HEALTHY LIFESTYLE DISCOURSE IN RUSSIAN MEDIA: ON THE CRITERIA FOR IDENTIFYING AN INDEPENDENT THEMATIC DISCOURSE IN JOURNALISM

Abstract

The article addresses the question of whether the body of journalistic texts devoted to the healthy lifestyle (HLS) constitutes an independent discourse within the Russian media system. Drawing on discourse theory (M. Foucault, T. van Dijk) and the concept of media discourse developed in Russian journalism studies (T.I. Frolova), the author proposes a set of criteria by which a thematic cluster of media texts may be recognised as a self-contained discourse: a stable subject composition, a characteristic genre repertoire, recurring conceptual dominants, specific linguistic strategies, and a distinctive pragmatic orientation. Each criterion is applied to HLS-related content circulating in federal and regional Russian media. The analysis demonstrates that HLS content satisfies all proposed criteria and therefore qualifies as an independent journalistic discourse. The findings contribute to the theoretical framework of social journalism studies and offer analytical tools applicable to other thematic discourses in contemporary media.