English-language media discourse in the digital age: psychological mechanisms of functioning

The article raises the problem of the English-language media discourse which in its interaction with the basic psychological mechanisms of human consciousness (goal-setting, attitude and reflection) at the age of digitalization has created a new form of media discourse environment providing communication and influence on both native English speakers and non-native ones. The theoretical, as well as statistical and content analyses conducted in the research, allowed identifying two media blocks (two types of media discourses) in the English-speaking media world that have different goal-setting mechanisms, attitudes and reflection levels. The findings of the study based on the example of a political theme zone frequently circulated in the English-language media discourse demonstrated how the interaction and mutual influence between the psychological mechanisms and the media discourse are changed and depend on whether the information flow is generated by the institutional English-language media discourse or it is presented and promoted by individual media actors.