Eltsova, K. K. Psychology of ‘Elitism’: Methods of Creation of Media Brands on the Runet

Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the discourse about elitism that is issued by a number of Russian Internet projects as an instrument for developing a reputation of the mass media intended for more educated and qualified groups of the modern Russian society. The author is referring to such projects as Afisha.ru, Bg.ru, Lookatme, Openspace (2008-2012), Colta, Esquire and Snob that (re)produce one of the most significant elitist discourses in modern Russia. The research is based on the articles published during the period since 2008 till 2013. By using the method of discourse analysis as the main analytical instrument of research, Eltsova defines and systematizes particular strategies and mechanisms for building up the reputation of these editions as media products identifying a high social status of the target audience. The results of research, first of all, proves the initial statement that these media projects oppose themselves to what they see as editions for mass audience, or ‘glamour’. Noteworthy that the basic feature of ‘non-glamourness’ or even ‘anti-glamourness’ of this or that edition on the list is a ‘long text’ implicitly represented as a ‘qualitative text’ based on the logic of the analyzed discourse. At the same time, rhetoric of the ‘elitist’ status of this or that media projects being studied is negated when the discussion drifts to the economic aspects of such projects. Finally, due to the influence of financial and marketing rhetoric, the image of the target audience as the ‘educated minority’ (that had been defined at the previous stages of research) is now completed with the image of the ‘average intelligent person’.

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