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22Принцип историзма в формировании политического контента британских печатных СМИ
Мартыненко Елена Викторовна,
д.п.н., профессор, кафедра теории и истории журналистики, Российский университет дружбы народов E-mail: [email protected]
Колотило Екатерина Михайловна,
магистр, кафедра теории и истории журналистики, Российский университет дружбы народов E-mail: [email protected]
В статье изучается история становления британских печатных СМИ в контексте формирования ими информационной и политической повестки страны. Печатные СМИ Великобритании традиционно считаются основным генератором информации, что находит свое отражение даже в эпоху всеобщей цифро-визации. Сказывается консервативность британского общества - с одной стороны и грамотная редакционная политика крупнейших газетных изданий - с другой. В рамках данной статьи авторы рассматривают британские печатные СМИ не только в качестве инструмента передачи информации, но и как инструмент формирования ценностных ориентиров общества, общественного мнения, что придает особое значение участию СМИ в мировых политических процессах. При подготовке исследования авторами применялся системно-аналитический метод, метод исторического анализа и метод контент-анализа.
Ключевые слова: Великобритания, общественное мнение, история.
СМИ,
Introduction
Obviously, the history of the press in any country begins with the history of the development of printing and literacy, being a kind of prologue to the history of journalism, which is necessary to understand the prerequisites for the emergence of a particular direction of development of the media industry in the state. The initial stage in the development of English journalism can be considered the period from the XIV to the middle of the XVII centuries, since post-revolutionary English journalism, which was influenced by the ideas of education and the proclamation of freedom of speech, soon turned into a comparatively professionally organized structure of the media.
At the time of the Anglo-Saxons' movement to Britain, they did not have any written language. The most ancient historical source that makes it possible to assert the existence of writing is the "Poem about Beowulf", written and compiled into a single source in the X century AD, although there are also runic writings of the Anglo-Saxons of the VII century AD confirming that the Anglo-Saxon culture was under great religious influence [8]. In the future, monasteries will play a fundamental role in the development of Anglo-Saxon culture and writing (church poetry developed, but the main activity was to preserve the cultural heritage through the use of handwritten materials), as was the case in most states of the early middle Ages. In addition, it was customary in the monasteries to record rumors and stories, creating letters that vaguely resemble the first journalistic pamphlets.
In the development of English culture, accession to the throne of King Alfred (871-900), who was closely engaged in restoring the cultural aspects of England, after Danish raids that exterminated the clergy and destroyed elements of the English cultural heritage, is important. It was after his reign that the translation of works from Latin to other versions of Anglo-Saxon dialects began. For example, "Duties of the Shepherd", "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", "World History", and other historical works were translated [5].
Towards the end of the XIV- early XV centuries a single English language was formed from the London dialect based on all Anglo-Saxon dialects, which became the "language of the Law and Parliament", which contributed to the development of literary craft, journalism, and also greatly facilitated the process of translating texts. From the XIII century a significant role is played by universities, which during this period are laid the foundation for the development of English humanism.
Typography appeared in England by the end of the XV century, spreading throughout the country rapidly and consistently. The first publishing houses ap-
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peared, the first English printed book, "Sayings, or Statements of Philosophers", was published in 1475. The early development of typography clearly had a positive effect on the distribution of media in England: this moment greatly simplified and accelerated the circulation of newspapers. In England, the sixteenth century is the century of the development of a humanistic worldview, characterized by the world's first criticism of emerging bourgeois relations. For the first time, "news ballads" and handwritten "News" are published - the great-grandfathers of future newspapers, which are informational news notes that were transmitted to a strictly set addressee. In 1588, the English Mercury appeared - this is the first official English newspaper. It was founded to prevent the spread of rumors in matters relating to the advance of the Spanish Armada to the English Channel in 1588.
