St Petersburg University brings together researchers in journalism and media communications from eight countries

The forum was opened by welcoming speeches from the Deans of Russia’s leading journalism faculties. According to Anatoly Puyu, Director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at St Petersburg University, the forum is a platform to discuss issues that are essential for the entire field of communications and media education.

We need to figure out what to do now in the era of social cataclysms, what and how to teach, and how we can make sure that the knowledge and skills of our students are ahead of market demands.

Anatoly Puyu, Director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at St Petersburg University

According to Academician Elena Vartanova, Dean of the Faculty of Journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University, in the current difficult environment for scientific communication, researchers, being part of the forum "Mass Media in the Contemporary World" and observing the development of strong Russia’s journalism schools, are far from feeling isolated. "In Russia, media research has always been at the highest level," said Elena Vartanova. "Our academic tradition has a solid foundation. It is distinguished by continuity and has a creative, inspired look into the future. The Science Media International Forum is set to strengthen this national scientific school." 

South Ural State University was represented by Lidiya Lobodenko, Director of the Institute of Media, Social Sciences and Humanities. She congratulated those present on the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University and said that the University has always been the flagship of science and education and responded to the challenges of the era to maintain excellence in research. 

Vitaly Tretyakov, Dean of the Higher School of Television at Lomonosov Moscow State University, raised the question of the benefits of scientific discussions and wished the participants creative courage and discoveries. 

Traditionally, at the plenary session, the laureates of the contest for the St Petersburg University Nevsky Award in Journalism and Mass Communication were awarded. In the category "Theory", the winner was Elena Vartanova, Dean of the Faculty of Journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University. She was awarded for her works on the study of the post-Soviet transformations of Russian media and journalism. The winner in the category "Enlightenment" was journalist Anatolii Agrafenin, a graduate of St Petersburg University. He received an award for a series of works dedicated to the Russia’s press and the popularisation of the experience and values of journalism. The winner of the award in the category ‘Recognition’ for a body of work on teaching and studying media linguistics was Vladimir Konkov, Professor at St Petersburg University. 

The plenary session was opened by a report by Gregor Spitzen, a political commentator at Berliner Telegraph UG, creator of the Telegram channel "Mecklenburger Petersburger". He focused on the evolution of Germany’s present-day media from quality journalism to mainstream propaganda. He dwelled on the complete ignorance of the Russian position in the largest media in Germany and demonstrated the effectiveness of assessing the bias of German media using a special ranking system. 

Trends in historical education in social media were analysed by Egor Iakovlev, a historian, blogger, and creator of the Digital History project. In his report, he focused on the history of the channel, the most popular requests and audience reaction. "According to my observations, the generation gap does not concern the historical topic. Everyone is interested in history. Young people ask their elders to help them understand what happened in the past," said Egor Iakovlev.

Our mission is not only to provide viewers with knowledge, but also to develop critical thinking, stimulate social activity and interest in history.

Historian Egor Iakovlev

Alexandr Yakunin is an expert in the field of human-computer interaction research, Head of the Department of Media Design and Information Technology at St Petersburg University. He focused on the trends in the assessment of visual design associated with a new understanding of the human psyche, the emergence of the third dimension in media projects and customisation. For example, based on the concept of the functional state developed by Russian psychologist Anna Leonova, St Petersburg University researchers adapted a bipolar scale to assess usability: anxiety (stress) and monotomy (boredom) are the extreme points. ‘This is no longer a subjective assessment of "whether it is beautiful or it is not",’ said Alexandr Yakunin. "Design can and should use mathematical models that exist in medicine and biology." He also described the challenges of modern UX research methodology and suggested looking for synergistic design assessment methods to take into account the development of technology. 

Discussions continued in nine panels and nine round tables, where scholars discussed new trends in the media sphere, shared their discoveries, highlighted some issues, and proposed a range of solutions. 

Trends of strategic communications topped the agenda of the 9th International Conference "Strategic Communications in Business and Politics (STRATCOM)", which is part of the Science Media International Forum "Mass Media in the Contemporary World". The plenary session opened with an overview of the advertising market in St Petersburg, which was analysed by Natalia Pilatova, Director of the North-Western Representative Office of the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia. The plenary session also featured a report by Aleksandr Tsypkin, a writer and strategic communications expert, who focused on the features of building a personal brand in Russia in the context of cancel culture. Having examined several cases, he concluded that the evolution of cancel culture was a sign of the formation of civil society in our country. "Cancel culture has come to Russia. It is a little softer and more merciful than in other countries, and so far concerns different forms of patriotism," summed up Aleksandr Tsypkin. 

Mikhail Velikoselskii, Head of the External Communications Department at Kirov Plant, spoke about the development and implementation of the information strategy of the oldest enterprise in the North-West. Political consultant Iuliia Mileshkina shared her experience in organising political campaigns in the new circumstances. The plenary session ended with a report by Elena Dekic, a documentary film scriptwriter and editor from Serbia, who analysed the image of Russia in the Serbian media using the example of Serbian national television channels. 

This year, the Science Media International Forum brought together researchers from eight countries. Russian media schools were represented by researchers from St Petersburg, Belgorod, Veliky Novgorod, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Kemerovo, Kostroma, Makhachkala, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Perm, Petrozavodsk, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Simferopol, Smolensk, Syktyvkar, Taganrog, Tambov, Tolyatti, Tomsk, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, and Chita.

What is of paramount importance in the academic community is the communication of like-minded people. The world is rapidly transforming. Circumstances and theoretical approaches are changing. These need to be discussed and we need to meet more often and develop a consolidated opinion on behalf of the professional community.

Olga Kruglikova, Chairperson of the Forum Organising Committee, Associate Professor at St Petersburg University

In this anniversary year for the University, mass media researchers will meet at the conference "Language in the Coordinates of the Mass Media" at St Petersburg University in the summer and at the forum ‘Journalism of the 21st Century’ in the autumn.