Abstract
The “digital environment” is perceived as a new situation in the political consciousness of the society, as well as a source of xenophobia in politics. In the context of political uncertainty in the world, journalism is becoming a vehicle for spreading cyberphobia – a new type of social fear. Cyberphobia is understood as a natural reaction of public consciousness to the intensification of new types of crimes against the individual and society with the use of “digital” technologies. The new informational reality has predetermined cyberthreats that appeared in the media leading to the most dangerous social phobia. This, for instance, has been combined with the idea of the “Russian hacker” and his personification as the world Evil.
Highlights
Modern journalism has been accompanied by a continuous transformation of the society caused by the growing struggle of its strata, minorities and other communities for dominance in the setting of social values
The consciousness of the society is struck by a new type of phobia – the fear of dangers that lurk in the depths of the “digital space” and are personified by the image of a hacker
The spread of cyber threat social phobias is a logical result of uneven cultural development and the use of technical capabilities of the new information environment
Summary
Modern journalism has been accompanied by a continuous transformation of the society caused by the growing struggle of its strata, minorities and other communities for dominance in the setting of social values. We are wary of the widespread belief that new media technologies and mobile communication will lead to the strengthening of democracy in the society, enhanced awareness of events in the world and in the country, as well as deepened knowledge about the essence of socio-political and cultural processes. Аs the famous political scientist Bystritsky writes, “Firstly, protest activity occurs in a situation of incredible information and communication abundance. It is a consequence of the new communication situation, too, but . In the dynamically growing mass of people involved in the network of conflicts in the media, there is usually a willingness to transfer aggression from a symbolic space to a physical space: “a significant number of pressure resources and network communities represent and aggregate radical and extremist views which are articulated in the public political space” This leads to a “dynamics of hatred,” which Huntington once described as a condition of “mutual fears, distrust and hatred who feed each other” (Smit, 2018, pp. 432–433)
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