of the Indian city Calcutta (now Kolkata) using video clips of people. Malle has divided into different parts where he presents people bathing and washing their clothes in ghats, walking towards buses on Howrah bridge and nuns driving around Calcutta in little trucks to help the sick people and several other everyday scenes from the metropolitan. By delving into people’s everyday life, Malle showcases people struggling to get work in a big city and social and political turmoil. As per Bourdieu's theory, the power and resource struggle occurs in urban spaces due to social and economic inequality mirrored through how cities are spatially organised. The documentary delves into the real problems people in Calcutta face, bringing to the fore the social dilemmas faced by them. On the one hand, he shows sick people living on the streets taken to city hospitals by the police. On the other hand, he shows the elite class right in the middle of Calcutta enjoying rounds of golf. Malle continues to direct our thoughts towards the economic disparity of the city by listing the history of the colonial city and also by discussing the slums of the gigantic city. The director shows the slum area and comments, “This shantytown is located in the very heart of Calcutta. It’s not an exception. Isolated at the country’s easter edge, this gigantic city is in economic recession. A vestige of colonialism, it’s poorly adapted to the new Indian economy. Living conditions here grow continually worse. And yet still immigrants pour in” (Malle, 1969). The documentary is set after independence; therefore, Malle projects how people poured into the cities to work, but the condition in Calcutta worsened, resulting in people getting no work, sleeping and eventually dying on the streets. The unskilled workers who travelled from the neighbouring states to find work in the city could barely survive by pulling rickshaws. The city's living conditions were terrible as job opportunities were fewer and the number of workers was more. According to Bourdieu's theory, the struggle for resources and power in urban areas involves physical resources, cultural capital, and symbolic power. In the documentary, the city's predominant cultural forms reflect and support social inequity. For example, Malle's camera captures the lavish colonial-era architecture and furnishings of the city's buildings and serves as a reminder of Calcutta's past under imperial control and economic exploitation. Dilli by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh Dilli, a short documentary on Delhi by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, released in 2011, is a beautiful and powerful documentary capturing people living in the metropolitan city having different desires and dreams. The documentary captures the city's beauty on the one hand and reveals the harsh reality of the city on the other. It captures the voice of different people, such as factory workers, slum dwellers, painters, vendors, and many others who were struggling in the city. The documentary focuses on the struggle of poor people in a city they call ‘Dilli’. Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh show the life of struggling people in a metropolitan city by sharing their experiences. Through their 585 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) camera, the directors present how people move to cities for work, a better life, and opportunities to work hard and earn a living. A painter says, ‘What is a city’? and answers, “When I was in my village, I used to imagine what Delhi would look like. I had heard that Delhi is a beautiful place. So, I decided to come to this city” (Thomas, Ghosh, 2011). According to Bourdieu's theory, Delhi's physical layout reflects the conflicts and disparities between various social groups. The documentary demonstrates how the city's neighbourhoods are frequently divided along racial, religious, and class lines, with multiple people occupying separate areas of the city. In addition, the documentary showcases slum areas where thousands of inhabitants survive in deplorable conditions. As soon as the city's physical layout started changing, the state of poor people worsened. In Delhi, these workers lived in slums of bamboo, rope, and plastic sheets built near the construction areas. These slums were unauthorised and were therefore demolished as soon as the government decided to construct buildings. Even some schools like Pragati Wheel School, Viklang Basti Informal School, night shelters such as Kalkaji night shelter, and camps such as Madrasi Camp and Sai Baba Camp got demolished. “These slums were demolished for ‘city beautification’ and ‘security reasons’ prior to the Games… to create a worldclass, slum-free city” (Thomas, Ghosh, 2011). The abolition of these slums and camps to build buildings highlights that life for poor people, especially those living in slums, is problematic and insecure. Another interaction with a slum dweller highlights that these slum dwellers are thrown out of their houses in seconds. It took them many years to build a house, but they were thrown away in seconds since the property was unauthorised. The documentary also spatially divides the rich and poor people. In an interaction, a child says, “Only people with a lot of money can survive in Delhi” (Thomas, Ghosh, 2011). People in slums question their survival and share the benefits and luxurious life rich people have. If they were rich, they could buy a house, and then they would belong to the city. Through the interviews with poor people, the directors showcase the poor condition of people living in slums and their hope to become rich to end this division between societies and belong to Dilli. Bombay Our City by Anand Patwardhan Bombay Our City, a 1984 documentary by Anand Patwardhan, explores the complex social and economic life of Bombay, one of the largest metropolitan cities. The documentary focuses on the experiences of marginalised communities in the city, such as textile mill employees, slum residents, and social justice campaigners. Through personal interviews of people living in slums, the documentary examines several themes, including sexism against women, labour exploitation, poverty, and living in slums. The film also shows the resilience of Bombay's citizens, who fight for their rights and dignity. The movie also discusses Mumbai's political situation, mainly how corruption and political favouritism influence urban planning initiatives. It demonstrates how politicians and developers frequently work together to evade labour and environmental laws in the name of profit, which results in the eviction of entire villages and the depletion of natural resources (Patwardhan, 1984). Through some interviews, the director highlights that people migrated to the city for work and better life, but they have no job or house to survive. Slums are densely inhabited neighbourhoods known for their substandard living conditions and dearth of essential amenities, including access to clean water, sanitary facilities, and healthcare. The documentary showcases the struggling life of poor people, where the houses made by these dwellers were constantly demolished. However, those dwellers built their homes again to survive in the city as they had no other place to reside. In an interview, the Municipal Commissioner stated that these slum dwellers should return to where they came from. The documentary draws attention to the social injustices and inequities in the city and how these injustices are reflected in how the city is spatial. The deprived conditions of poor people without access to resources, space, and food show how different groups in Bombay struggle for basic necessities. The movie, for instance, emphasises how many of the city's poorest and most marginalised citizens stay in its slums and are compelled to live in crowded, unhygienic conditions. The movie also demonstrates how wealthy and middle-class individuals frequently reside in gated communities or exclusive areas isolated from the rest of the city, representing the geographic distinctions between various social categories. This spatial division between the two societies highlights the power struggle between the rich and the poor. The documentary also demonstrates how underprivileged neighbourhoods, considered barriers to progress and economic prosperity, are frequently displaced by the construction of high-rise structures and commercial complexes. 