Crimean Identity in the Media Presentation of the Region

The author proposes a new approach to studying regionology, an actively emerging area of research that examines laws of functioning of a region in terms of geographical, geopolitical, geo-economic, information and historical-cultural factors. This approach lies in coordinating the theory of regionality with real facts of a certain territory media history in its dynamic characteristics displayed in media texts. The author points out that active forming of the Crimean identity is a result of the ideas of the Russian world as a uniting factor. The identity features of those who live in the peninsula manifest themselves by the formula “We are Crimean” regardless of a person’s nationality. The identity features of the Crimean people are also determined by the role of the Russian language as an integrative field of communication for the living together representatives of different cultures. Regional mass media have a significant impact on shaping a regional worldview. Applying discourse analysis to the Crimean printed texts the author demonstrates peculiarities of media constructing of the Crimean identity involving geographical, historical, cultural and personal themes. The analysis carried out allows one to conclude that the Crimean (regional) identity corresponds to the professional identity of the journalists who work in the region. This is confirmed by the main regional themes being broadcast by the most popular regional mass media. The Crimean society is a specific regional polyethnic environment formed as the result of long-term and complex cultural and historical development. Characteristics of the key events representation in public space determine their collective comprehension. The regional mass media of the Republic of Crimea through the media texts draw the audience’s attention primarily to the attributes of the unified mentality. It is important that now when several years have passed after the Crimea joined Russia it is the time to interpret this historical event to build a complex hierarchically ordered system of the peninsula citizens’ self-identity.