Introduction

The mass media is an essential component of civil society’s formation in the context of the modern information community. By collecting information about the image of a migrant, the mass media form stereotypes and myths about migrant students, causing emotional feelings. Mass communication unites public opinion about a problem, thereby having a huge impact on it (GERASIMOVA, 2000; KOZLOV, 1996; SOKOLOV, 2002; STEPANOV, 1999; VOLKOGONOVA, 2001). The mass media form an impression of consumers in the absence of personal contact, acquaintance, communication with representatives of a particular ethnic group, sometimes transmitting information of a distorted and unbiased nature.

The mass media serve as the main link between a person and his/her social space, since they provide a continuous movement of the main flow of information of the public individual about the world in which he/she lives. In the information age, people are guided by ideas about a particular people, drawn not so much from their personal impressions and contacts, as from press reports, which are often distorted during further broadcast in public opinion. The role of such information is especially important in relation to relatively new groups for this territory. It should also be noted that there is a lack of sufficient information background covering the environment created by migrant students. Differing from the host population by their ethnicity, migrant students most often appear in the image of some strangers with a foreign culture and values. This kind of discourse is gradually forming migrant-phobia in the public consciousness. The growth of ethnophobia, which is recorded in most regions of Russia, is accompanied by anti-migrant sentiment, despite the fact that there is an economic need to attract students from countries from abroad.

However, the mass media is not limited to informing about what is happening in the world, but also is one of the most stable channels for the dissemination of various behaviors, social norms-patterns that form attitudes, values and patterns that determine the way of life of an individual. The need to study the influence of mass media on the creation of ideas about the migrant student among the local population is becoming clearer. That is, in essence, the mass media are gradually becoming one of the main factors in the formation of the world picture of social individuals and social groups (BEREZKINA, 2009; BORONOYEV, 1988; GRIGORICHEV; TARASOVA, 2004; MALAKHOV, 1998; PANARIN, 2000; VOROBYOV, 1990; VYATKIN; KHOTINETS, 1996).

In the modern conditions of globalization, when education tends to expand borders, and universities are increasingly attracting international students to study, it becomes important in what image migrant students will appear to local residents, with what cultural, social, and environmental values (CHERDYMOVA, 2011a; 2011b; GOLUBEV, 2002; SAFONOVA, 2008; SHEREGI; DMITRIEV; AREFYEV 2002; SVIRIDOV, 1981). Value orientations in the mass media are one of the most important components in the formation of tolerance, as well as the structure of personality, they serve as regulators of behavior and are manifested in all areas of interpersonal activity. Values can be of a dual nature, since they are social due to their historical and cultural conditionality, and because of individual life and personal experience, they are individual in nature. Social values are defined as a given, having an empirical meaning, correlated with something that is the object of activity. The values of a single person are formed under the influence of the social environment, the characteristics of the groups, which he/she belongs to, and the individual life experience of each individual (BARANOV et al., 2019; BAYANOVA et al., 2019; GELLNER, 1991; GLINSKAYA, 1998; KVON et al., 2019; WIENER; TAVROVSKY, 2009).

The mass media often form images and types of migrant students as foreigners who encroach on the everyday life and labor market of the indigenous population. A tolerant approach to the coverage of ethnicity in the mass media is one of the most important tasks of every democratic society, and the study of the mechanisms of dispersion of tolerance into the mass consciousness is relevant as a scientific problem.

Due to the traditions, beliefs, and stereotypes that have developed in the host society, the attitude towards visiting migrant students is very limited in socio-cultural terms. A significant role in creating a stereotypical attitude towards migrant students and distancing themselves from foreigners is played by the influence of images, symbols and text messages formed by the mass media, which have a significant impact on the mass consciousness of the population. Many Russian mass media, both federal and regional, often make non-tolerant statements in their materials, and sometimes publish articles that are openly provocative. We can say that, as mentioned above, in the modern world, mass media has a huge impact on the formation of stable images regarding a particular ethnic group, on the culture of perception and interethnic communication in general.

Ethnically colored stories and stereotypical images are created and widely broadcast by both journalists and other intellectuals, to whom the media is provided as a kind of platform for the unhindered expression of ethnic ideas. Mass media convey to the mass consciousness the inevitability and objectivity of migration processes, which are often associated with expansion. (ANISIMOV, 1988; BOGOMOLOVA, 1991; PRYADKINA, 2005; STAROSOTNIKOVA, 2010).

Thus, the statement that the mass media is one of the key channels of ideological influence on the consciousness of society, including without conditionality and in the field of interethnic relations, hardly requires special evidence.

Issues of migration, as at any time, remain relevant and are of acute debatable nature, and for newsmakers, they are attractive (KAMARA, 2012; PARK, 2002).

It is enough to take a cross-section of information in the media about the situation of migrants in different countries in just a few days to state that the topic of migration occupies a leading place in the news panorama. The world information network is always full of messages that are directly related to the subject of training of international students and their employment.