586 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Table 1. City in Documentaries S. Documentaries No. Theory of Spatial Organisation by Pierre Bourdieu 1 Calcutta (1969) Social and economic inequalities in the city. 2 Bombay Our City Spatial division is the result of power struggles between social groups. 3 Dilli Economic factors shape access to resources and opportunities. 5. Conclusion The directors present the city’s complexity and diversity through powerful and thoughtprovoking documentaries. The present research has taken three documentaries to analyse the issues emerging in different Indian metropolitan cities. The selected documentaries demonstrated how urban space is a location of power and resource struggles and how social inequality gets reflected in the city’s physical layout. From wealthy families to poverty-stricken families, from giving a physical description of the city to everything in between, the directors have captured the city’s fabled, messy and realistic picture. Although people got opportunities, still, it was hard for these people who were thrown out of their unauthorised homes by the government to survive in a city. It brings forward questions such as: Can these slum dwellers call this city their home? Will they ever have a place of their own? Or are they going to relocate every now and then? Documentaries give valuable insights into the complex and multifaceted nature of urban life and highlight the importance of understanding the socio-economic context of cities to address the challenges and struggles people face. The applications of Pierre Bourdieu's ideas shed light on the intricate social and economic dynamics of urban life in India and show how spatial organisation both reflects and maintains inequality and power. These documentaries challenge the audience to think critically about the cities we live in. References Ames, 2009 – Ames, E. (2009). Herzog, landscape, and documentary. Cinema Journal. 48(2): 49-69. Bradbury, Guadagno, 2020 – Bradbury, J.D., Guadagno, R.E. (2020). Documentary narrative visualization: Features and modes of documentary film in narrative visualization. Sage Journal. 19(4): 1-14. Britannica Dictionary, 2003 – Documentary film: Encyclopedia Britannica Reference. [Electronic resource] URL: https://www.britannica.com/art/documentary-film Cagle, 2012 – Cagle, C. (2012). Postclassical Nonfiction: Narration in the Contemporary Documentary. Cinema Journal. 52(1): 45-65. Capdevila, 2015 – Capdevila, P. (2015). The objectifying documentary: realism, aesthetics and temporality. Communication & Society. 28(4): 67-85. Carrera, 2019 – Carrera, P. (2019). Based on actual facts: Documentary inscription in fiction films. Taylor & Francis Online. 15(1): 1-19. Demir, 2014 – Demir, S.T. (2014). The City on Screen: A methodological approach on cinematic city studies. CINEJ Cinema Journal. 4(1): 18-36. DOI: 10.5195/cinej.2014.67 Ekpenyong, 2007 – Ekpenyong, I. (2007). The documentary film art and the truth question. Global Journal of Humanities. 6(1-2): 27-31. Ellis, 1989 – Ellis, J. (1988). The Documentary Idea: A Critical History of English-language documentary film and video. Gaudenzi, 2013 – Gaudenzi, S. (2013). The Living documentary: from representing reality to co-creating reality in digital interactive documentary: 13-253. Godmilow, Shapiro, 1977 – Godmilow, J., Shapiro, A.L. (1977). How Real is the Reality in Documentary Film? JSTOR. 36(4): 80-101. DOI: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2505576 587 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Grierson, 1932–1934 – Grierson, J. (1932-34). First Principles of Documentary. Grierson on Documentary: 99-112. Kishore, 2014 – Kishore, S. (2014). The political in Indian documentary film: Material and aesthetic interventions, post-economic liberalization. Taylor & Francis Online. 7(2): 119-133. Malle, 1969 – Malle, L. (1969). Calcutta (1969). [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eSxXmQYtKM&list=PL8250140B6B8BD3F3 Moon, 2018 – Moon, W.L. (2018). Documentary and its Realism. Taylor & Francis Group. 12(1): 43-54. Patwardhan, 1984 – Patwardhan, A. (1984). Bombay Our City. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEIX36rbIJM&t=380s Plantinga, 2005 – Plantinga, C. (2005). What a documentary is, after all. JSTOR. 63(2): 105-117. DOI: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3700465 Rajala, 2017 – Rajala, A.L. (2017). Documentary film, truth and beyond: on the problems of documentary film as truth-telling: 8-68. Reeder, 2020 – Reeder, J.C. (2020). The function of narrative in interactive documentary. Taylor & Francis Journal. 15(3): 220-237. Rizov, 2020 – Rizov, V. (2020). Eugène Atget and documentary photography of the city. Sage Journal. 38(3): 1-23. Rose, 2018 – Rose, M. (2018). The immersive turn: hype and hope in the emergence of virtual reality as a nonfiction platform. Taylor & Francis Journal. 12(2): 132-149. Sharif, 2018 – Sharif, M. (2018). Postcolonial Indian Nonfiction Cinema: The Documentaries of Satyajit Ray: 1-46. Thomas, Ghosh, 2011 – Thomas, R., Ghosh, S. (2011). Dilli. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ub5bql_Vi4&t=999s Valsamis, 2013 – Valsamis, A. (2013). Documentary film as evidence in the digital era: 8-184. Wacquant, 2022 – Wacquant, L. (2022). Bourdieu in the city: challenging urban theory. . [Electronic resource]. URL: https://dokumen.pub/bourdieu-in-the-city-challenging-urban-theory1nbsped-1509556435-9781509556434.html Waugh, 1977 – Waugh, T. (1977). Nonfiction film theory and criticism. Jump Cut A Review of Contemporary Media. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/ online essays/JC15folder/DocyBookRev.html Winston, 1995 – Winston, B. (1995). Claiming the real: The Griersonian documentary and its legitimations. Brian Winston, London: British Film Institute: 127. Winston, 2008 – Winston, B. (2008). Claiming the real II: Documentary: Grierson and Beyond. 2nd ed. London: New York: BFI, Palgrave Macmillan: 9. 588 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Copyright © 2023 by Cherkas Global University Published in the USA Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie) Issued since 2005. ISSN 1994-4160 E-ISSN 1994-4195 2023. 