Desacralization of everyday practices in journalism: ritual business

For citation: Tatiana I. Frolova, Naila F. Minnegalieva. Desacralization of everyday practices in journalism: ritual business // Mediascope. 2025. 2. Available at: https://www.mediascope.ru/2913

© Tatiana I. Frolova

Doctor of Philology, Professor, Department of Digital Journalism, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), t_frolova@bk.ru

© Naila F. Minnegalieva

PhD student at the Chair of Digital Journalism, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), nfidratovna@mail.ru

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of journalistic publications devoted to the topic of one of the most relevant everyday practices – the reflection of the funeral services market in the period 2018–2023 in the Russian online versions of regional publications. In modern humanitarian scientific knowledge, human daily life, understood as a system of life practices, i. e. habitual ways of life of a person in a society or a group, turns into one of the central problems. The purpose of the research can be presented as an attempt to identify the state of the topic in the media – its representation, frequency, correlation of topics, genre forms, the availability of ideas to overcome the "ritual crisis". The object of the study was regional newspapers. 432 publications in district newspapers of 9 federal districts were identified, of which about 100 texts were subjected to content analysis according to criteria. It was found that the most popular topics in this spectrum were the unsatisfactory work of funeral agencies, the unfair work of agents, and the lack of services for the care of burial sites. The texts are represented by analytical flame forms; at the same time, genre diffusion is revealed, which the authors of the article associate with the increased emotional tonality of most texts, the desire of journalists to "vent" these emotions using reportage, evaluative, interactive and other elements in one text, including multimedia means. The modality of the texts is more than 80% problematic and critical. However, there are few publications in which journalists would attempt to find solutions to the problem or its aspects, make suggestions, contact relevant organizations, initiate public discussions, etc. The desacralization of a complex topic that has occurred after its release into the open space has not yet brought effective solutions and actions.

Key words: everyday life, desacralization, ritual business, regional media, subject matter, modality.

Notes

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