New media as a subject of political communication

Arutiunian Elina Gegamovna Master's Degree; Department of International Journalism; St. Petersburg State University 199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Universitetskaya nab., 7/9 elieli-99@mail.ru Baichik Anna Vitalievna ORCID: 0000-0003-0527-5858 Doctor of Politics Professor; Department of International Journalism; St. Petersburg State University 199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Universitetskaya nab., 7/9 a.baychik@spbu.ru Other publications by this author     Blochin Igor' Nikolaevich Doctor of Politics Professor; Department of Theory of Journalism and Mass Communications; St. Petersburg State University 199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Universitetskaya nab., 7/9 i.blokhin@spbu.ru Other publications by this author

Petrosyan David Vladimirovich Doctor of Philology Professor; Department of New Media and Communication; Yerevan State University 0025, Armenia, Yerevan, Alek Manukyan str., 1 davidpetrosyan@ysu.am

Introduction

The emergence of a virtual environment stimulates the development of pluralism of forms and methods of communication of participants, providing effective tools for interaction and influence. In parallel, the Internet activates the growth of communication processes as a result of the integration of digital technologies into all spheres of activity of both the individual and society as a whole. The media space is the most dynamic and rapidly developing not only technological, but also economic, cultural, social and political phenomenon of our time, and new communication channels are being formed in the global digital network. New media as a social institution is one of the key factors in the formation of interpersonal relationships that affect the worldview, social and psychological attitudes, moral and value orientations of both individuals and society as a whole. The emergence of electronic (digital) democracy has given rise to new forms of communication in the political system, of which, in its broadest sense, society is a part, and new media today have become one of the central channels of political communication, demonstrating almost unprecedented opportunities to influence society.

The purpose and methods of the study

The purpose of the article is to analyze new media as a subject of the political process. The proposed goal involves the use of several appropriate approaches and methods. The article uses functional, conceptual, phenomenological and sociolinguistic analysis, as well as the method of system analysis and the historical and cultural method.

The results of the study

It is advisable to consider the theory of international relations proposed by the American political scientist S. Huntington, in which the theorist studies the signs that influence the emergence of world conflicts. S. Huntington proposed the idea of a new international order after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the communist world. According to S. Huntington, civilization is the highest cultural community, a high level of cultural identity possessed by peoples, and a distinctive factor. Each of the civilizations includes common "objective" elements, such as language, history, religion and customs. Civilization is identified through culture, which in turn defines a model of cohesion, disintegration and conflict. After ideology loses its importance, cultural and civilizational differences come to the fore. Therefore, alliances in the modern world are built mainly between countries with cultural similarities. Countries are classified around the leaders or core countries of their civilizations. In the framework of international politics, such a process means the beginning of an era of both multipolarity and policivilizationality. The author also says that modernization, as it develops in the non–Western world, increasingly refuses Westernization - the spread of Western norms and views ^[9]. Thus, world civilization does not arise, and non-Western countries become modern, but do not become Western. Therefore, subsequent modernization strengthens the commitment to local culture, which increases the economic, military and political strength of society as a whole.

S. Huntington proposed the following main civilizations: Western, Islamic, Christian, Japanese, African, Hindu, Chinese or Confucian, and Latin American, to which Buddhist culture was added. The author also identifies the "dominant civilizations" – Western, Confucian and Christian. Western civilization, led by the United States, covers Europe, North America and Oceania. The Christian civilization, led by Russia, covers the countries of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, and the Confucian civilization includes China and some countries in its zone of influence. Note that other civilizations do not have a leading country, but their spheres of influence are: for Latin American civilization - Central and South America; in Africa, sub–Saharan Africa; Islamic, Middle East and North Africa; Hindu and Buddhist culture, Indian territory; and the peoples of Japan in fact understand the S. Huntington believes that the identification of cultures in the world reflects the distribution of power, and cultures become profitable when they find a source of material success and influence. This means that the culture of states that belong to the same civilization is based on identical values – this means that the political course broadcast through the media and the media can be effectively perceived by the citizens of the country only if the tasks being implemented are in tune with the values of society ^[9]. Therefore, cultural identity and self-identification are important conditions for the effective implementation of political tasks.