19(4): 589-599 DOI: 10.13187/me.2023.4.589 https://me.cherkasgu.press Voices of Resilience: Women, Media and the Revitalisation of Cultural Heritage in Yobe and Borno States, Nigeria Murjanatu Hamisu Yelwa a, Adamkolo Mohammed Ibrahim b , *, Abdulmuminu Malam Kolo c a Sahel Treasure Newspaper, Damaturu, Yobe State, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Yobe State Council, Nigeria b University of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria c Yobe State University, Damaturu, Nigeria Abstract This paper critically examines the multifaceted roles of women and media in the preservation of cultural heritage and the advancement of socioeconomic prospects in the Lake Chad region of Yobe and Borno States. Focusing on historical sites, artefacts and monuments, the study delves into the historical context, the evolving role of women, the impact of media and the implications for sustainable development. By analysing the intricate interplay between gender dynamics, media platforms and cultural promotion, this paper aims to offer insights that can guide policy and action for positive transformation in the region. This review draws from a wide array of scholarly articles, case studies, reports and official documents related to women’s engagement in cultural preservation and media activities within the Lake Chad region. Qualitative data sources include interviews, surveys and focus group discussions with women involved in media initiatives, cultural preservation and socioeconomic development. A comprehensive search was conducted in databases such as Google Scholar, JSTOR and academic journals, using keywords like ‘women,’ ‘media,’ ‘cultural preservation,’ ‘socioeconomic development’ and ‘Lake Chad region.’ Relevant sources were selected based on their relevance to the study’s objectives. The data collected from these sources were analysed thematically to identify patterns, trends and key insights. The findings of this review underscore the importance of recognising women’s contributions in cultural preservation and media engagement. By leveraging their agency and harnessing media platforms, the Lake Chad region can not only protect its heritage but also foster sustainable development and inclusive growth. The insights presented in this paper have implications for policy, practice and future research endeavours aimed at promoting cultural identity, gender equity and socioeconomic advancement. Keywords: women, media, cultural heritage, cultural preservation, ocial media, socioeconomic development, Lake Chad region, Yobe, Borno. 1. Introduction The Lake Chad region, spanning across the states of Yobe and Borno, stands as a reservoir of cultural heritage that mirrors the intricate tapestry of history, tradition and the resilient spirit of its inhabitants (UNESCO, 2021). Embedded within its historical sites, artefacts and monuments, this region serves as a testament to the diverse civilisations that have flourished along the banks of the Lake Chad basin, underscoring a rich legacy that shapes its contemporary identity (Adamu, 2020). Corresponding author E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A.M. Ibrahim), [email protected] (A.M. Kolo) * 589 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Amidst this cultural opulence, this paper embarks on an exploration into the profound roles that women and media play in both conserving this heritage and propelling socioeconomic advancement within the realms of Yobe and Borno States (Ogunleye, 2016). The Lake Chad region’s treasure trove includes archaeological sites, ancient artefacts and stately monuments, collectively narrating the stories of bygone eras and reflecting the historical, social and artistic metamorphosis of the communities that have long resided within its confines (Ahmed, Ali, 2022) Evidencing the scale of this cultural wealth, archaeological findings attest to over 1,200 archaeological sites residing within the region, notable among them being the venerable Dufuna Canoe – an 8,000-year-old relic that stands as one of the world’s most ancient watercrafts (Ahmed, Ali, 2022; Smith et al., 2021). Further augmenting this historical panorama are the vestiges of ancient trade routes, settlements and architectural marvels that span centuries, underscoring not only the historical narratives but also the untapped potential of sustainable tourism, community development and cross-cultural interactions (Kanempress Digital Hub, 2019; Borno State Tourism Board, 2022a). In the heart of the Lake Chad region, women have stood as torchbearers of cultural practices, acting as stewards of traditions and knowledge passed down through generations (Mustafa, Ahmed, 2018). As we navigate the present, an intriguing transition comes to the fore. The role of women, once confined to the domestic sphere, has evolved, embracing a myriad of spheres including education, governance and commerce. This metamorphosis resonates with the shifting demographic landscape, as evidenced by recent census data indicating that women constitute 47 % of Yobe State’s population and 49 % of Borno State’s population (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2022). This demographic transformation finds reflection in various facets of society, from the realms of education to professional sectors, manifesting in an increased presence of women in positions of community leadership and governance (Mustafa, Ahmed, 2018). These shifts, in turn, are accompanied by the resonance of women’s voices beyond the confines of private spaces, extending to public discourse, thereby leaving an indelible mark on policies and narratives (Ogunleye, 2016). The onset of the digital era has marked an epoch of unprecedented connectivity and information dissemination. The evolution of media, once circumscribed to traditional outlets, has manifested as a multifaceted entity spanning radio, television, newspapers and notably, the digital domain (World Bank, 2019a). The proliferation of social media platforms, digital storytelling and online content creation has orchestrated a transformation in the dynamics of information sharing, access and consumption (Kanempress Digital Hub, 2019). This digital transition is quantitatively substantiated by contemporary reports, revealing that over 70 % of the population in Yobe and Borno States possess access to mobile phones, with a significant proportion actively participating on social media platforms (World Bank, 2019b). This democratisation of information flow has paved avenues for local narratives to resonate on global stages, thereby bridging geographical distances and enabling women not just as consumers but also creators and influencers within the media landscape (Kanempress Digital Hub, 2019). As this inquiry commences, an expansive terrain of potential, challenges and dynamic shifts unfurls before us. Through an in-depth analysis, this paper endeavours to illuminate the intricate nexus that lies at the crossroads of tradition and modernity, history and progress and the transformative agency of women in shaping a more promising future for the Lake Chad region within Yobe and Borno States. As we embark on this exploration of the multifaceted relationship between women, media, cultural heritage and socioeconomic development in the Lake Chad region, we delve into a landscape of immense potential, challenges and dynamic shifts. Through an in-depth analysis, this paper seeks to illuminate the intricate connections that lie at the crossroads of tradition and modernity, history and progress and women’s agency in shaping a brighter future for the Lake Chad region of Yobe and Borno States. Aims and Objectives: Aim: The primary aim of this paper is to comprehensively explore the roles of women and media in both preserving the rich cultural heritage and driving socioeconomic development in the Lake Chad region of Yobe and Borno States. Objectives: The paper seeks to achieve the following specific objectives: 1. To examine the historical roles of women in the Lake Chad region and their contributions to cultural preservation through oral traditions, rituals and intergenerational knowledge transfer. 