Political trust is a barometer of the effectiveness of national governance, a link in the relationship between the people and the Government, and plays the role of a political stabilizer. The relevance of this topic conditioned by the fact that in the Internet era, 1 when everyone ‘holds a microphone’ on the network media in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, communication in the network virtual spaces such as Weibo and forums is capable of dissipating and restoring trust in governments in the form of questions, doubts and criticism, which has an impact on political media ecology as a whole. The paper is based on the media monitoring of the network communities in China. The author analyses the forms of manifestation of the confrontational (conflict-prone) discourse of virtual communities in the context of the pandemic of the New Corona virus and the following ‘infodemic’, and considers the ways of restoring the political trust of network virtual communities within this context, whereas: (1) the government should include the network virtual space in the sphere of national governance in order to open bidirectional channels for good communication with the masses; (2) the quality of discourse in the network space of the virtual community should be improved; (3) the network media should fulfill their social responsibilities, while ensuring the quality of the content.

The manuscript is devoted to identifying the types and political characteristics of ancient Chinese newspapers. The study of the history of journalism is an important part of the study of Chinese history and, at the same time, contributes to a clear understanding of modern processes. The scientific discourse discusses historical and cultural factors influencing the development of modern journalism. Meanwhile, studying the history of ancient Chinese journalism is no less important than studying modern journalism in a given country. The article analyzes the socio-political conditions of the birth of newspapers in ancient China, the activities of their publishers, the political goals and content of newspapers, the audience, and interaction with the ruling authorities. A comparative analysis of ancient Chinese official, private legal and illegal publications is given. The author analyzes scientific sources based on the principle of historicism, such general scientific methods as analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction. The main research methods are historical-genetic and historical typological.

In the research of modern digital society, interaction through various channels and media is increasingly coming to the fore as a “|gaining momentum” trend of social development. Meanwhile, despite the abundance of empirical data in this area, the scientific understanding of interactions understood as media is in the process of formation, which is especially noticeable from the point of view of sociological discourse. It thoroughly represents the interactions of the traditional type, that is, social, in the works of E. Durkheim, M. Weber, G. Simmel, T. Parsons, J. Homans, J. Mead, P. Bourdieu and other classics of sociological thought. The Russian sociological science, starting with P.A. Sorokin and up to the present day, in which interactions form the essence of all social processes, does not stand aside either. Actually, media interactions have been considered by foreign sociologists since the 70s of the twentieth century, in line with the interaction of the audience with the media and social networks (J. Nordlund, P. Robinson, J. Blommaert). The paper is intended to represent the author’s vision media interactions studies design and is based sociolinguistic and socio- communication approaches allowing to most accurately identify essence of these processes.

The development of the new media and the transfer of mass and interpersonal communications into the digital space, on the one hand, opens up the opportunity for interaction and obtaining information regardless of geographical, sociocultural and time factors, on the other hand, it creates new patterns of interaction with and within the media, as well as social interaction in in general. By virtue of the ability to quickly access a large amount of information, a media user develops a sense of freedom to choose its source. At the same time, despite the seemingly openness of the media space and unlimited access to information, its perception by different groups of users is not heterogeneous. Observation of very emotional discussions on the network on some issues on the agenda allows us to search for a relationship between the nature of the dissemination of information in media communities and the growing polarization of opinions on media content. These assumption actualizes the need to identify characteristics of the media space that may (1) influence the perception of information by users and (2) increasing the resonance between different groups of media users and subscribers.

The article is devoted to the problems of training of media specialists in the context of improving the system of higher education in Russia. Based on the analysis of theoretical and empirical materials, the authors substantiate the need to transform the media education system in Russia in order to train professional communicators of a new formation. Based on the results of their own sociological research and the results obtained by other researchers, the authors confirm the presence of certain difficulties in educational media programs. E.g., students show average level of media literacy, unconscious behavior as consumers of information, and difficulties with information verification. Failure to overcome all that difficulties may lead to the fact that the ranks of future media specialists in the field of social communication will be replenished with personnel who does not correspond to this activity emotionally and professionally. The activities of such non-professionals significantly affects the level of public trust in any information in the media The logic of the research allows the authors to come to conclusions that in Russia there is a clear public demand for media specialists of high professional level, truthfully and responsibly forming the modern public agenda.

