Media functions: evolution and interpretation of concepts

Melnik Galina Sergeevna ORCID: 0000-0002-1712-6836 Doctor of Politics Professor; Higher School of Journalism and Mass Communications; St. Petersburg State University 199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Universitetskaya nab., 7-9 melnik.gs@gmail.com Tyan' Jiahuang Graduate student; Higher School of Journalism and Mass Communications; St. Petersburg State University 199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Universitetskaya nab., 7-9 st075572@student.spbu.ru Gurushkin Pavel Yurievich ORCID: 0000-0001-6980-0573 PhD in Politics Associate Professor; Higher School of Journalism and Mass Communications; St. Petersburg State University 199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Universitetskaya nab., 7-9 gurupavel@ya.ru Other publications by this author

Degtyareva Ol'ga Viktorovna PhD in Politics Associate Professor; Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration 199178, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Sredny ave., 57/43 melnik.gs@gmail.com

Definition of concepts.

Modern journalism is considered in scientific discourse as a type of spiritual production, which defines various types of creative and transformative activity ^{[5, 12, 27]}. In the theory and practice of journalism, the concept of activity in a professional environment has been established. Activity leaves its mark on the strategies of life and professional behavior, style and life plans, ways of interacting with the world. Journalism still acts as an actor performing the functions of both a social institution and a tool on the part of other subjects using its communicative capabilities ^{[15, 28]}. Journalism is considered as a complex phenomenon with certain norms of functioning, structure, and relationships ^{[1, 3, 6]}. In other words, journalism as a creative activity is characterized by a certain order, hierarchy of the structure of the elements and the connections between them.

Within the framework of the representation of the Russian and, in particular, the St. Petersburg school of journalism, a team of authors led by Professor S.G. Korkonosenko of St. Petersburg State University conceptualized many concepts characterizing the chain of objects ("journalism" – "mass media" – "mass media" – "media communications"), and also clarified their functions ^[24]. Scientists describe journalism as an integral and stable phenomenon, and approaches within the framework of the role analysis of professional identity allow us to see its functional-sociological, communicative-psychological and cultural-anthropological sides ^[3].

The relevance of rethinking the key concepts of the theory and practice of journalism and media communication is explained by the unprecedented transformation of the media industry, media production and media consumption under the influence of global political and technological factors; the emergence of new media practices, new standards, new forms and formats of presenting information on new network platforms; the use of neural network technologies in the creation and promotion of media content. The scientific works of media experts of the St. Petersburg school emphasize that the Institute of journalism implements itself through organizations, the basic type of which is the form of mass media. This approach has led to the development of a functional or activity-oriented direction in journalism research ^[24].

In modern scientific discourse, the media is considered as a social institution for the exchange of information and an intermediary, not only providing individuals with information about current events, but also prompting or orienting, helping people interact in society. In the new conditions, the institutional functions of the mass media are significantly expanding, says Professor of Moscow State University E.L. Vartanova, "it is a much more complex, voluminous, multicomponent and multi–vector functional environment than just a system of production and distribution of information content, which was considered as the main product of the media industry" ^[7].

The structural and functional approach reveals the interrelation of institutions (structure) and their contribution (in this case, "journalism") to larger and more holistic social complexes, especially to society. Institutions promote coordination and cooperation, are perceived by society as existing collectively or are the content of a collective relationship, for example, we are intentions ^[28]. In this context, journalism is understood as objectively existing and real-time mass communication activities as a subsystem of society acting as an integral system.

The essence of journalism as a form of public knowledge lies in the unity of rational and imaginative comprehension of reality. The difference between the cognitive and creative activity of a journalist is not only in the knowledge of the object, but also in the creation of a new information product ^[17].

The concepts of "journalism" and "mass media" are not interchangeable. These concepts have different content content. Journalism as an activity, although implemented by the mass media, does not exhaust the entire scope of media activities. These concepts are related as a kind, that is, the second of these concepts is broader. A number of authors point to this circumstance ^[20]. Journalism is both a professional and subject-oriented creative activity and a social activity.

The mass media is considered as a multidimensional phenomenon that includes social, cultural, cognitive, ideological, economic, technical, technological and other parameters.

The evolution of media functions.

Conceptually, the concept of "mass media" was formed by the 1920s and 1930s. Against the background of the rise of radio as a new media. The term "mass media" first appeared in the Russian language in the 1970s. It comes from the homonym "moyens d'information de masse", abbreviated "mass media", and is widely used in various texts ^[22]. According to popular interpretation, "Mass media" refers to all forms of communication capable of reaching a large audience, such as the press, radio, television, the Internet and much more. The mass media act as an intermediary between professional communicators and the public in the process of disseminating information.

