A journalist in the discourse of media: determinism or position? (A case study of informational argument around Sergey Gurkin's interview with Svetlana Alexievich)

The paper substantiates the need to distinguish the types of agency in the media field. Most of the media are systemic agencies of passive agents of ideological discourses. Editorial staff is subject to this trend. However, there are authors who demonstrate the agency of rational actors with a strong personal position. The way different types of agency manifest themselves in media texts is shown in the case study of an informational argument around Sergey Gurkin's interview with Svetlana Alexievich. These days, the policy of the modern Russian media is biased by its ideological predilections. The interview marked the beginning of the public persecution of the Nobel laureate on REGNUM News Agency's website. Many public figures condemned the journalist. As an expert of the Public Collegium on Press Complaints, the author prepared a conclusion that formed the basis of this paper. In this study, the author came to the conclusion that the media became agents of the short-term political conjuncture and the struggle for ratings. In this informational argument, one medium "washes its hands" in the desire to avoid responsibility; the other launches a hate campaign against the creative intelligentsia. The audience divided into two camps. Some believe that the journalist was ideologically determined and behaved unethically. In their opinion, he as the author deliberately sought to increase his popularity. Others justify his actions. The author of the paper believes Gurkin proved himself to be a journalist with a civic position confident that his interview was socially significant. Indeed, the publication could be an example of a dialogue with a dissenter. However, REGNUM News Agency "recoded" the constructive meaning of the journalist's work through subsequent publications. The good deed was turned into a scandal.

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