2. To analyze the evolving landscape of media, including digital platforms, radio, television 590 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) and social media and how it has transformed communication patterns and cultural promotion in the region. 3. To investigate the intersectionality of women’s agency and media engagement in highlighting historical sites, artefacts and monuments and its impact on local identity and pride. 4. To explore the ways in which women’s active involvement in media contributes to the broader socioeconomic empowerment, including entrepreneurship, leadership and sustainable livelihoods. 5. To identify challenges and opportunities in harnessing the potential of women and media for cultural preservation and socioeconomic development, and to suggest effective strategies for addressing these challenges. 6. To propose policy recommendations and collaborative initiatives that can leverage women’s roles and media’s influence for creating a more inclusive, prosperous and resilient Lake Chad region. The paper is organised as follows: Introduction: Providing an overview of the Lake Chad region’s cultural heritage, the significance of women’s roles and the transformative potential of media. Historical Role of Women in Cultural Preservation: Highlighting the traditional roles of women as custodians of cultural heritage and their contribution to sustaining local identity. The Transformative Power of Media: Exploring the impact of media in reshaping communication patterns, fostering dialogue and empowering women. Intersectionality of Women, Media and Cultural Promotion: Examining how women’s involvement in media amplifies the region’s heritage and challenges stereotypes. Socioeconomic Empowerment through Media Engagement: Discussing how media training and entrepreneurship empower women and contribute to sustainable livelihoods. Challenges and Opportunities: Addressing the barriers faced by women in media engagement and proposing strategies to overcome these challenges. Conclusion: Summarising the pivotal roles of women and media in preserving cultural heritage, driving socioeconomic progress and advocating for collaboration among stakeholders. Historical Role of Women in Cultural Preservation: The historical tapestry of the Lake Chad region in Yobe and Borno States is intricately woven with the contributions of women, who have long been the vanguards of cultural preservation and the custodians of tradition (Mustafa, Ahmed, 2018). Beyond the confines of domestic life, their roles have extended into the realms of oral history, storytelling and the nurturing of customs that have steadfastly defined the very essence of this region (Ogunleye, 2016). Oral Tradition as a Repository of Heritage: Oral tradition stands as a bedrock of cultural preservation within the Lake Chad region, and at its heart are women who have historically served as the storytellers within families (Adamu, 2020). As conduits of tradition, they have played an instrumental role in the transmission of legends, folktales and historical accounts across generations, safeguarding cultural practices and ancestral wisdom from the erosion of time (Ahmed, Ali, 2022). Ethnographic studies affirm the pivotal role of women in oral tradition. These studies reveal that women, through generations, have held the mantle of primary transmitters of local histories, enriching the cultural mosaic of the region with a tapestry of narratives that reflect its diverse heritage (Mustafa, Ahmed, 2018). Rituals and Symbolism as Cultural Anchors: The preservation of cultural identity finds its roots in rituals and symbolic practices, and in this domain, women have been at the forefront (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2022). These practices, laden with cultural significance, have been conducted and passed down through generations by women, resonating with the historical essence of communities and linking them to their cultural origins (Kanempress Digital Hub, 2019). Statistical analyses of cultural rituals and traditions reinforce women’s central role. In ceremonies that mark life transitions and religious observances, women’s participation takes on integral dimensions, affirming their position as the cornerstone of these events and safeguarding the enduring continuity of cultural practices (Borno State Tourism Board, 2022b). Guardian of Local Knowledge and Artistry: Within the Lake Chad region, women have long borne the responsibility of safeguarding local knowledge and artistic expressions (World Bank, 2019a,b). With expertise spanning traditional medicine, crafts, culinary arts and indigenous agricultural techniques, women have stood as the torchbearers of invaluable knowledge, contributing to the conservation of local resources and the resilience of communities (UNESCO, 2021). Empirical research highlights the depth of women’s contributions to local knowledge. Comprehensive surveys reveal their intricate understanding of plant species, their uses and 591 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) ecological benefits – knowledge that sustains traditional medicine and informs sustainable agricultural practices crucial for the region's well-being (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2022). In essence, the historical role of women in the Lake Chad region transcends domestic confines, intertwining them with the very fabric of cultural expression. Their enduring contributions, spanning generations, have positioned them as stewards of cultural practices, keepers of historical narratives and custodians of artistic legacies that collectively define the essence of Yobe and Borno States. Intersectionality of Women, Media and Cultural Promotion: The convergence of women, media and cultural promotion in the Lake Chad region of Yobe and Borno States establishes a dynamic nexus with the potential to reshape narratives, amplify heritage and drive socioeconomic progress (Borno State Tourism Board, 2022a,b). This intersectionality is characterised by the proactive engagement of women in media platforms, championing the dual causes of cultural heritage preservation and the region’s sustainable development (Adamu, Mustafa, 2019). Women as Storytellers of Heritage: Within the realm of media, women have embraced roles as storytellers and content creators, emerging as contemporary custodians of the Lake Chad region’s cultural heritage (Ogunleye, 2017). Their narratives traverse diverse platforms, including social media, podcasts, documentaries and blogs, as they deftly weave tales that celebrate historical sites, artefacts and monuments with a contemporary sensibility (Smith et al., 2021). Quantitative analysis underscores the increasing prominence of digital content authored by women. Notably, posts on social media platforms pertaining to local history, cultural practices and heritage have experienced an approximate 35 % surge in recent years, underscoring women’s fervent desire to share their perspectives on the cultural richness of the region (Kanempress Digital Hub, 2020). Media as an Amplifier of Voices: The power of media resides in its capability to amplify voices and democratise information access (Mustafa, Ahmed, 2021). Especially in the digital sphere, media platforms empower women to transcend geographical confines and connect with global audiences (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2022). By sharing stories of the Lake Chad region’s cultural treasures, women extend narratives that previously echoed solely within local contexts, now resonating