The highest degree of impact is observed nowadays from the bodies that finance the media. The information community of journalists and television companies are the tools for influencing society. As a result, the picture shown to the audience does not coincide with reality, so the people don't trust the media. Thus, there is a need to find alternatives to what viewers see on the screen of official television channels. This demand also creates a supply, which, having convincing facts and evidence of its innocence, forms an audience. The purpose of the chapter is to consider a practical attempt to counteract the process of manipulation of public consciousness. To achieve this goal, the author of this chapter set the following research tasks: to study the available scientific sources on the topic of manipulative influence on people, to compare the facts provided by the official media, and the means of the YouTube network, and to find a logical explanation for the emergence of the internet party in Ukraine.
TopIntroduction
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, there is a global reappraisal of the role of the media. New information technologies are developing. States provide the world community with an information picture following their own economic and political objectives. As a result, there is a revision of information exchange strategies. It is common knowledge that the media influences all socio-political practices. Journalists form the necessary attitudes for the audience.
But it is not habitual to talk about the technologies of using the mass media for destructive purposes. This is a problem for people and society.
In 2012, Igor Prokopenko's book “Storming Consciousness. The Truth About Manipulating Human Consciousness” was published. In this book, it is told about how the special services of different countries are developing the theory and practice of mass brainwashing of people; train specialists, so-called “slippers”, who, being thousands of kilometers away, can enter the minds of, for example, the chief of the General Staff of the country's Armed Forces. Famous scientists comment on the sensational results of unique experiments taking place in secret laboratories.
“The struggle for control over people's minds is not going to either subside or stop - it is only getting worse. New participants appear in it: militants, intelligence officers, etc. And unlike nuclear weapons, the proliferation of which is monitored by several international organizations, weapons of invisible war are spreading out of control.” (Prokopenko, 2012, p. 12).
According to Lozovsky (2011), “the main subjects of influence on the media are the state and its many structures, including law enforcement; financial and industrial groups; political associations and parties; public organizations; specialized advertising, PR, consulting enterprises; social groups. They have their characteristics and resources of influence, such as the audience of periodicals, radio and television channels, and the shop corporation itself, the journalistic community” (Lozovsky, 2011, p. 3).
The above mentioned associations have different impacts on the mass media. Low impact is observed among social groups that do not have direct access to the mass media. “The most equipped subjects of influence are the state, its federal and regional structures, municipalities. The arsenal of methods is wide: from direct force pressure with the involvement of experts in the field of firefighting, tax inspection and police, sanitary and epidemiological station, control and audit department and prosecution to the use of various kinds of political technologies. The significant potential of influence is concentrated among financial and industrial groups” (Lozovsky, 2011, p. 6).
Their specificity: the acquisition of their newspapers, radio stations, TV channels with the ensuing political and creative consequences, which can be observed in Ukraine on the example of the closure of several television channels, selective sponsorship and distribution of advertising budgets; hiring journalists to perform specific tasks, which are also used in the television field of the Ukrainian information space.
The information community of journalists and television companies is a tool for influencing society. Due to different points of view, external oligarchic influence, the phenomenon of information wars arises, conflicts between the media and journalists for political reasons. Thus, the influence of power structures on television channels leads to the fact that the picture shown to viewers, for example, in news programs does not coincide with reality, so the audience does not trust the media more and more. As a result, there is a need to find alternatives to what people see on the screen of official television channels. This demand also creates a supply, which, having convincing facts and evidence of its innocence, forms an audience.