Politicization of Sports Through Media: Syncretism of Social Institutions

Modern realities suggest a special syncretic process - the politicization of sports through the media. Despite the fact, that such determinants are dialectically characteristic of countries in conditions of international tension (including latent nature), as was the case in the 20th century during the many years of confrontation between USSR and USA, the events of 2018 forced to view this picture from the standpoint of publishing political conflict, in which there was a representation of sporting events. The Olympic (so-called "doping") scandal against the Russian National Team was actively covered by European and Western media, which operated not only with rhetoric of irony, but also with the rhetoric of imaginary justice. And the discovery in the blood of a curling expert A. Krushelnitsky, meldonium and, as a result, the deprivation of his bronze medals at the Olympics-2018 became for the Western media the main (and only) proof of dishonest behavior of the National Team. In turn, the representation of the conflict by the Russian media was a mirror reaction. The politicization of sports through media at the present stage continued in the spring and summer of 2018 during the preparation and holding of the World Cup in Russia. Despite the prevalence of negative messages in the media agenda of foreign publications on the eve of the Championship (operating with the rhetoric of unreasonableness), the representation of a sporting event by the Russian media, which worked on the principle of media solidarization (complementing the agendas of "traditional" media and "new media" - blogging, social media) in accordance with the laws of media logic, constructed the atmosphere of a universal sports festival, which manifested itself at the level of high organization of both football matches at all sports venues in the country, and out-of-stage performances (flash mobs, concerts, etc.), with an emphasis on tolerance, security, service compliance with international standards, forced a number of Western and European media controllers begin to adhere to the rhetoric of recognition.