Digital Agenda At The Municipal Level In Russia: Study Of Official Discourse

Abstract

Within the framework of the study of the digital agenda, the most relevant issue is the question touching the people that shape this agenda. Is it true that politicians, including mayors, are the starting point in the political process that sets the vector for the development of the political agenda in the digital space? To what extent do municipal and regional politicians shape or reflect the digital agenda? What is included in this agenda? What is the reaction of users / residents of the city to this agenda as an official discourse produced by the heads of cities? To find answers to these questions, we conducted a study of the digital agenda. through network analysis, content analysis, visual analysis and linguistic and discursive analysis of the official accounts of the mayors of Russian cities. The selection of mayors was carried out on the basis of the Medialogia rating for 2020: A. Lokot, Mayor of Novosibirsk, N. Kotova, Mayor of Chelyabinsk, I. Khadzhimuradov, Mayor of Grozny, Y. Rokotyanskaya, Mayor of Ryazan. The empirical base was compiled by the method of continuous sampling of posts, hashtags, photos and videos as well as all comments under the specified posts of the official accounts of Instagram, VKontakte, Facebook, Twitter and Odnoklassniki for the period October 1, 2020 -December 31, 2020. The main conclusions obtained during the study of the discursive topics of the analyzed accounts, the visual component and comments as a reaction of users to the digital agenda and official discourse are presented.