The Media Discourse’s Structure of Russian Regional Telegram-channels

Social media as a socio-cultural phenomenon are rapidly entering people's lives, but the lack of a comprehensive, institutional understanding of them and the logic of their development is leading to crisis situations (criminal prosecutions, public protests, etc.). This study is structured as a comprehensive analysis of social media as a complex socio-cultural object, based on applied data and a high degree of scientific and philosophical generalisation. The analysis of the structure of media discourse of regional telegraph channels is based on an applied study of 164 socio-political blogs in 2 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The research is based on case studies, data from the TGstat analysis service, content analysis, mystery shopping and other applied methods. As a result, the audience reach, actors and beneficiaries, etc. of the Telegram channels are identified. 70% of the studied telegram channels are anonymous. At the same time, the probable authorship of 90% of the anonymous channels was revealed, as well as their possible beneficiaries. In the dissemination of information in the regional media discourse, 4 important roles are distinguished: newsmakers, regional political telegram channels, regional media and level-up channels. Most of the channels are located in a regional information bubble; their agenda does not reach the federal level. The data obtained in the applied research confirm the understanding of regional media discourse through the metaphor of "Cartesian theatre". The researcher identifies 3 main conventions of Telegram discourse: anonymity, authorship and audience. Conclusions are drawn about the maturity of the genre of posts in Telegram channels, which should be considered as a post-genre or anti-genre in relation to other social media.