Verification of Value Dominants in the Regional Media Discourse: а Traumatic-Phobic Segment of the Information Field

The relevance of the research is due to the fact that under the influence of the relativistic axiological paradigm, traditional humanistic values are “tested” in mass media discourse, and the irrelevance for the modern mass consciousness is constantly verified. Such tendencies are manifested in the existence of a specific agenda, in which fears and phobias are accumulated in relation to the existing type of culture and moral and ethical norms. The paper presents a modern and unique empirical material the discourse of regional media, which represents the mechanisms of verification of values and the impossible transformation in the conditions of a pandemic, which determines the novelty of the study. The problem of studying the value picture is related to the role of the media in the formation of phobias and fears, or, on the contrary, in the elimination. Thus, the mass media are forced to report traumatic events, that is, events that violate the social norm, as a result, a traumatic-phobic segment of the information picture is constructed, which allows us to establish the demanded value dominants. The purpose of the work is to identify the regularities of the construction of the traumatic-phobic discourse of the regional mass media, which presents threats to the norm, the basic values of Russian society. The following methods are used in the work: discourse analysis, concept analysis and narrative analysis of journalistic publication sat the regional level that verbalize the concept of “phobia”. The results of the study confirmed the hypothesis put forward: in the regional mass media discourse, the object of which is traumatic events, there are fears and phobias associated with the loss, loss of key humanistic values that should streamline social reality, harmonize social relations, determine a positive scenario of social life.