Family Health on the Humanitarian Agenda of Domestic Media: History and Modernity

Abstract

Journalism as a social institution always addresses the problems and interests of society and the individual, however, in different historical periods, the humanitarian emphasis can be the leading one, but it can also be the secondary. The authors of the article systematize the data on the presence of the topic of family health in the humanitarian agenda of the domestic media of the Soviet period and the present. The study of the humanitarian agenda of the media in different historical periods seems to be an urgent research task, since it allows us to see its evolution both in the typological aspect and in the genre-thematic one. The purpose of this article is to analyze materials related to the problem of maintaining family health, including reproductive health, in domestic periodicals at different periods of its functioning. The research is based on historical and structural-functional approaches, analysis and synthesis. The method of qualitative and quantitative content analysis was used in the study and systematization of publications of domestic periodicals. The researchers also use the comparative historical method, which helped to identify the main differences and similarities in the positioning of the problem of maintaining family health in the Soviet period and now. The results of the research can be useful for journalists working in the sphere of social journalism, covering issues of preserving the institution of the family and its reproductive potential. The authors accentuate the importance of forming an optimal and effective model of the humanitarian agenda in the media. During the Soviet period, the media focused on the issues of abortion, lack of reliable contraception, diagnosis, treatment, consequences and complications of diseases of the reproductive system. In modern Russia, maternal, infant and perinatal mortality is decreasing, methods of diagnosing and treating diseases of the reproductive sphere are improving, the media are focusing on the problems of maintaining family health, responsible parenting, and the idea of family planning. Keywords: family as a social institution, family health, media agenda, humanitarian media agenda, domestic media, family reproductive health