Dictionary entries give different definitions of the concept of "function", however, in general it is defined as "work performed by an organ, an organism", a role, a duty, a range of activities, a meaning, the "purpose" of an element (subsystem) in some system.

Functioning means a way of life, a way of activity, a way of being of an object.

In the late 19th century – early 20th century, due to the popularization of the mass press and the advent of cinema and radio, humanity entered the era of mass communication. The advent of television, and later satellite communications, multimedia and the Internet contributed to the development of communication technologies in the digital environment and required a revision of functions.

Considering the media as a social institution, as a rule, such functions as propaganda, agitation and organizational functions are distinguished. Their interpretation goes back to the activities of V.I. Lenin and the period when the formation of the press system took place, which was formed in Russia by 1924.

An approach involving the separation of functions according to the criteria of the functioning of the media and their essence can be considered fruitful.

The sociological approach is aimed at ideological and mental orientation for the public good, based on the genetic property of journalism – appeal to the whole society. The function of forming public opinion and the educational function is expressed in the transmission of knowledge, the expansion of human cognitive abilities.

The managerial function can manifest itself in mobilizing the masses to solve specific social, economic, and political problems ^[14]. The ideological function of the media was considered in detail by Professor of the Baikal State University A.P. Sukhodolov. In his opinion, the ideological function is among the most important, since "the problem of formation of various values, ideologies, doctrines, symbols, feelings, oppositional opinions and speeches in the field of public policy is acute." Arguing about the importance of media ideology in the context of information wars, he convincingly showed its connection with the mobilization function of the media ^[23]. The ideological function is aimed at highlighting events in the context of a system of political ideas and political relations ^[25] to mobilize for the preservation and development of these relations.

The functions of the mass media include the dissemination of information, the promotion of values, the formation of public opinion and the influence on social behavior. Different scholars hold different views on the functions of mass media. Some believe that the functions of the media are mainly focused on the dissemination of entertainment, the transmission of culture and maintaining a certain emotional state, others – on the transmission of information and the formation of social ideology in the media. It is important to analyze and synthesize the views of scientists in a timely manner in accordance with the specific circumstances of society.

The media as a social institution performs functions close to philosophy, it can be said that the mass media perform a sociological function, that is, they represent the foundations of human existence, axiological ^[4] – they give special value to the transmitted information, semantic – they fill with meanings and meanings of the event.

The ontological function of philosophy is the formation of a holistic view of the world, the universe. The function goes back to the existential origins of the category "being" and is implemented through an interactive text in the form of hypertext, which, in turn, acts as an ontological model of the world ^[26].

The semantic function correlates with the concept of "meaning". The search for the meaning of life (its purpose and ultimate goal) is the main problem of a philosophical and spiritual nature for man and society. Here the ontological function merges with the semantic one. Meaning is achieved through logical operations, generalizations, comparisons, and the inclusion of facts in a certain context.

Conclusion.

Thus, the philosophical approach touches upon the foundations of our being. According to this approach, the media generates new meanings. It is natural that representatives of media philosophy describe the semantic function. The media are the first to explore the world, give nominations to new phenomena, events, fill them with special meaning and even give connotations to words (positive, neutral and negative).

Separation of functions in the analysis of the life of the media is also necessary to understand the specific content of information products and predict their impact on the audience. Discussing the key (altruistic) characteristics of the infotainment (entertaining inform, informing entertain), researcher E. M. Dragun identifies informational, entertaining, communicative, escapist, suggestive, attractive, fascinative, educational, adaptive, reductionist, heuristic, compensatory functions ^[9]. As you can see, the creators of media texts are not limited to the dissemination of information, but set goals for the suggestion of certain ideas (suggestion), the introduction of knowledge (education, heuristics), changing attitudes (reduction), awakening loyalty to certain objects (attraction), managing certain processes (fascination). Purely psychological tasks are also set – to lead away from reality and problems (escapism), to provide an opportunity to relieve tension (compensation), to adapt to circumstances (adaptation), etc. ^[21].

The psychological approach allows us to consider the activities of the media from the perspective of assistance in maintaining mental health and psychosocial support. The relaxation function satisfies the needs of man and society for rest, relaxation, relaxation. This function in research is often synonymous with an entertainment function that carries a positive emotional charge due to the entertainment or the presence of game content elements.

The adaptive one is aimed at the ability to apply psychological knowledge in various situations; the developmental one is aimed at the development of motivational properties (compensatory, therapeutic, recreational, etc.), volitional and other personality qualities, experience of creative contact with the media.