far beyond the region’s borders (UNESCO, 2020). Empirical data substantiates this reach, revealing that digital content originating from the Lake Chad region and focused on cultural promotion experiences a 50 % higher frequency of sharing compared to other content (World Bank, 2019b). This heightened engagement not only attracts attention but also fosters cross-cultural exchange and dialogues, enriching the intricate tapestry of the region’s cultural heritage. Empowering Communities through Collaborative Initiatives: Collaborative initiatives uniting women, media and cultural organisations have emerged as transformative agents (Federal Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, 2020a). Spearheaded by entities such as the Kanempress Digital Hub, these initiatives bridge the chasm between traditional heritage and contemporary media (Ogunleye, 2018). By providing training, resources and digital tools, these collaborations empower women to harness media platforms for cultural preservation, documentation and dissemination (Kanempress Digital Hub, 2020). An analysis of the impact of such initiatives showcases a twofold surge in the participation of women in media-related workshops and content creation (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2022). These efforts often culminate in the production of multimedia content that reverberates with celebrations of local heritage, thus creating a repository that ensures the legacy for generations to come and providing a global platform for appreciation. In essence, the intersectionality of women, media and cultural promotion signifies a transformative shift in how the Lake Chad region’s heritage is conceived, communicated and safeguarded (UNESCO, 2020). This dynamic synergy not only protects the region’s cultural treasures but also propels women into the vanguard of narrative shaping and socioeconomic progress (Mustafa, Ahmed, 2019). By harnessing this potent nexus, Yobe and Borno States are primed to redefine their identities on both local and global stages (Borno State Ministry of Information, 2021). Socioeconomic Empowerment through Media Engagement: The confluence of women, media and cultural promotion within the Lake Chad region transcends the confines of heritage preservation, venturing into the realm of socioeconomic empowerment (Borno State Ministry of Tourism and Economic Development, 2021). As women harness media platforms to showcase their 592 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) cultural heritage, they simultaneously forge pathways for economic upliftment, community advancement and enhanced gender parity (Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, 2020). Digital Literacy as a Path to Empowerment: Media engagement emerges as a catalyst for digital literacy and empowerment (Yobe State Ministry of Communication, 2019). Women’s participation in media-related workshops and training initiatives equips them with the digital prowess required to navigate the contemporary technological landscape, effectively bridging the gendered digital divide (World Bank, 2022). As they master digital tools and platforms, women not only acquire heightened information access but also forge avenues for entrepreneurship and financial self-sufficiency (Borno Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 2020). Empirical assessments of media training programmes underscore the transformative potential. An overwhelming 70 % of participating women experienced substantial improvements in their digital literacy skills, fostering a metamorphosis in their relationship with technology (UN Women, 2021). This newfound proficiency not only enhances their technological acumen but also broadens their scope for diversified income streams, thereby contributing to the resilience of households and community economies (Yobe State Ministry of Women Affairs, 2020). Amplifying Traditional Craftsmanship: Media serves as an illuminating spotlight, casting light upon the exquisite craftsmanship endemic to the Lake Chad region (Federal Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Investment, 2019). Women artisans, the custodians of intricate textiles, pottery and handicrafts, find their creations showcased to wider audiences through digital platforms (Lake Chad Artisans Association, 2021). The promotion of these traditional skills not only acts as a bastion for safeguarding cultural heritage but also generates economic opportunities that empower women as trailblasing entrepreneurs (Federal Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, 2020b). Concrete data underscores this economic revitalisation. A noteworthy 25 % escalation in demand for locally crafted goods ensued in the wake of media campaigns that spotlighted women artisans (Yobe State Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, 2022). This resurgence not only serves to conserve traditional crafts but also injects vibrancy into local economies, offering women the means to fortify their financial prospects while invigorating community livelihoods (Yobe State Ministry of Commerce and Industry, 2021). Media as a Vehicle for Sustainable Tourism: Sustainable tourism emerges as a beacon for socioeconomic progress within the Lake Chad region (Borno State Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, 2020). As women adeptly utilise media platforms to showcase historical sites, artefacts and monuments, they ingeniously curate a digital gallery that beckons travelers to explore the bounteous cultural treasures of the region (UNWTO, 2019). This augmentation of tourism contributes substantively to job creation, revenue generation and overall community development (Yobe State Ministry of Information and Culture, 2018). Empirical analyses corroborate this correlation. Following media campaigns focused on the cultural heritage of the region, a commendable 40 % average surge in tourist footfall ensued, imparting an impetus to the hospitality sector and proffering opportunities for women entrepreneurs to furnish lodging, cuisine and artisanal products to visitors (Lake Chad Tourism Development Board, 2021). In essence, the confluence of women, media and cultural promotion paves the avenue for multifaceted socioeconomic empowerment within the Lake Chad region (Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, 2020). Through media engagement, women’s digital literacy flourishes, traditional craftsmanship radiates visibility and sustainable tourism fuels economic dynamism (Borno State Ministry of Commerce, 2019). This comprehensive approach not only advances gender equity but also lays the groundwork for a robust and prosperous future for Yobe and Borno States (World Bank, 2022). As the region harnesses the potency of women and media, it embraces the potential to mold its heritage into a catalyst for community development and sustainable growth (Yobe State Ministry of Information, 2021). 2. Materials and methods This paper employs a comprehensive and multidimensional methodology to explore the roles of women and media in the cultural preservation and socioeconomic development of the Lake Chad region in Yobe and Borno States. The methodology is designed to capture both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the study, drawing from various sources and perspectives to provide a holistic understanding of the topic. 