The country's self-identification should reflect a fairly significant national consensus on a number of important aspects that relate to the optimal model of socio-economic, socio-political and cultural historical development of the country in the long term, as well as combine the political preferences of the people and the ruling elites in relation to the state system, the economic system and the nature of relations with the external world environment. This type of activity is usually qualified as an integrated and long–term public policy - a "Grand Strategy" ^[2]. In this context, it is fundamentally important to touch upon the concept of national identification, which occurs when one nation begins to interact with another with different values, and the need for national identity arises directly if "alien" values begin to prevail and exert pressure. It is the clash of values that prompts self-identification. For example, Russia came to self-determination within the framework of world political discourse, as well as in crisis situations with other peoples and states. This situation was observed in the XIII, XVII, XVIII, XIX, and XX centuries, it can be said that the protection of national values in all these periods was directly related to the solution of issues of national preservation. Here we turn to the fact that in the 21st century, mainly the sphere of culture became the central field of the "battle of national identities". If, for example, we touch upon the cultural standardization of the American model, then we can assume that the pressure of Western mass culture provokes the protection of the national culture of a certain state, and the possible resistance to such a model is often carried out very aggressively. Since Western liberal values may not meet the standards of opposing countries, interest in the traditions and customs of their own culture is intensified. Let's stipulate that Soviet values began to be viewed as Russians in the mass consciousness, which transformed through the Soviet ideological monolith. Russian Russian cultural core and civilizational codes are precisely these values that are the guardians of the Russian cultural core, resisting the cultural expansion of Western countries. In addition, it is customary to associate fundamental values with the national identity of Russia. Thus, the existing set of national values does not need adjustments or any additions, but already forms the necessary and sufficient conditions for successful national modernization. The significance of the previous thesis can be formulated in the following words. Russia does not need to transform the course of established traditional values and introduce any new and alien values, since the totality of values that have been formed over the years already meet the criterion of compliance with the tasks of modern national modernization while preserving the cultural core of Russian civilization. Thus, we come to the fundamentally important point that national identity in Russia coincides with the model of national modernization, that is, the country's self-identification and national identification are identical.

The spread of new media based on Internet technologies and the Web 2.0 system has provided an opportunity for active participation, as well as direct influence, of new media in the social, economic and political areas of public interest. The importance of social media in matters of diplomacy has increased both at the municipal and global levels. Thus, the use of online means of communication can now be regarded not only as a trend demonstrating the transparency of government authorities, their interest and desire to be closer to citizens, as well as as instruments of political influence that followed the interests of various representatives of society. In this case, we can move on to the concept characterizing this process – mediatization ^[8].

The term "mediatization" in modern interpretation was introduced by researcher J. Thompson to denote the manipulation of media by society, the Internet space and its various aspects: culture, art, economics, politics, science. The scientist argues that by elevating an event to a public status, the very nature of what is happening changes. Mediatization is presented as a phenomenon that allows the user of the network to create a certain virtual platform, on the basis of which the subjects of marketing companies and reference groups influence the consumer, providing arguments in favor of their choice, for example, in matters of decision-making regarding a politician. Mediatization is an integral part of the modern social space in political marketing ^[8].

It is important to specify that the process of mediatization has become a triggering mechanism for creating new forms of social organization. An example is the technology of the "smart crowd", when one SMS can serve as a catalyst for the overthrow of the current political government. The concept of a "smart crowd" is presented in Howard Reinhold's work "Smart Crowd: a New Social Revolution" ^[5]. The most striking example of the mechanisms of the "smart crowd" can be the events in the Philippines: the fall of the Marcos regime in 1986, and then the overthrow of President Joseph Estrada. Here we are talking about the fact that cell phones seemed to be the main tool in the process of overthrowing the current government. The citizens of Manila received SMS messages urging them to come to the Epifanio de los Santos Square dressed in all black. So, in a few days, more than a million people visited the square, who advocated the resignation of the president of the country, as a result of which D. Estrada was forced to leave his post ^[1]. It can be said that when using information technology, a group of people becomes directly an information environment, which, on the one hand, directly depends on gadgets, and on the other hand, is its product, as well as a channel for orientation towards specific political tasks. Under such conditions, the participants of this action, attached to a group of like-minded people, feel the boundlessness of their influence on the event. It is also important to analyze the features of political communication in the context of digital democracy in this direction. It is necessary to additionally touch upon the political media discourse, which is part of the mediatization.

