mass media

Certain premises of the federal laws of the Russian Federation (i.e. «About Mass Media», «About Information, Information Technologies, and Protection of Information», «About Providing Access to Information Concerning State and Municipal Bodies’ Activity») conducive to the media literacy formation are considered in this article. Political dimension of media literacy is substantiated.

Certain premises of the key Russian legal documents (i.e. Constitution, Doctrine of Information Security, and Conception of State Information Policy of the Russian Federation) conducive to the media literacy formation are considered in this article.

The article presents the analysis of theories and hypotheses of foreign as well as Russian authors who studied social aspects of the media. The value of various scientific schools which developed their own interpretations and ideas is noted, however all the analyzed theories reveal the social character of this means of communication. The aim of the research is to explain the theoretical foundation to study the media as a social phenomenon as well as examining the notion of a suicide in the perspective of the media theory.

The main methodological problems a mass media researcher usually faces are considered in this article. The author deems it possible to overcome them by using coders, preliminary articulating controversial issues, and taking into consideration existing principles of media outlets’ functioning.