News as a tool to enhance intercultural stereotypes

Headers on strengthening inter-ethnic unity as the foundation of ethnic policy of Novosibirsk Oblast fill only government-affiliated media. This most often occurs on official occasions, such as the Day of National Unity, the Day of the Russian Flag, anniversaries of the region, etc. Novosibirsk government spends more than 100 million rubles in a year for the implementation of ethnic policy. The priority of the national policy of Novosibirsk Oblast is the solution of social problems. But such features of the ethnic policy of the region are not interesting to journalists' news feeds, they do not inspire the reader to «click» on the material. In this regard, headers get provocative in nature, for example, "Novosibirsk Authorities Will Strengthen the Unity of the Nation for 100 Million", "100 Million for Migrants". Why do journalists take this figure as the basis of the titles and texts? An ordinary citizen of the country, as a rule, measures this money in consumer categories: how much apartments, cars, overseas trips one can buy with it. Such a presentation of information by the journalist forms a reaction of protest in the consumer. 100 million rubles without comment and explanation, in the opinion of the reader /listener, viewer/ "fly into a black hole". Today it is relevant to talk about professional deformation based on professional vanity. But a different point is important in this context: without presenting the subject matter, journalists implicitly form the problem rather than formulate it. Journalists themselves often become bearers of stereotypes. The first reason, as the author has noted, is the desire to stand out in the information stream; the second seems to be the lack of awareness and competence of the authors of many texts. The author of this article analysed 227 materials on the topic of ethnic policy in 2016. She gives examples of "clickable" headlines on this topic and draws a parallel with the findings of a study that the scholars of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration carried out in the regions of the Siberian Federal District in 2003-2015. One of the major myths is the opinion of the majority of the indigenous population that there are "too many migrants". No less common a myth is the assertion that "migrants worsen the crime situation", although the proportion of immigrants in the crime statistics is low and stable. The main explanation for the existence of myths can be the fact that the discourse of the media in relation to migration and migrants as such is to a greater extent associated with the representation of negative information.

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