Russian Media as an Important Instrument of Public Diplomacy (Example of Russia Today Channel)

In the context of this work, the role of the TV channel Russia Today as an important tool of public diplomacy is considered. Today, public diplomacy is an interdisciplinary field, where diplomats, journalists, experts in the field of international relations theory, marketers, advertisers interact which leads to a great theoretical work on the conceptualization of the main directions and approaches to understand this phenomenon. Public diplomacy is considered by us within the framework of the information activity of the TV channel and its presentation on the Internet, focusing on political communication, since the specificity of public diplomacy implies an extremely high degree of politicization and domination of elements of political propaganda. The possibilities of media diplomacy represent an actual instrument of multilateral information dialogue with foreign audiences, the translation of objective value-semantic categories, the possibility of participation in the political process, the implementation of civic engagement and business cooperation. Communicative means of delivery, exchange and reception of information demonstrate the phenomenal opportunities for open and equitable interaction of participants, the possibility of influencing the adoption of strategic decisions and the implementation of integrated monitoring of power initiatives and possible distortions of democratic participation. In this paper, the emphasis is on studying the effects of the penetration of public diplomacy into the information and communication space of the Internet, showing the significant role of online actors in shaping the image of the Russian Federation, carrying out a comprehensive analysis of traffic, involvement, resources and the environment of the rt.com portal.