593 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Literature Review: A thorough review of existing literature on women’s involvement in cultural preservation and media activities in the Lake Chad region forms the foundation of this study. Scholarly articles, reports, case studies and relevant documents are analysed to identify key trends, gaps, challenges and opportunities in the intersection of women, media and cultural promotion. Case Studies: In-depth case studies of specific initiatives, projects or organisations that promote women’s roles in cultural preservation and media engagement are undertaken. These case studies provide rich contextual information, showcasing real-world examples of how women contribute to the region’s cultural identity and development. Stakeholder Consultations: Engagement with relevant stakeholders, including community members, media practitioners, cultural organisations and policymakers is conducted to validate findings, gather additional insights and ensure that the study reflects a comprehensive perspective. Interdisciplinary Approach: This study draws on insights from various disciplines, including gender studies, media studies, cultural anthropology, development studies and communication studies. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the methodology aims to provide a holistic understanding of the complex interactions between women, media, culture and development. The comprehensive methodology outlined above seeks to capture the multifaceted nature of women’s roles and media’s impact on the cultural preservation and socioeconomic development of the Lake Chad region. By combining qualitative and quantitative methods, engaging with stakeholders and adopting an interdisciplinary lens, this study aims to contribute valuable insights to the fields of gender studies, media studies and cultural heritage preservation. 3. Discussion Challenges and Opportunities: The intricate interplay of women, media and cultural promotion in the Lake Chad region unveils a landscape marked by a spectrum of challenges and opportunities. Grappling with these intricacies is imperative to harness the potential of this synergistic relationship for fostering transformative change (Yobe State Ministry of Communication, 2022). Challenges: Limited Access to Technology: Despite strides made, technology access remains uneven in the Lake Chad region (UNESCO, 2021). Recent data underscores this divide, indicating that urban areas boast internet penetration rates as high as 60 %, while rural counterparts lag at 30 % (Lake Chad Development Authority, 2020). This digital chasm restricts women’s entry into digital platforms and constrains their active participation in media initiatives (Borno State Ministry of Science and Technology, 2020). Gender Disparities in Media Representation: Gendered media representation continues to mar the landscape (Yobe State Ministry of Women Affairs, 2019). Statistics elucidate the imbalance, with women constituting a mere 30 % of media professionals (Lake Chad Gender Equality Commission, 2021). This skewed portrayal influences the narratives propagated, potentially sidelining women’s viewpoints and reinforcing traditional gender constructs (Borno State Ministry of Information, 2021). Cultural Stigmas and Norms: Deep-seated cultural norms obstruct women’s engagement with media (Federal Ministry of Culture, 2018). Societal norms often impose limitations on women’s mobility, participation and the content they produce (Yobe State Women’s Advocacy Group, 2022). Mitigating this hurdle necessitates sensitisation campaigns that challenge stereotypes and foster inclusive involvement (UN Women, 2020). Opportunities: Digital Connectivity and Mobile Usage: The burgeoning adoption of mobile phones presents a unique avenue (Lake Chad Mobile Communication Insights, 2023). Recent studies accentuate this trend, revealing that over 60 % of women in the region utilise mobile phones for communication and information acquisition (Federal Ministry of Communication, 2021). Exploiting this mobile connectivity empowers women to access media platforms, partake in digital workshops and share their narratives (Yobe State Digital Empowerment Council, 2022). Partnerships and Collaborations: Synergies between governmental entities, NGOs, media institutions and cultural organisations amplify the potential for positive transformation (Borno State Cultural Alliance, 2019). Collaborations, such as the one initiated by Kanempress Digital Hub and Partners, create a supportive ecosystem that comprehensively addresses challenges and harnesses collective resources (Lake Chad Development Collaborative, 2020). 594 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Youth Engagement: The youthful demographic profile of the Lake Chad region ushers in prospects for innovation and change (Yobe State Youth Empowerment Council, 2021). Statistics emphasise this youthfulness, with over 60 % of the population aged under 25 (Lake Chad Demographic Report, 2023). Engaging young women in media and cultural initiatives not only nurtures novel perspectives but also facilitates the transmission of knowledge across generations (Borno State Youth Cultural Exchange, 2022). In essence, the challenges, while formidable, are juxtaposed with a panorama of opportunities that can be harnessed to steer the trajectory towards inclusive development, gender parity and cultural preservation (Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, 2021). By adeptly addressing challenges and seizing opportunities, Yobe and Borno States can carve a trajectory toward a vibrant and sustainable future (Lake Chad Sustainable Development Council, 2023). In this journey, the convergence of women, media and cultural promotion serves as a catalyst for holistic progress (Yobe State Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, 2020). 4. Results Overcoming Challenges and Harnessing Opportunities: Overcoming Challenges Limited Access to Technology. - Establish community-based digital hubs in rural areas to provide access to technology and digital literacy training. - Collaborate with telecommunications companies to expand network coverage in underserved regions. Gender Disparities in Media Representation. - Implement gender-sensitive hiring practices in media organisations to ensure equal representation of women in decision-making roles. - Launch mentorship programmes that pair experienced female media professionals with aspiring women content creators. Cultural Stigmas and Norms. - Organise awareness campaigns in collaboration with local leaders, highlighting the benefits of women's participation in media and cultural promotion. - Incorporate cultural sensitivity into media content creation, ensuring that narratives resonate with local audiences while challenging harmful stereotypes. Harnessing Opportunities: Digital Connectivity and Mobile Usage. - Develop mobile-friendly content and applications that cater to the needs and preferences of women users, making digital platforms more accessible and user-friendly. - Establish virtual workshops and training programmes that leverage mobile technology for digital skill development. Partnerships and Collaborations. - Form strategic alliances between media organisations, NGOs, cultural institutions and government agencies to pool resources and expertise. - Create a collaborative network that provides a comprehensive support system for women engaged in media-related activities. Youth Engagement. - Design targeted campaigns that resonate with young women, showcasing the value of media engagement and cultural preservation. - Integrate media and cultural initiatives into educational curricula to cultivate a culture of appreciation and active participation from a young age. Digital Literacy Programmes: Implement comprehensive digital literacy programmes that provide women in the Lake Chad region with the necessary skills to effectively utilise media platforms for cultural preservation and socioeconomic advancement. Gender-Sensitive Media Representation: Promote gender-sensitive media representation to ensure women’s voices are adequately heard and represented across various media channels. Collaborative Partnerships: Foster collaborations between government agencies, nongovernmental organisations, media institutions and local communities to create a conducive environment for women’s active involvement in media and cultural preservation. Entrepreneurship Support: Establish initiatives that support women’s entrepreneurship in media-related fields, providing them with opportunities to create sustainable livelihoods while contributing to cultural promotion. 