About the Journal

GOALS AND SCOPE OF THE JOURNAL

In Bulgarian science, the potential for research into media language and the mediatization of social activities is high, but the popularization of the results of scientific research in this area is weak. They are scattered in collections (e.g., the proceedings of conferences devoted to the problems of Bulgarian colloquial speech and oral communication at the Bulgarian University of Technology, proceedings of conferences devoted to the problems of Bulgarian sociolinguistics, etc.) and are often difficult to find among the rich issues discussed at such scientific forums. Bulgaria lacks a scientific periodical that would popularize scientific research in the areas of medialinguistics and mediastylistics and serve as a catalog for everything done in this area.

The scope of the publication is two rapidly developing scientific directions – medialinguistics and mediastylistics, which study the regularities of the effective use of the entire complex of language resources in the public sphere and, in particular, in the various situations of media and public communication.

As disciplines that combine the linguistic approach with the media and the public field in general as an object of study, i.e. as linguistic and sociological disciplines, medialinguistics and mediastylistics deal with the functioning of language levels in media and public speech, with the interrelationships of media language practice with language norms and codification, with the standardization of mass language errors in the media and public organizations, with trends and processes in media speech and the speech of society, and many, many other problems.

Media linguistics is interested in the processes of mediatization of contemporary society and in the various aspects of the impact of the media on the audience (e.g. journalistic discourse, advertising, public relations, branding, art, politics, etc.), as well as in the peculiarities of the functioning of power discourses and the processes of mediatization of politics and culture through language and style. Understanding the main categories of media discourse and the application of methods of analysis, rhetorical knowledge for creating texts that function in mass communication, and understanding the peculiarities of localization of media products with consideration of culturally determined differences in the media space is an essential part of research in the field of media stylistics.

The goal of the journal "Media and Language" is precisely this - to unite the efforts of researchers in several scientific fields and to create a platform on which related publications in the field of media language and style can be easily and quickly found. With the increasing interest in contemporary phenomena such as hate speech, the language of political correctness, the language of the media and politicians, as well as political and cultural institutions, and in connection with the growing concern about a post-truth media and political influence, media linguistic studies are becoming a main reference point for a quick and precise reading of media and political messages.

Among the tasks of the journal are to promote research by leading scholars in the field in our country and abroad, as well as by students, doctoral candidates and young scholars; to announce conferences in this field; to publish reviews of scientific publications, cultural events, and artifacts; to collect and publish a corpus of media texts accessible to the scientific community and useful in the training not only of future specialists in journalism and mass communication, but also in other specialties, since the ubiquitous mediatization of human activities necessitates the need for knowledge of the management and functioning of the media and the public sphere; to promote master's programs in the field of media and public communication in our country and abroad, which will help students who are looking for educational products suitable for their interests; to promote the electronic journal among the scientific community in our country and abroad, in order to further establish it as a quality and prestigious publication in the field of social sciences and humanities.

ABOUT THE START OF THE PUBLISHING PROJECT
The creation of the electronic scientific journal is part of a research project at the Scientific Research Fund of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" on the topic: "Medialinguistics - potential of the scientific field and its popularization" (Agreement No. 80-10-60 of 20.04.2017). The project has applied for a competition for the development of scientific projects, financed with the funds allocated specifically from the state budget for the scientific or artistic and creative activity inherent in state higher education institutions - 2017, announced on the basis of Order No. RD 19-82/ 23.02.2017 of the Rector of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". The activities set out in the project have been assessed by two reviewers and approved by the Faculty Commission at the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication (see the list of approved projects in the 2017 competition session here, http://eservices.uni-sofia.bg/projects/).
The members of the research team