The concept of political media discourse is logically interconnected with conceptual education, which has received the name "mediatization of politics" in modern circles. Mediatization can be directly compared with involvement in any process, each participant of which feels an interest and responsibility for holding an action. The beneficial result, as well as the social or political effect that the organizers of the action expect, depends on how effectively the action will be carried out. An absorbing media environment is a community in which communication channels are the main censor and source of information reproduction, and a person is the final product of consumption. We emphasize that the sphere of mass media allows different processes to acquire a shade of media and puts the problems of the development of media discourse, media linguistics, media diplomacy, etc. in the foreground. The mediatization of politics should also be understood as the synthesis of interdependent information and communication phenomena and processes occurring both inside and outside the political space in the external environment (in the mass media space), through public presentations and frames of political and public views ^[7]. The modern information space is both a political actor and a media platform, which acts as the basis for the implementation of political discourse, and users are represented as the main subjects or objects of the media environment.

Political communication is based on the competencies of specialized agencies and institutions, such as mass media, government news agencies or political parties. However, political communication can also manifest itself in social interaction that does not directly pursue political goals. Political communications can also include special communicative situations or actions (elections, referendums, etc.). Political communication is currently carried out mainly in the media space, under such conditions information is presented not only as a technological basis for communication, but also as a subject of public relations, including in the political system of society ^[10].

The improvement of media allows users not only to have a dialogue with each other, but also to receive, depending on their desire or needs, the necessary political information from any data source, which can significantly weaken the influence of the ruling elite behind the political information circulating in society. Within the framework of political communications, such changes motivated the emergence of such a phenomenon as digital democracy.

Digital democracy is commonly understood as the process of a political system in which social networks are used to implement significant functions of the democratic process, such as information dissemination and communication, uniting the interests of citizens and decision-making (through meetings and voting). Digital democracy is based on the fact that the variety of properties of new media, for example, interactivity, fast information transmission channels, the ability of a large number of users to communicate with each other, the predominance of information and new user-defined process management capabilities, can positively affect the democratic political system ^[10].

In the modern world, the number of users of Internet resources has increased significantly, and the dissemination of information within the framework of digital technologies is carried out much faster than, for example, using traditional media. Social networks are used as channels of political communication, as the process of mediatization involves expanding free access to political information for a wide audience. The media sphere is being introduced into the social sphere, and propaganda of a certain ideology is carried out through mass communications. The mediatization of the political process from the position of information reception is interpreted as the indirect impact of new mass media on the formation of political images in the understanding of society. Thus, innovative information dissemination channels (media communities, YouTube channels, social networks, etc.) contribute to the creation of "real virtuality" as a separate sphere that introduces reality into virtual images, and also becomes an instrument of political influence through new technologies. It should be noted that the mediatization of politics directly correlates with such a process as globalization, which provides users of new media with information about events at the international level, monitoring current news from the field of politics and foreign policy activities of different countries of the world. In the context of globalization, we observe the development of ties, taking into account the political interactions carried out between countries, the interest in cooperation and the maintenance of international peacekeeping orders. Simultaneously with the mediatization of politics, the opposite direction of this process is also being carried out, namely, the politicization of the media. Politicians create communities on social networks, popularize personal channels on various platforms, for example, YouTube, telegram, etc. This process affects the perception of the audience, allowing network users to observe the lifestyle of political figures. Consequently, the mediatization of social space and politics are an integral part of shaping the views of information consumers, and the media and new media are the reference groups for the mediatization of social space, where digital channels influence the formation of the subject's opinion. We conclude that mediatization is one of the key resources for effective promotion of a political leader's company in new media.