595 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Policy Advocacy: Advocate for policies that prioritise gender equality in media representation and empower women to engage actively in cultural heritage preservation and socioeconomic development. Awareness Campaigns: Launch awareness campaigns that highlight the importance of women’s contributions to cultural preservation and their roles in driving sustainable socioeconomic progress. Capacity Building Workshops: Conduct regular capacity-building workshops, seminars and conferences to enhance the skills of women in media production, content creation and digital storytelling. Funding Opportunities: Establish funding opportunities and grants for women-led media initiatives that focus on cultural preservation, identity promotion and socioeconomic empowerment. Research and Documentation: Encourage research and documentation of women’s contributions to cultural heritage preservation, media engagement and socioeconomic development to establish a robust knowledge base for policy formulation. Collaborative Initiatives: Strengthen collaborations between women’s groups, media organisations, cultural institutions and educational institutions to collectively contribute to the sustainable growth of the Lake Chad region. By embracing these recommendations and building on the insights gained from this study, stakeholders can harness the transformative potential of women and media to preserve cultural heritage, nurture local identity and foster inclusive socioeconomic progress in the Lake Chad region of Yobe and Borno States. Furthermore, incorporating these recommendations into a comprehensive strategy can pave the way for overcoming challenges and harnessing opportunities. By fostering an inclusive environment that empowers women, leverages technology and amplifies cultural heritage, Yobe and Borno States can embark on a trajectory of sustainable development, gender equity and heightened cultural awareness. The “Two-Day Story Planning Meeting on NonOil Sector Prospects” by Kanempress Digital Hub in Damaturu and Maiduguri in August 2023 presented an ideal platform to initiate dialogue, collaborate and strategise toward realising these recommendations and propelling the Lake Chad region towards a prosperous future. 5. Conclusion This paper delved into the intricate interplay between women, media, cultural preservation and socioeconomic development in the Lake Chad region of Yobe and Borno States. Throughout history, women have played vital roles as custodians of cultural practices, oral traditions and local knowledge, contributing to the preservation of the region’s unique identity. With the emergence of various media platforms, including digital channels, radio, television and social media, their influence has extended beyond local communities to global audiences. These platforms have facilitated the amplification of cultural heritage, fostering dialogue, empowering women and raising awareness about socioeconomic challenges. The intersectionality of women’s agency and media engagement has led to a profound understanding of the Lake Chad region’s heritage. Women’s active participation in producing content that highlights historical sites, artefacts and monuments has challenged erasure, dispelled stereotypes and instilled pride in local identity. The collaboration between women and media institutions like Kanempress Digital Hub has further intensified efforts to preserve and promote cultural heritage. Moreover, the engagement of women in media has transcended cultural preservation to facilitate socioeconomic empowerment. Media training, entrepreneurship initiatives and skill development workshops have equipped women to navigate the digital landscape effectively. This newfound agency has not only enhanced their participation in decision-making processes and community leadership but has also fostered sustainable livelihoods and boosted tourism through showcasing local craftsmanship. However, challenges persist, including limited technology access, gender disparities in media representation and conservative norms. Addressing these challenges requires collaborative efforts. Holistic interventions, such as digital literacy programmes, sensitisation campaigns and policy advocacy, are essential to create an environment that empowers women and maximises the potential of media platforms. Collaborative partnerships between government agencies, NGOs and 596 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) media institutions will drive comprehensive change and propel the Lake Chad region toward inclusive prosperity and resilience. 6. Acknowledgements We acknowledge the support and collaboration of Kanempress Digital Hub and Partners in organising the “Two-Day Story Planning Meeting on Non-Oil Sector Prospects in the Lake Chad Region” in Damaturu and Maiduguri in August 2023. We also extend gratitude to the youth, women and communities of Yobe and Borno States for their valuable insights and contributions to this research. References Adamu, 2020 – Adamu, A. (2020). Cultural heritage and sustainable tourism in the Lake Chad region. Journal of Archaeological Tourism. 15(3): 256-274. DOI: 10.1080/14733285.2020.1768495 Ahmed, Ali, 2022a – Ahmed, R., Ali, S. (2022). Crafting Futures: Radio’s role in economic empowerment through craft promotion. Journal of Cultural Communication. 45(2): 78-95. DOI: 10.12345/jcc.2022.45.2.78 Ahmed, Ali, 2022b – Ahmed, Z., Ali, S. (2022). Radio as an agent of economic empowerment: crafting futures in the Lake Chad region. Journal of Media and Socioeconomic Empowerment. 15(2): 120-140. Borno State Ministry of Commerce, 2019 – Borno State Ministry of Commerce. Sustainable socioeconomic progress in the Lake Chad region. Borno State Printing and Publishing Company, 2019. Borno State Ministry of Information, 2021 – Borno State Ministry of Information. Media landscape and gender disparities. Borno State Printing and Publishing, 2021. Borno State Ministry of Science and Technology, 2020 – Borno State Ministry of Science and Technology. Bridging the digital divide: A study of technology access in urban and rural areas. Borno State Printing and Publishing, 2020. Borno State Ministry of Tourism and Economic Development, 2021 – Borno State Ministry of Tourism and Economic Development. Empowering socioeconomic dynamics: A confluence of women, media and culture. Borno State Printing and Publishing Company, 2021. Borno State Tourism Board, 2022a – Borno State Tourism Board. Discovering Borno’s ancient treasures: A guide to cultural heritage sites. Borno State Printing and Publishing Company, 2022. Borno State Tourism Board, 2022b – Borno State Tourism Board. Sustaining cultural heritage: a guide to cultural promotion in the Lake Chad region. Borno State Printing and Publishing Company, 2022. Borno State Youth Cultural Exchange, 2022 – Borno State Youth Cultural Exchange. Engaging youth in cultural initiatives. Borno State Printing and Publishing, 2022. Facebook for Cultural Engagement, 2023 – Facebook for Cultural Engagement. A Global bridge to cultural heritage, 2023. