The role of media culture in today's information wars

Abstract

The article is devoted to the socio-philosophical analysis of the phenomenon of media culture in the context of the globalization information challenges of today. The formation of the main threats of the modern information society is revealed through the prism of the close relationship of violence, wealth and knowledge as means of implementing power relations in the geopolitical context. It was noted that at each historical stage of the global struggle for power, the most effective means of achieving power goals were strategies of information struggle aimed at manipulating public consciousness. The essential signs of information war from the standpoint of psychological, information and communication approaches are revealed. It is noted that in the society of knowledge, the information and propaganda war acquires the features of a conscious (semantic) one, therefore, in the conditions of the formation of the mass media as key producers of information products marked by certain political or economic interests, it is possible to talk about the media war as a separate technology of modern information wars. In the modern philosophical discourse, to define a special type of culture of the information age, the concept of "media culture" has become widespread, as a set of information and communication tools produced by mankind in the process of cultural and historical development, which contribute to the formation of public consciousness and the socialization of the individual. The work reveals the main functions of media culture - informational, communicative, ideological, normative and legal, motivational, integrative, culture-creating, myth-creating. The fundamental difference between media culture and traditional cultures is emphasized - the level of its technical equipment, which allows the reproduction of media culture products for almost all of humanity, acting as a regulator of its mass consciousness. The specificity of media culture is determined by its semiotic nature and the technical capabilities of the means of its implementation: high information capacity, ease and persuasiveness of perception, speed of replication of information messages, mass and accessibility. The conclusions highlight the need to introduce state programs for the development of digital and media education as an effective mechanism for countering today's informational challenges.