ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN THE FORMATION OF SOCIOCULTURAL ENVIRONMENT IN POLTAVA GOVERNORATE in the second half of the 19th – at the beginning of the 20th century (to the statement of purpose)

Abstract

At this article the author defines many actual directions of the investigation in reference to formation of the socio-cultural environment ofPoltavaprovince during the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The author stresses about the role of periodicals at this process.

At the end of the 19th – in the early 20th century the media (newspapers) along with other means of mass communication – mail and telegraph – were the major carriers and holders of information that shaped man's worldview.

Technological advance allowed the use of existing means, not only for communication between a large number of people, but also for state propaganda, dissemination of the official information from the authorities, formation of public understanding of events, developments, people and things, that most ordinary people could never see in person.

The specific nature of the press lies in its synthetic and complex character, which preserves many forms of information. The practice of publication of the official materials sanctioned by the state (laws, regulations, programs, etc.) and the efficiency of supplying information about the events transformed this mean of the media into a kind of treasury sources of the era.

Each cultural environment has fixed number of elements that characterize it as an object of research. At the level of society it is a cultural macroenvironment that consists of the settlements (cities, towns, villages) with their unique infrastructure and means of the mass media. Human elements of the cultural environment constitute classes, ethnic, demographic and professional groups. All of them are combined by common cultural conditions of city or village, by common participation in cultural activity. The research of the culture of society would be incomplete if do not pay attention to the elements of counter-culture (alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution, suicide, etc.).

The purpose of this survey is to determine the actual directions of the research of sociocultural environment using periodical press ofPoltavagovernorate of the second half of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century as a source of the research.

Poltavaperiodical publications date back to the 27th of October, 1830 with the approval of the regulation on publication of the state printed authorities in governorate towns [2, 213]. "Poltavskie gubernskie vedomosti", "Poltavskie eparhialnye vedomosti", "Zemskyi obzor", agricultural weekly paper "Hutoryanyn" were published inPoltavaprior to the revolutionary events in 1917. The revolutionary events of 1905–1907 contributed to the development of the national and governorate political press. The main platform of the Social Democrats was daily paper "Kolokol". There were Ukrainian language newspapers – "Hliborob" and "Rodnoi krai".

According to researcher O. Reienta, the media helps to plunge into the whirligig of problems that troubled society of that time – from the state of the buildings, streets, markets, transport to the artistic problems and cultural life of townspeople in general [15, 227]. The system of the social values of that time was to some extent illustrated by the advertisements placed in newspapers. Store advertising with a list of offered goods helps to recreate the range of items of daily use that were associated in the public consciousness with guaranteed quality of goods. Also the circulation of different rumours, that was spread by residents and sometimes stretched by the press, was an integral part of urban everyday life. The latter often "embellished" the official news with free, clear interpretation for townspeople for better sales of any given newspaper. The period, that we are considering, was no exception.

Alcohol has always been and remains one of the most relevant and popular subject. It was vividly discussed in the media, professional and journalistic literature. There were proposed different means to solve the problem of alcohol addiction of preventive, medical, repressive character.

The only comprehensive opportunity of promotion and education of sober lifestyle among the population was to attract the means of the mass media. The issue of alcoholism and excessive drinking was lively discussed in general and special (educational, legal, military) press. Another important issue faced by society in this period was "sexual one" and discussions on ways of sex education. As a result, it is extremely interesting to trace the causes and consequences of "sexual revolution" in the Russian society that were covered in the media and to determine the place of "sexual issue" in the everyday life of young people.

These are only a few lines singled out by us for research of the specified topic. We can see that the use of a specific type of sources, such as newspapers and periodicals press, provides an opportunity to get into the thick of things that troubled society in the late 19th – at the beginning of the 20th century. The press allows understanding the system of the social values of that time, tracing the way of formation of cultural space of different social groups. Synthesis and analysis of the topic of the press and the mass media in the stated period makes it possible to identify trends and to see the dynamics of changes and the emergence of new themes, which gives an opportunity to study the formation of sociocultural environment of thePoltavagovernorate in complex.