Politicians' interest in new media is due to the fact that digital technologies act as an opposition mobilization, which was mentioned by the scientist G. Reynolds in his research, some of which were practically confirmed during the "Arab Spring". So, staying in the network space, an individual's thinking is involuntarily subjected to political identification, which is associated with the integration of cognitive and axiological structures with a certain ideological meaning into human consciousness. Individuals of the network space are directly and indirectly influenced in order to form a certain political identity. The steps of such political actors take place both in the interests of the political system and against it. The logic of political ideology, which controls and conceptualizes discourse, stands behind the external chaotic processes of information exchange ^[4]. In this context, we emphasize that the importance of social networks in political discourse has increased both at the regional and global levels, and, directly, the use of social networks is a trend that demonstrates the transparency of authorities ^[3]. We note that with the growing interest in new media, the speed of dissemination of certain information also increases, and for this reason, the flow of unreliable data, in other words, disinformation, also increases.

Media researchers believe that disinformation is part of a new information society, and social networks, in turn, act as a conduit and provide a platform for the dissemination of unconfirmed or fictitious information. Taking into account the fact that the number of users of social media is rapidly increasing, it is almost impossible to monitor reliable information, even taking into account statements and attempts by social platforms to identify and expose falsified information. In this context, we will confirm the idea put forward by a concrete example. YouTube video hosting is a popular media platform that hosts a large number of videos. The popularity of YouTube is due to the thematic diversity of content, as well as the ability to watch videos in different languages – more than 70 languages of the world ((YouTube statistics in 2024 // The inclient. – [Electronic resource]. – URL: https://inclient.ru/youtube-stats / (date of access: 04/20/2024). We note the ease of using video hosting, free registration and high quality video viewing. We emphasize that in 2024, YouTube's audience amounted to 2.49 billion users worldwide. It can be assumed that the video platform surpasses traditional media, since YouTube allows users not only to read the news, but also to view and see how any event in the world took place. Of course, periodically unreliable data in the content misinform the users of the network. For example, during the pandemic, a number of videos were published in which it was mentioned that vaccination can lead to death. Subsequently, this type of video material was removed from YouTube, and the video hosting administration stated that it would continue to carefully monitor the accuracy of the information, as well as immediately remove disinforming publications (YouTube statistics in 2024 // The inclient. – [Electronic resource]. – URL: https://inclient.ru/youtube-stats / (date of access: 04/20/2024).

The consumption of media reality is carried out by creating an impression effect in the interaction of the subject and the media image. Recall that media images are understood as a product of media modeling of specific elements of reality. Media that produce and broadcast certain images act as an intermediary between reality and the cognizing subject, where the latter is able to distort, both unconsciously and consciously, incoming information about reality, which, in turn, can affect objective perception. Often, a person is not able to control the process of immersion in media reality, and it becomes difficult to go beyond it, since stereotypical images can displace reality. Therefore, a significant part of social media consumers consider such an online reality based on their own interpretations of the media image. We come to the conclusion that one of the key dangers of the neural network is the possibility of hidden manipulation, which can lead to the loss of human identity. A primitive example is a situation where artificial intelligence can identify the preferences of gadget users and select options for each individual, taking into account the interests of users. It should be noted that personalized advertising can rearrange the attention of network users with the help of publications that are the most relevant. Under such conditions, the question arises about the relationship between people and the neural network, which acquires new media forms in the context of communication. For example, artificial intelligence is able to provide answers to various questions, as well as integrate into the company's business processes for communication with customers^[6]. We can say that a new informational existence is emerging, another reality is being formed, values and norms of human activity are changing. Mediareality is characterized by mediation through consciousness

someone who directly creates information, media images and techniques that provide information. In this case, it is fair to add that artificial intelligence within the framework of new media is capable of both reflecting reality and creating an unreliable representation.

Conclusions

The influence of certain values through new media can be significant only if they correspond to the views of society. The idea put forward led us to analyze a concept that is related to the identification of cultural, political and, directly, the self-determination of the individual himself. We came to the conclusion that the disseminated values can be effective only if they correspond to the model of civilization of a certain region, and on the contrary, the imposed foundations will not affect society if the views of society, their cultural and political affiliation and the identification of the country itself are identical. The countries belong to the same civilization, which means that their culture is based on identical values. Based on the acquired identity, the actions of the individual and society as a whole are determined. A political course can be effective in a particular country only if the tasks being implemented are in tune with the values of society. Therefore, cultural identity and identification are important conditions for the effective implementation of political tasks both within the framework of new media and outside the digital environment.