In XVII, news books became widespread - these are information tools, which are a palette of a mixture of rumors, fabrications, journalistic lies and real events. At the same time, pampets and collections appeared, in the headings of which was the word "News". It already indicated the release date, which was a breakthrough in the print media industry. In the future, many similar news books are closed by order of the king because of the decree of the Star Chamber to ban the dissemination of news about events taking place within the country.
The Star Chamber generally had an important influence on the development of the English press, as the reaction to its decisions is one of the fundamental aspects of building the future structure of the English print media. Published by the Star Chamber, it referred to "outrages and abuses of dissolute people who have the art of printing and selling books." [1]
The number of printing houses was reduced to 20, including state ones, and all material was subjected to rigorous revision and censorship. It is also worth noting here that the Star Chamber imposed an absolute ban on the printing of news that directly related to the internal life of the country. In 1637, even more severe laws were issued, the essence of which was the persecution of publishers and booksellers throughout the country. This continued until the fall of the Star Chamber, which took place in 1647, as a result of which the print media breathed in calmly, but difficult times for English newspapers repeated after the restoration of the monarchy. It was only at the beginning of the XIX century that the British press freed itself from censorship.
Subsequently, the revolutionary mood will affect the development of the media, the persecution of publishers of information pamphlets will resume, and contrary to all prohibitions and penalties, the number of print media in pre-revolutionary Britain will grow exponentially [4].
o Features of the UK Print Media Institute
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o Today, Britain is one of the most newspaper-reading
= countries (according to statistics, two out of three
"S people over fifteen in England read a daily national
newspaper, and three out of four weekly). Printing in the UK began its development much later than other European states. For example, in Germany, the press has been developing since the XII century. Nevertheless, the pace of development of the British press was much higher, and at the moment it has a leading position in the world ranking by such criteria as prevalence and competitiveness.
The following distinguishing features of the British press can be distinguished:
1. Historical:
The wide spread of English in the colonial territories and among the print media of a more or less literate part of the population of English-speaking colonized territories was influenced by the comparatively early British gaining authority in the international political arena. This was especially pronounced in the USA. At the initial pre-revolutionary stage, the American media did not have any opportunity to compete with the British print media, which flooded the local market, the formation of domestic national media began only after the United States gained independence. In our opinion, the similarity of coverage of events, as well as structural elements of the American media and the British is related to this fact.
Significant material resources were concentrated in the hands of British publishers at the time of the widespread dissemination of the print media, which became an important aspect in the process of spreading democratic traditions in the media. This is due to the fact that the British media, in contrast to the continental, which depended directly on local government funding, secured a high level of independence from the government through self-financing. This affected the traditions of the British media in the absence of a personal opinion in covering facts and events (the "tradition of fact"), and the tendency for journalists to be anonymous and using pseudonyms was widespread, which helped to reduce their external influence [5].
London, the center of all English journalism, has traditionally represented a high level of cultural significance. At the time of the inception of the first professional newspapers, the main offices of print media were concentrated there. Thus, it was London that became the intermediary between the incompletely formed print media and the literate population.
The Great English Revolution strengthened its democratic position in the field of media by introducing freedom of speech, press, etc. Also in the revolutionary period, interest in news has grown sharply, and the number of important news has increased significantly. In this regard, the press is becoming more politicized. The elimination of censorship has become one of the incentives for the progress of English journalism.
2. Relevant:
The country's readability rate for print media is the highest - three out of four citizens write and read a Sunday newspaper. This trend is associated with family traditions, for example, to write out the same publication from generation to generation [2].
British print media have come a long historical way: the first circulation of newspapers for the literate
population began to appear in the early XVIII century, and such publications as The Times (1785), Observer (1791) and Sunday Times (1822), People (1881), Daily Mail (1896) and others were founded on their basis. The English mentality has a "succession factor," which affects the selling of print media: most of them are British, as everyone knows, conservatives, so they traditionally write the same newspapers as their parents. So the "root" system of distribution of print media was established.
The British market is quite saturated with print media. On the one hand, a high level of competition has a positive effect on the quality and timeliness of the information submitted in the "elite publications", but on the other hand, it negatively affects the reliability of the information provided in the publications of the "new journalism", which through sensations (often based on false or false information) strive to increase sales.
