Information Manipulation as a Category of Communication Recipient’s Information Discomfort

The research focuses on a level of consumers’ awareness regarding the specific nature of the manipulative influence of mass media upon their consciousness. A free-associative experiment allows determining how much “information manipulation” consumers understand it as a specific phenomenon of mass media. It is important to determine the comprehension of this notion to form the strategies for the preparation of professional journalists. The manipulative influence of mass media is determined by an assignment to influence on the consciousness of the information consumer to form views, concepts and/or behavioral models. While researching the level of awareness of mass media manipulative influence, individuals demonstrate an understanding that this influence is quite notable and is dangerous both for their personal information comfort and for social reality. Media education for media content consumers, which is topical nowadays, requires a preliminary understanding of all the mechanisms and consequences of manipulative influence by mass media, that is why the research focuses on the exploration of the association area for the concept of “manipulation”, “information manipulation”. The research demonstrates that manipulative technologies are often based on stereotypization and mythologization of reality as the methods of manipulative generalization.