The article raises the problem of using digital marketing tools to assess the effectiveness of promoting a cultural and educational project. The manuscript was prepared on the basis of “Profile Shifts” project, which is implemented by the state organization of additional education for children “Academy of Talents” with the aim of identifying and supporting gifted and talented youth in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. The project is part of the regional project “The Success of Every Child”, implemented within the framework of the national project “Education”. Based on the study of the specific project the authors describe the process and results of information and communication monitoring, identify the gaps in project popularization, and provide the recommendations. The results of monitoring the promotion of cultural and educational project are considered in the aspect of reputation audit.

Russian culture has always been literary-centric. The appeal to the literary text as a way of understanding oneself and social reality remains up till now a significant part of the educational process. Social conflicts are reflected in Russian prose. The paper is devoted to the study of the concept of conflict and the specifics of its implementation in the discourse of literature using based on the novel by Vladimir Sorokin “Telluria”. We believe that the emergence of a conflict occurs at the point when one of the subjects deprives the other of his subjectivity and begins to impose his point of view. A distinctive feature of conflicts of this kind of discourse is the in communication – author’s and reader’s. Besides due to achronicity in relation to real time literary texts are more durable and resistant to changing agendas, and are also able to influence reality even after time. Few modern Russian authors describe modern realities. Sorokin is one of the most famous and influential writers of modern Russia, who is known far beyond its borders. Some of the fantastic nature of Sorokin’s plots at a long distance turns out to be quite accurate in diagnosing modernity. The article examines lexical units that can become absolute conflict triggers. All of them relate to the subject, its attribute or activity. In a literary text, neutral words can also generate conflict that is influenced by the context. The study of conflicts in different discourses will allow us to identify common conflict-prone vocabulary characteristic for the Russian cultural field.

The article represents the analysis of fake information distributed in the digital public sphere, namely, of a very significant amount of digital content about the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine. The object of the study is the nature of the discursive interaction of agents of political communication in the digital public sphere in the process of broadcasting their views and opinions. The analysis is based on the messages posted primarily on the social network VKontakte. The most important criterion for selecting material included in the scope of the study was its fake, that is, unreliable, distorted content. As a result of the analysis, the authors make an attempt to classify the fake narratives within this topic and highlight their features. The understanding such features of fake narratives, on the one hand, should allow critical perception of the information disseminated in the sphere of public digital discourse and diagnose fake information as such, and, on the other hand, facilitate the legal assessment of fakes.

Modern society is experiencing a transformation of the existing management system. The industrial growth model has been replaced by the concept of sustainable development. Its strategic goal is to achieve a balance between economics, environmental sustainability and social responsibility. Thus, the very nature of sustainability involves communication and interaction. The objective of this study is to analyze the sustainable development of the Baikal natural territory and the role of communications in this process. In the work, the author turned to Russian and foreign research on issues of sustainable development and its communicative component. In the practical part, the author assesses social, economic and environmental sustainability, proposes types of sustainable development strategies based on the communication component. The results of the analysis show the lack of sustainability of the development of the Baikal natural territory, which contributes to the emergence of heated discussions regarding the future. Its participants are various subjects. Their goals, level of knowledge and power resources are different, which affects their readiness for structural changes and does not exclude a conflict of values between the participants. An assessment of the measures taken allows to identify several types of sustainable development management strategies: regulatory, programmatic, research, coordination, reflexive, communicative and managerial. The author believes that, with account to its high ambivalence, strategic environmental communications contribute to achieving sustainability.

