Tregub A. Service and expert journalism on Ukrainian television: pragmatic and thematic aspects

The thesis provides a definition of the term «service and expert journalism». Its genesis is analyzed, the main stages of service and expert journalism development are defined and outlined – they are sacralization; propaganda; institutionalization of service journalism; the stage of symbolic legitimization, replication and multiplication of service and expert journalism; the stage of innovative transformation in civil service and expert journalism. Genre differentiation of present-day Ukrainian television is considered. On the basis of the theoretically substantiated characteristics of television genres and their groups, as well as the empirical data of monitoring national air content, the author determined common features which service and expert programs share with documentary (information-and-analytical, artistic-and-analytical), entertaining and educational ones. At the same time, the differences (criteria for identification) of service and expert programs are outlined, namely: the presence of an expert who performs the role of a presenter; the presence of a presenter who acts as an expert; involvement of experts in a certain sphere; visual approbation of recommendations; experiment based on the composition of the plot; observation at the heart of the plot composition; retrospective reflection of reality; realism of the plot, images and environment; pragmatic value of advice. To study the representation of service and expert journalism in the television space of Ukraine, the method of content analysis was used. The research interest in the study was focused on programs of TV channels’ own production or those produced by special order of the TV channel. The source for the study was the official web resources of the Ukrainian national television channels which are in the top 10 according to leading rating agencies such as BIG DATA UA and the Industrial Television Committee. Their monitoring results are officially recognized and represented by the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting.