The adaptive role of contemporary journalism and methods for its implementation: Based on the material of urban-oriented network media

Abstract

Methods of realizing the adaptive role of contemporary journalism are considered on the example of urban-oriented network media that emerged as an independent segment of the Russian media in the 2010s. An accommodative role is one of the main institutional functions of journalism and is to provide “useful news”. The implementation of this role is closely related to the formation of service, or consumer, journalism (M. Eide, G. Knight), and such spheres as lifestyle journalism, entertainment journalism, and brand journalism. The relevance of the subject is confirmed by the findings of the international study “Worlds of Journalism: Journalism Cultures Around the Globe” (T. Hanitzsch, F. Hanusch, J. Ramaprasad, A. S. de Beer, 2019), which recorded the increased activity of this role in Russia. The information agenda of urban-oriented network media, which focuses on urban everyday life and creative urban practices, organically includes extensive service content. The study has shown that the strengthening of the accommodation function in contemporary journalism is closely related to the phenomenon of participation. Convenience, including compactness and reading speed, interactivity and narrativization, which manifests itself both in the orientation towards personal stories and in a special personalized manner of communication between the author of the material and the reader, become the guiding principles in the design of “useful news”. The genres of informational instructions or advice characteristic of traditional consumer journalism in the spirit of lifestyle publications are transformed under the influence of the new communicative attitude into interactive (cards, games, tests, a cartographic application) and narrative (self-narrative, annotated announcement) formats. Combining the principles of service and participatory journalism, urban-oriented network media represent a completely successful experience in implementing an adaptive role aimed not only at shaping a culture of consumption, but also creating actual urban identity and a socially active community.