Differences in the Understanding and Use of Basic Theoretical Concepts in Representatives of the Media Industry and the Academia

The aim of this article is to investigate how quickly and fully the modern theoretical achievements of Russian media science are being transferred in the field of industrial application. In particular, the author studies the differences in the understanding and use of the key concept “media” by representatives of academia and industry. The identification of the contexts in which this concept is applied and the determination of the boundaries of its use allow concluding that the positions of academia/industry coincide/do not coincide. The author also explores the ideas of scholars and media industry professionals about the potential areas of research: the phenomena of reality that require scientific understanding and development. Along with this, the article makes an attempt to identify formalized concepts used by professional theorists and practitioners of media and to determine the area of their intersection. The research method wass semi-structured interviews with Russian scholars, media researchers, and representatives of the media industry. The interview data were structured thematically in accordance with the above research fields. The interview materials were transcribed and clustered as well. During the study, in 2017-2018, 14 interviews were conducted with representatives of various universities involved in the study of journalism, mass communication, media, as well as 7 interviews with representatives of various companies and structures involved in industrial research (audience, media companies, the journalistic community, etc.). The author comes to the conclusion about the almost complete absence of a drift of scientific achievements in the field of studying media into the industry. Practitioners have not shown knowledge of classical scientific theories and their authors. Along with this, the academic community is currently quite monolithic in describing the prospects for further empirical research based on existing or new theories. Industrial interests are usually determined by the professional and personal preferences of the respondents. The author notes the lack of convention among representatives of the academic environment regarding the key scientific concept “media”. At the same time, this phenomenon is even more obvious among representatives of the industrial community: respondents interpret the basic concept of media exclusively individually and sometimes completely refuse to determine its boundaries. All this indicates a large number of problem fields in the interaction of theory and practice in the media environment.

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