Language Game in the Media as a Technique of Audience Manipulation

This work considers the language game as a method of audience manipulation. For the study, we selected three newspapers (Komsomolskaya Pravda, Kommersant, and Vedomosti), and also about 250 articles for detailed analysis. The work consists of three chapters, of which two are theoretical and one practical. In the first chapter, we consider the concept of "language game", its functional features and classifications presented by different authors. Also in this chapter, a working classification of language game techniques is developed for use in this work, as well as in other scientific works that concern the analysis of newspaper materials. The second chapter is devoted to the issues of manipulating the audience in the media, as well as to the analysis of various manipulative strategies. The third chapter provides a detailed analysis of selected materials that use the language game. All levels indicated in the working classification are considered, calculations are carried out to determine the most commonly used techniques. Also in this chapter are the results of an online questionnaire, which was carried out in order to determine the level of audience trust in publications whose authors use a language game in their materials.