3. Weak censorship.
In the UK, there is no specific media law, nor is there a need for licensing for publishing. This approach expresses a high level of democracy, but nevertheless requires the observance of the norms of freedom of the press and responsibility for their abuse is regulated by the general legislation of the country, such as the law on defamation and slander, on state secrecy, advertising and obscene. The ethics of journalists and editors of newspapers and magazines are regulated by the Code of Practice [3].
Widespread English throughout the world has a positive effect on the dissemination of English-language information sources. Worldwide globalization and international integration has led modern newspapers to target readers not only within their own country, but also to representatives of the entire international community, capable and willing to perceive information in English.
The above listed traits explain the success of the development of the UK media. It becomes clear for authors that this is not an accidental phenomenon, but due to the favorable conditions of the British Media Institute, modern political, economic and sociocultural factors both in England and throughout the world. All these specific characteristics, with their influence, cover all areas of the functioning of the media, from the selection of the target audience and the structure of the presentation of the material to the interpretation of the broadcast information and the choice of the prism for considering various global political processes.
The tradition of British media reflecting international events
The British media are characterized by the traditional way of life, which was formed during the historical development of the media institute. Of course, over time, some of the existing traditions have changed, adapted, but not forgotten and not completely disappeared. The history of Great Britain determines a high degree of independence and impartiality of the print media, and this is precisely the basis of the English press. This trend not only increased confidence in the British print media,
but also became a prerequisite for the formation of the so-called "fourth power" in the UK.
To date, the traditional feature of the British media about the impartiality of journalistic activities is being seriously questioned. This is indicated by the problems faced by representatives of the British press in recent times. Some aspects related to this are listed below.
The official website of Russia Today contains an article entitled "Freedom of the Press of Great Britain Caught the Attention of an International Organization." It tells about the investigation of the World News and Newspaper Association (this is the main European organization whose activity is aimed directly at protecting freedom of the press), which object of attention was the excessive reaction of the government to publications, the revelations of Edward Snowden regarding the activities of the National Security Agency, being posted in the newspaper The Guardian. The newspaper's editors said that they had stumbled upon aggression from the government and were even threatened with a lawsuit. The meaning of the article was to reveal the essence of the democratic nature of the British media, as they symbolize the freedom of the press not only for Great Britain, but also for all countries of the world. And, accordingly, violation of freedom of speech in this situation will result in a collapse for the entire media system in the world. "As an organization that cares about press self-regulation around the world, we (starting with the Leveson report) have paid special attention to the press's position in such large democracies as Great Britain. After all, they set an example to other countries of the world. And an exceptional case may arise when the authorities impede freedom of the press - the most important concept that for us underlies all principles and civil liberties." [6]
The article published by The Guardian makes it clear that freedom of the press in the UK is in suffering high risk and the government is ready to sacrifice democratic principles when it comes to the government's field of activity, which it calls "national security interests." The newspaper's editors were forced to remove all information regarding the Snowden case. The main emphasis is on falling confidence in British news sources and falling independence of the British media. Along with this, the Freedom of the Press Organization is accused of inability to fulfill its functions: «The organization said press freedom had fallen to its lowest level for over a decade. It partly blames regressive steps in countries such as Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Turkey and the Ukraine, as well as the actions taken against journalists reporting on national security issues in both the US and UK» [7].
The second characteristic feature of the British press is a nationally oriented character. This structure has been formed over many centuries, and is also associated with the peculiarities of the historical ban on criticism of the royal house, as well as the dissemination of information about local affairs in the country in the media, which affected the "embellishment" of information in some sources.