A number of researchers identify the cultural functions of the media, which reproduce the cultural and moral values of society and demonstrate their focus on the spiritual development of man and society ^{[8, 16, 17, 26]}.

Researcher V.B. Vysotsky notes an important feature of the modern stage of society's development – cultural centrality and believes that it "should have an adequate translator", referring to the mass media ^[8]. By implementing these functions, the mass media direct their activities towards education (scientific, educational and cultural functions) and the formation of consumer culture ^[16]. The main cultural-forming functions are called: educational, educational, hedonistic, aesthetic.

The philological approach to the definition and understanding of functions is indicated in the works of T.G. Dobrosklonskaya, Professor of the Department of Linguistics, Translation and Intercultural Communication at Lomonosov Moscow State University ^[10]. Discussing the development of media space and the blurring of boundaries in the way of information flows, the author focuses on such concepts in the study of the media sphere as media discourse, which also has certain functions, and highlights psychological functions among them, referring to the developments of S. Siegel (Italy) and G. Tarda (France). The philological approach focuses mainly on the study of media texts and media discourse.

According to proponents of the philological approach, such functions as heuristic, cognitive, axiological, ontological, communicative, semantic, and entertaining are applicable to journalistic text. It expresses an attitude towards the world, towards the other, towards oneself. The text performs an ontological function, since it affects our being. The journalistic text reflects the self-movement of the world and various social shifts.

Recently, in connection with the second wave of interest in cognitive research in the field of mass communication, a number of scientists have persistently proposed to include the cognitive function of the media, i.e. the impact on mental structures, in the register of functions ^[19]. This function is associated with a compensatory one.

The interest in studying these functions of linguists is explained by the fact that it reflects the connection between the language of the media and the worldview. The purpose of the cognitive function of the media is "to ensure that the audience receives useful, intellectual information and its understanding, analysis and use in practice", as well as the development of cognitive abilities among the population ^[19]. According to linguists, the media carry out the transmission of cognitive impact by means of a peculiar placement of semantic accents" ^[2].

Presenting the media as a complex self-organizing system, media experts point to the multiplicity of functions, their different understanding by Russian and English-speaking science, as well as the determinism of genres by the specifics of functions. Guessing trends in the presentation of materials in the media, they pay special attention to infotainment, focusing on specialized functions – ideological, communicative and cognitive, as well as the functions of criticism and control ^[11].

An analysis of media practice over various historical periods has shown that the media is not limited to two functions – informing and influencing. The traditional functions (communicative, ideological, socially oriented, cultureforming) are adjoined by instrumental, direct organizational and secondary (subordinate) recreational and advertising and reference functions.

In recent years, in the context of information wars and the value split, the volume of functions performed by the media, primarily protective (defensive), has increased significantly. The function of information protection of society practically means the fight against disinformation ^[13]. In the context of hybrid wars, the attention of scientists is moving towards the study of dysfunctions that arise under the destructive effects of external and internal factors (commercialization, monetization, ideological pressure, changes in the anthropological components of information perception).

In the context of globalization, society is faced with a large amount of disinformation in the media, the functions of which are to change public opinion, create a negative image of real events or people, undermine the authority and trust in various institutions and organizations.

Concluding a critical review of the scientific literature, we note: it is difficult to blame the authors of texts, specialists in the field of media communication and journalism for the inaccuracy of formulations, however, eclecticism is visible in everything, manifested in the fact that approaches of different humanities and social sciences are combined, and experts choose functions proposed by representatives of different spheres convenient for explaining contexts. We see the expediency of media experts relying on different approaches in describing their functions and clearly understanding the tasks set by representatives of these spheres. Thus, in scientific discourse, there are different approaches to defining the functions of the media, depending on what meaning is put into this concept. Mass media can be considered as a social institution, as a kind of creative activity and as the production of an information product ^[20]. The scope of functions will be different in each case.

In modern conditions, scientists show the contradictory role of the media. On the one hand, it plays a positive role in human life – informational, entertaining, communicative, mobilization, and supportive. On the other hand, the negative side is disinformation, aggravation of negative emotional states, and the emergence of panic moods in society. Disinformation in scientific works is considered as an element of the technology of sense management ^[18].

The scope of a particular function turns out to be different depending on the specific historical situation. Thus, at crucial moments in history, the functions of agitation come to the fore, during the period of reform – propaganda, and in prosperous and stable times – the functions of entertainment.

The media (media) from the standpoint of philosophy perform the following functions: axiological, ontological, communicative and semantic. In the current situation, the role of media institutions as socio-cultural structures consists in the production, reproduction and distribution of not only knowledge, but also cultural experience, traditions, and values.