Discourse 'Decommunisation' in a Public Plane of Contemporary Ukrainian Information Space

Abstract

The article examines the discourse of «decommunisation» in a public plane of the modern Ukrainian information space. Its rhetorical dominant is represented by the communication strategies of the supporters and opponents of the package of «historical» laws adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on April 9, 2015.The author of the article has reproduced the chronical development of discourse «decommunisation» within the national concept of «historical memory».European practice of condemnation of communist crimes was analyzed; factual material representing the international dialogue discussion Ukrainian decommunisation process was involved. Special attention is given to the issue of decommunisation of the media sector, it was emphasised on the controversial aspects of interpretation of legislation «purification» from the Soviet Communist symbols. Functional explications of discourse «decommunisation» in the media were studied, in particular within the event content, social content of the problem, subject-content argumentation and contextualization in international, legal, moral and ethical plane, mythologizing the narrative. On the basis of factual material the basic meaning of the public topics of the analyzed discourse flow was revealed, it was indicated on its dependence of the communication purpose of the speeches. Infographic representation of the component «decommunisation» in the media has been analyzed, including the frequency of use of official symbols and their substantive relevance. It was revealed that the information occasion and the intensity of publications within the discourse is caused not only by the event content, but also by the methodological source (Calendar of decommunisation), developed by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory. The reasoning patterns of the texts were analyzed and it was found that the strategy of «responsible contextualization» contributes to the formation of the constructive dialogue. It was indicated on the necessity of attraction of qualitative component of communicative media strategies, including the use of critical narratives. The author has focused on the ambivalent influence of the discourse on the design of public opinion, the set of public representations which, depending on the purpose of communication, contributes to the formation conventional meanings, the effect of «normalization» and manipulation.