political image

The content of the political image of one of the regional Russian leaders during the electoral period (elections of heads of Russian constituent entities in 2023) is studied in the article. The purpose of the paper is to identify the features of the symbolic and semantic content of the network image of a regional political leader during the pre-election period. Fulfi llment of the set research goal is carried out using the concept of the image-role construct and methods of content analysis (qualitative-quantitative type) and comparative analysis.

The article presents possibilities of analyzing image-forming texts by means of specialized software. Restrictions related to automated information processing are separately articulated. The author concludes that it is preferable to use a mixed version of the study of media messages, involving a combination of manual and machine-based analysis of their main parameters.

The networkization of the modern fi eld of public policy is studied in the paper. With the help of the information society theory and the image-role construct concept, the content of the image of the regional leader - the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region G.S. Nikitin is analyzed in the research. A qualitative-quantitative type of content analysis was chosen as the main empirical method of research, and the information array of data was made up of news reports from the Website of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Government.