MONITORING RESEARCH IN THE SYSTEM OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATION SCIENCES

Abstract

The article interprets and systematizes the idea of monitoring as a research method in the field of social communication sciences for the solution of traditional issues of journalism science and outlines the prospects of its application in view of the current issues of media science, which introduce into the research field the latest trends in the development of the mass media system at the current stage of deployment information society. The scientific value of monitoring as a research method is inseparable from its ability to see mass media as a complex heterogeneous system object and to ensure systematicity (complexity of vision, comparability of data, consistency of aspects of object analysis) of observations of this object at its different levels and in different sections. It is also important to be aware of the need to see the background as a theoretical basis for interpreting monitoring data. Self-sufficient, self-valued empirical monitoring studies of mass media activity can be good material for larger research projects, which demonstrates the high research potential of the monitoring method. Monitoring studies of mass media is the accumulation of empirical material for large-scale research projects in the field of social communications of both synchronic and diachronic type. However, only qualitative data from monitoring studies can be adequately used in the future and productively included in large-scale scientific projects, where comparison of data, combination of disparate empirical material with other analytical data is expected. Monitoring studies of mass media is a perspective of using the accumulation of empirical material for media critical studies and providing recommendations and practical advice for the implementation of mass media activities of editorial teams. This is the potential of monitoring research in the aspect of management decisions in the mass media system. The latest media phenomena that are of research interest, but have not yet entered the science of social communications as an object and subject of scientific understanding, with clearly defined parameters, are probably promising material for monitoring observations. This is a question of understanding the potential of the monitoring method in its application to the newest media phenomena that are significantly transforming the sphere of mass communication activity. Among the media phenomena that can become material for monitoring studies, the author of the article sees, first of all, such notable and influential phenomena as constructive journalism (journalism of solutions) and brand journalism. Monitoring provides an opportunity to verify, through the observation of extensive empirical material, the theoretical statements of scientists regarding the requirements for constructive journalism and brand journalism, which are formulated on the basis of the construction of a conceptual model of this type of mass media work. Thanks to monitoring, it is possible to study constructive journalism and brand journalism in terms of their use of forms of information submission, the specifics of addressing narrow target segments of the mass audience, technologies for retaining the recipient’s attention, etc. The data obtained during the monitoring can be used in a comparative study in the future, which can significantly expand the understanding of modern science about the latest media phenomena, which are still difficult to fit into the limits of scientific interpretations. If we see the latest trends and phenomena in the mass communication environment as indicators of transformations and look for factors of significant changes and shifts in social communication activity, then monitoring as a research method can be extremely useful and promising in understanding changes in the mass media system.