As one of the leading press historians L. Salamon notes in his research: "A typical feature of the English
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press is its nationalist character. For her in the forefront is the greatness, power and well-being of England. This sense of superiority, which makes England the first and richest country in the world, sometimes takes ridiculous forms among the British, sometimes comes to blind self-praise, to unjust hatred and unabashed contempt for other nations, especially if their interests are contrary to English." [4]
Over time, this way of presenting information has transformed and the serious "elite" press is an independent structure, trying to be objective, and along with this, the editions of the "new journalism" focus on sales, thereby omitting the moment of reliability and focusing more on negative ones moments of life in England.
Another distinctive and important feature of the work of the British print media is the "cult of personalities" present in all newspapers. Every day, newspapers of all directions spell out his Majesty's toilet, pay attention to the style of his hat, the color of his tie, her majesty's look at the corso, her carriage, her way of holding a prayer book, lowering her eyes and more. All court events are under scrutiny and commented. Details are given from the private lives of ministers, athletes, aristocracy, artists and performers of all shades, and, finally, even criminals and scammers, who are currently occupying the attention of metropolitan society; and all this is portrayed with conscientiousness and seriousness.
To make sure, it is so, you can visit the online portal of any British publication: for example, on the official portal of the Daily Mirror newspaper there is a certain section "Trending", in which you can find the rating of people who are currently most popular with readers. The indicator of "personality cult" in all newspapers is different; it depends on its orientation and target audience. For example, in the narrowly targeted newspaper Financial Times, this traditional phenomenon is practically absent.
Conclusion
Thus, the above data indicate the preservation in Britain of the traditional "information field" of Great Britain. Nevertheless, the country, like the whole world, is entering the era of "screen" civilization, when the human consciousness will be formed not by the usual "hard" page of a book, but by a "soft" computer display. At the beginning of the XXI century many researchers doubted that the media would retain its mass character.
According to them, the information will be consumed individually using a personal computer (this process has already begun). Will the newspaper then retain its modern look? There are many points of view about this. The "hesitation" of the UK newspaper and magazine market confirms that the press, despite its four-century history of development, is again faced with the problem of finding "its own face". Apparently, it will be determined not only by the feverish efforts of the new "hunters of sensations", but also by the strengthening of analytical, commenting principles, although the logic of the market, which dictates its conditions to British journalism, is not always predictable. But the historicism principle has formed the most stable foundation for British printing press and it is likely to preserve its current shape for the nearest future.
HISTORICISM PRINCIPLE IN THE FORMATION OF POLITICAL CONTENT OF BRITISH PRINT MEDIA
Martynenko E.V., Kolotilo E.M.
RUDN University
The article studies the history of the formation of the British print media in the context of their formation of the country's information and political agenda. The UK print media has traditionally been considered the main generator of information, which is reflected even in the era of universal digitalization. It affects the conservatism of British society - on the one hand and the competent editorial policy of the largest newspaper publications - on the other. In the framework of this article, the authors consider the British print media not only as a tool for transmitting information, but also as a tool for forming value orientations of society and public opinion, which attaches particular importance to media participation in world political processes. In preparing the study, the authors used the system-analytical method, the method of historical analysis and the method of content analysis.
Keywords: UK, media, politics, public opinion, history. References
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2. Lapickij I.L. Koroli lzhi i sensacij. M., 1967. P. 34.
3. Mihajlov S.A. Sovremennaja zarubezhnaja zhurnalistika. Pravi-la i paradoksy. SPb.: Izd-vo Mihajlova V.A. 2016, 446 P.
4. Salamon L. Vseobshhaja istorija pressy. M.: Istorija pechati. 2015. Pp.. 98-103.
5. Sokolov V.S., Vinogradova S.M. Periodicheskaja pechat' Ve-likobritanii. SPb.: Izd-vo S.-Peterb. un-ta, 2018. P..17
6. Svoboda pressy v Velikobritanii privlekla vnimanie mezhdun-arodnoj organizacii. URL: https://russian.rt.com/article/21117 (Date of access 01.04.2020)
7. UK slips down global press freedom list due to Snowden leaks response. URL: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/ may/01/uk-slips-press-freedom-list-snowden-nsa-leaks (Date of access 01.04.2020)
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