PECULIARITIES OF THE CONTENT CONSTRUCTING OF POLITICAL MEDIA DISCOURSE (on the example of English-language political media texts)

Introduction. This article explains the peculiarities of the content constructing of the political media discourse of the Russian Internet resource sputniknews.com for September 2016, represented by English-language political media texts about events in Ukraine. Purpose . The purpose of the article is to disclose peculiarities of the content constructing of the political media discourse in question via the analysis of the cognitive plane of its objectification. Results . The article holds that the political media discourse is a complex phenomenon that has three planes of its objectification: cognitive, pragmatic, and communicative (linguistic). The analysis of its cognitive plane accomplished as the analysis of the content of its political media texts enables to disclose peculiarities of their content constructing. The article proves that this constructing is typically based on a purposeful manipulation of information on behalf of the message author (sender). It is done in different ways and by various means – by faking facts, by their partial distortion, by a shift within the concept semantic field, by the concept simplification, and by stereotyping. The very form of facts presentation also contributes to information distortion – it can be statement, repetition, fragmentation, breaking news, sensation, and non-alternativity (of information source or of view point). Such а content constructing, typical of the analyzed political media texts, enables the message author (sender) to present concrete facts, political events and the very social reality in the right light, suggesting or imposing on the message recipient a certain (necessary) understanding of what is perceived. Originality . Originality of this article is provided by a complex approach to the analysis of the political media discourse. The article contributes to the discourse analysis, in particular to the studies of its cognitive and linguistic-cognitive characteristics. The perspective of the problem under discussion can be seen in the analysis of interrelated pragmatic and communicative (linguistic) planes of the political media discourse objectification. Conclusion. Thus, according to the obtained data, the content constructing of English-language political media texts about events in Ukraine, which represent the political media discourse of the Russian Internet resource sputniknews.com for September 2016, is typically based on manipulation of information. Accomplished by the message author (sender) in different ways and by various means, manipulation of information results in various interpretations of concrete facts, political events and social reality with the purpose to suggest or impose on the message recipient a certain (necessary) understanding, which is, in fact, a manipulative impact on public consciousness.