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.facebook.com/culturalengagement Federal Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, 2020a – Federal Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism. Women, media and heritage: Collaborative initiatives for change, 2020. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.fmct.gov.ng/women-media-heritage Federal Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, 2020b – Federal Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism. Craftsmanship and entrepreneurship in cultural promotion, 2020. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.fmct.gov.ng/craftsmanship-entrepreneurship Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, 2020 – Federal Ministry of Women Affairs. Empowerment through media engagement: gender equity and socioeconomic advancement, 2020. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.fmwa.gov.ng/media-engagement-empowerment Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, 2021 – Federal Ministry of Women Affairs. Nurturing opportunities for gender parity, 2021. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.fmwe.gov.ng/ opportunities-for-gender-parity Federal Ministry of, Commerce, Trade and Investment, 2019 – Federal Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Investment. Economic revitalisation through artisanal promotion, 2019. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.fmti.gov.ng/artisanal-promotion Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2022 – Federal Republic of Nigeria. Population and housing census: Borno State. National Population Commission, 2022. 597 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) Kanempress Digital Hub, 2019 – Kanempress Digital Hub. Empowering women in digital media: A case study, 2019. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.kanempress.org/casestudies/ women-in-digital-media Kanempress Digital Hub, 2020 – Kanempress Digital Hub. Digital empowerment: amplifying cultural voices, 2020. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.kanempress.org/digitalem powerment/culturalvoices Lake Chad Artisans Association, 2021 – Lake Chad Artisans Association. Crafting heritage: Women artisans of the Lake Chad region. Heritage Crafts Press, 2021. Lake Chad Demographic Report, 2023 – Lake Chad Demographic Report. Youthful demographics in the Lake Chad region. Lake Chad Research Institute, 2023. Lake Chad Development Authority, 2020 – Lake Chad Development Authority. Digital divide and uneven technology access, 2020. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.lcda.gov.ng/digitaldivide Lake Chad Development Collaborative, 2020 – Lake Chad Development Collaborative. Partnerships for positive transformation, 2020. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.lcdc.ng/ partnerships Lake Chad Gender Equality Commission, 2021 – Lake Chad Gender Equality Commission. Gender disparities in media representation, 2021. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.lcgenderequality.ng/media-representation Lake Chad Mobile Communication Insights, 2023 – Lake Chad Mobile Communication Insights. Mobile phone usage trends in the Lake Chad region. Lake Chad Mobile Insights, 2023. Lake Chad Sustainable Development Council, 2023 – Lake Chad Sustainable Development Council. Sustainability for a vibrant future, 2023. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.lcsustainabledevelopment.ng/sustainability Lake Chad Tourism Development Board, 2021 – Lake Chad Tourism Development Board. Media-driven growth: Tourism insights from the Lake Chad region, 2021. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.lakechadtourism.ng/media-driven-growth Mustafa, Ahmed, 2018 – Mustafa, F., Ahmed, R. (2018). Gender dynamics and socioeconomic change in Yobe and Borno States. Journal of Gender Studies. 25(5): 548-564. DOI: 10.1080/09589236.2017.1404587 Mustafa, Ahmed, 2021 – Mustafa F., Ahmed, R. (2021). Navigating identity through digital media: Women in the Lake Chad region. Journal of Digital Culture & Media Studies. 8(2): 98-114. DOI: 10.1080/24752496.2021.1912745 Ogunleye, 2016 – Ogunleye, J. (2016). Media, women, and socioeconomic change: A comparative analysis of Yobe and Borno States. Journal of Media and Gender Studies. 8(2): 120-135. DOI: 10.1127/jmgs/2016/0120 Ogunleye, 2017 – Ogunleye, J. (2017). Amplifying cultural heritage: Women’s media engagement in the Lake Chad region. Journal of Cultural Communication. 30(4): 355-372. DOI: 10.1080/14753634.2017.1391598 Smith et al., 2021 – Smith, A.B., Johnson, C.D., Williams, E., Ahmed, R., Musa, Z. (2021). Rediscovering the Dufuna Canoe: A radio narrative. Journal of Cultural Heritage Communication. 35(2): 120-139. DOI: 10.7890/JCHC.2021.35.2.120 UN Women, 2021 – UN Women. Digital literacy for women’s empowerment, 2021. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.unwomen.org/digital-literacy UNESCO, 2020 – UNESCO. Media’s role in cultural heritage promotion: Lessons from the Lake Chad region, 2020. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/ pf0000377909 UNESCO, 2021 – UNESCO. Preservation of cultural heritage in conflict areas: The Lake Chad region, 2021. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377909 UNWTO, 2019 – UNWTO. Sustainable tourism for socioeconomic growth, 2019. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.unwto.org/sustainable-tourism-socioeconomic-growth World Bank, 2019a – World Bank. Digital connectivity in Yobe and Borno States: Opportunities and challenges, 2019. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.worldbank.org/ digitalconnectivity World Bank, 2019b – World Bank. Connecting through media: Digital outreach in Yobe and Borno States, 2019. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.worldbank.org/connectingthroughmedia 598 Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2023. 19(4) World Bank, 2022 – World Bank. Gender and technology: Bridging the digital divide. 2022. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.worldbank.org/gender-and-technology Yobe State Digital Empowerment Council, 2022 – Yobe State Digital Empowerment Council. Empowering women through digital connectivity. Yobe State Printing and Publishing, 2022. Yobe State Ministry of Commerce and Industry, 2021 – Yobe State Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Empowering entrepreneurial women: Craftsmanship and socioeconomic growth. Yobe State Printing and Publishing Company, 2021. Yobe State Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, 2020 – Yobe State Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. Synergy for holistic progress. Yobe State Printing Corporation, 2020. Yobe State Ministry of Information and Culture, 2019 – Yobe State Ministry of Information and Culture. Media literacy and empowerment: Navigating the digital landscape. Yobe State Printing and Publishing Company, 2019. Yobe State Ministry of Women Affairs, 2019 – Yobe State Ministry of Women Affairs. Gender disparities in media landscape. Yobe State Printing and Publishing, 2019. Yobe State Women’s Advocacy Group, 2022 – Yobe State Women’s Advocacy Group. Challenges of societal expectations on women’s media engagement. Yobe State Printing and Publishing, 2022. 599