Destructive Media: Double Standards of Universal Communicators

The article analyzes destructive media communications in relation to such concepts as double standards in compliance with ethical norms and codes; the subject of digital communications, for which a qualitative characteristic is proposed – “universal communicator”; inanimate actors of digital media, i.e., bots; as well as a number of other phenomena of modern media. One of the key trends in modern media communications is associated with a decrease in audience interest in traditional media – newspapers, radio, and television. The public switches its attention to easily accessible alternative sources of information – new media and social networks. Constant economic competition with Internet platforms that do not verify information leads to a “domino effect.” Gradually and inevitably, the quality of information verification in traditional media also declines. The “universal communicator” becomes an active actor in the new media system, i.e., a subject who previously combined the roles of various professional attitudes, a civil activist, a journalist, a politician, a volunteer, etc. This phenomenon leads to a weakening and sometimes even to the erasure of the boundaries between various social functions, which is reflected in the quality of the produced media texts. Digital destructive communications are considered in the context of the problem of manipulation through mass media. Current data from sociological research shows the readiness of a significant proportion of citizens to use so-called hostile activism to confront government authorities, businesses, the media, and civil society institutions. One way to solve this problem may be to improve legal regulation in the field of digital media communications, develop the idea of responsible artificial intelligence, and disseminate the basics of media literacy among citizens.