“Death groups”: the media construction of a social problem in the post-truth society

The article discusses the features of media construction of a social problem by the Russian media on the example of the case of “death groups” (2015-2017) in the context of the influence of post-truth society on mass communication. The analysis reveals factors that form the misstatement in vision of a social problem; an analogy is drawn with the spread of fake news in the media. Special attention is paid to the role of the government in the media construction of the social problem of “death groups” and its ideological content. Based on the study, it is concluded that in post-truth society, media construction of a social problem proceeds with an emotional, uncritical perception of false, ideologically sharpened information. The gathered facts show a dismatch between the media representation of “death groups” and their real social sense.