 The paper represents the author’s model of comprehensive analysis of perception, as well as the experience of using it to diagnose the perception of the commemoration sites by the residents of St. Petersburg and to identify the features of perception os such places by “generation Z” representatives. Perception in the work is considered as a complex phenomenon, whereas the subject of perception records the formal, meaningful and dynamic parameters of object, forms, and then represents (returns) its image. To assess the characteristics of the perception process, the author use the approach based on three types of analysis: phenomenological, structural, dynamic. Commemoration sites are considered as objects typical of the natural, psychosocial and social environment. The field study is based on the survey of residents of St. Petersburg of four generations are presented (from “generation Z” to “generation raised in the USSR”). Such stratification allows us to consider the space of memory of St. Petersburg through the prism of the transfer of social capital. The study used locations identified by respondents as commemoration sites. Based on the results of the analysis of the respondents’ answers, the authors obtained the results showing the reproduction of commemoration sites as social, historical and cultural objects of perception, noted the evolution of the semantic load on individual locations, and confirmed the hypothesis about the preservation of the basic model of perception in all generations.

The article discusses approaches to the study of local communities associated with sociocultural transformations of modern Russian society. In Western and Russian scientific schools, the study of local communities differs. Since the first half of the 19th century, Western science has observed the development of communities and their transformations in the process of urbanization, which broke communal tradition. Today in Western sociology, the study of communities is carried out primarily in the everyday, everyday field. The Russian practice of studying local communities was formed later, towards the end of the 20th century, during the formation of the system of local government bodies, therefore the local community is considered by Russian researchers as a phenomenon of local government. In modern urban-oriented culture, it is important to form and develop the local community not only as the basis for preserving the population and territories in the region. Mechanisms for consolidating people into a community through social activity not only solve the practical problem of preserving territories and their resources, but can be considered as a model for assembling such a complex social entity as Russia. Socio-cultural technologies of working with communities occupy a special place. Participatory budgeting and asset-based community development (ABCD), among others, play an important role. The latter formed the basis of the “cultural mosaic” program, initiated by the Timchenko Foundation.

The paper is dedicated to the analysis of the theoretical component of political cartoon, its essence and concept. Attention is focused on the importance of political cartoons in modern political and legal reality with the rapid development of information systems and technologies. The author notes that the topic of political cartoons in the modern world is relevant and requires comprehensive research. A political cartoon is an important element of state, political and legal processes, since it acts as a vivid expression of public opinion regarding certain important situations in the global and intrastate field. The significance of a political caricature necessitates an in-depth approach to the analysis of the doctrinal foundations of the phenomenon under study, and therefore the paper represents the review of various approaches to understanding the concept and essence of a political caricature. In conclusion, the author notes that despite the widespread prevalence of political cartoons and the presence of a large number of studies on this topic, the problem of the place of political cartoons in the system of the humanities remains significant, as well as the lack of uniformity in the understanding of this phenomenon.

The paper represents a content analysis of statements by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, about family and family values. Interest in this topic is conditioned by the growing opposition of arguments manifested in the political field, expressed by opponents and supporters of G. Meloni and the Brothers of Italy party. The conceptual reflection of the idea of a “traditional” family in the these public statements conflicts with the European left-liberal ideal of gender neutrality. Within the analysis the author study the semantics of: (1) Giorgia Meloni’s political statements regarding family values; (2) assessments of Giorgia Meloni’s political rhetoric in the media and in the modern political discourse of the European Union. The study is based on publicly available media materials. Methods used: content and sentiment analysis. The results of the study have shown a large-scale value split starting from the level of Italian society up to the level of communities within the EU. Thus, in the discourse of family policy, opposing positions are indicated. The emotionality of the arguments used in the political struggle regarding the discussion of family policy indicates the urgency of the research questions arising in connection with the practical steps and consequences of the implementation of the “new” Italian policy.

Under the influence of modern geopolitical processes the media are increasingly resorting to manipulative techniques and techniques. The article examines the information activities of the Euronews channel and the its role in shaping the political agenda. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing media confrontation between European countries and Russia in light of the crisis in Ukraine in 2022 – 2023. The purpose of the study is to identify methods for generating content and managing information flow. The study us based on the content analysis of the materials retrieved from the official Euronews website (in English) from the point of view of the phenomenon of linear communication “source – communication channel – recipient”. The author shows the general approaches to the design of the news agenda of the Euronews and the types of manipulative influence on the audience used in the materials. The study showed that (a) the content is formed on the principle of filtering the information flow and broadcasting selective information; (b) the most commonly used key messages include exploitation of intimidating themes, shock content and asymmetrical argumentation.