Materials and Methods

The whole life of a person consists of constant interaction with other people. The problem of tolerance is often discussed in the modern world, and this is not accidental. Value orientations in the mass media are one of the most important components in the formation of tolerance, as well as the structure of personality, they serve as regulators of behavior and are manifested in all areas of interpersonal activity. Ethnically colored stories and stereotypical images are created and widely broadcast by both journalists and other intellectuals, to whom the media are provided as a kind of platform for the unhindered expression of ethnic and ethnical political ideas. Thus, the objectives of the study are:

1. - To identify the prevalence of negative or positive stereotypes about migrant students and their impact on the formation of perceptions of migrants.

2. - To study the formation of the image of a migrant student in print and electronic mass media.

3. - To study the phenomenon of xenophobia and tolerance and their roots in the mass media.

4. - To identify the broadcasting features of the stereotype of a migrant student image’s perception in the media space.

5. - To conduct a comparative analysis of the migrant’s image in the media and in the views of local residents.

6. - To identify which domestic prejudices and the influence of certain mass media in the social environment give rise to persistent images that give rise to attitudes of negative expectations towards migrant students.

7. - To identify positive changes in the perception of people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds of migrant students that can be achieved under the influence of the mass media.

The proposed questionnaire included the following questions:

1. - Do you think the number of migrant students has increased or decreased in recent years?

2. - What source did you get this information from?

3. - Do migrant students occupy jobs of the local population?

4. - In your opinion, who forms the stereotypical image?

5. - In your opinion, how do the media generally portray migrant students?

6. - Do you think the image formed in the media describes the real features of a migrant student?

7. - Do you think that a stereotypical image can affect the relationship between people?

8. - Which media outlets, in your opinion, have the greatest influence on your attitude towards migrants? (internet, TV, print media, other)

9. - What to do you think leads frequent discussion of student migration in the media?

Results and Discussion

Starting to analyze the results obtained, it is necessary to determine the important role in information construction, in the development of tolerance, xenophobia, acceptance or rejection of migrant students by the local population. According to the study, it is easier for residents to form their opinion based on personal experience (66% of respondents), but a significant place is given to the media (34% of respondents). Thus, the presence of real cultural remoteness can play a role in the formation of ethnophobia. To the question: Do you think the number of migrant students has increased or decreased in recent years? The respondents said that the number of migrant students increased (66%); did not notice any change (13%). First, the respondents noticed the external differences between migrant students and the local population (92%), followed by behavioral differences (29%), the lifestyle of different ethnic communities (13%). In most cases, the respondents in their responses were guided by information coming from the mass media. An important role in the construction of the information field is played by the Internet (82%), television (62%), printed publications (11%), and radio (11%). This information plays a special role in relation to the near abroad, students from the CIS countries. For example, people of Caucasian nationality and, in particular, migrant students are primarily associated among the local population not so much with education, but with medium and small businesses, as well as any types of trade. Locals leave such comments as: they are also engaged in big business and began to infiltrate the local authorities, get into the universities to take a more favorable social position.

Directly during the analysis of television channels, the content of federal, regional, and district channels was made, to identify in them the percentage of positive, negative, and neutral information about migrant students that enters the mass consciousness. Based on the data obtained during the content analysis, the following general conclusions can be drawn. During the study of TV channels, the following results were obtained, federal media: the level of positive information about migrants is 20%, negative - 60%, neutral - 20%. Analyzing another federal channel, can be established that the level of positive information about migrants is 32%, negative - 44%, and neutral - 24%. According to regional channels, the following results can be distinguished: positive information - 42%, negative - 30%, neutral - 28%; analyzing another regional channel, the following results can be distinguished: positive information - 50%, negative - 36%, neutral -14%. Analyzing all the results obtained, for all the analyzed federal and regional channels, we can draw general conclusions that on the central channels, on average, there is 68% of negative information, which is mainly more than on regional channels (about 46% on average); positive information is more on regional channels (on average, 35%), and on federal (24%); neutral or other information about migrant students is also more on regional channels. On average, on district channel there is 10% of such information on television, on the central channels - less, on average, such information occupies 2% of the ether.

To the question, do you think that local residents have a stereotypical image of a migrant student? More than half of the respondents (64%) said that they have. 76% of respondents agreed that the stereotypical image is formed by the mass media, 34% of respondents also said that the image of a migrant in the media is not valid, 32% said that the image in the media is a valid image. In addition, 62% of respondents say that the formed image of a migrant hinders the establishment of a constructive and morally stable relationship between a migrant and a local resident.

The study revealed that information about migrant students is not so common. From the published information, the following can be distinguished: positive information about migrant students in the regional press is 35%, negative - 12%, neutral - 53%. From the data obtained, we can draw general conclusions: there is 31% of negative information on the central channels; on average it is mainly more than in regional programs; about 48% of positive information is given. The analysis of ethnic newspapers and magazines showed much positive result compared to the regional and federal press. In ethnic publications, there are many positive moments that describe the customs and traditions of the people, they describe great people and their heroic deeds, and they can find information about ordinary families and people who live and work conscientiously for the benefit of the region. Thus, in a newspaper supervised by the Tatar community, the study revealed 62% of positive information and 38% of neutral, negative information was not found; in a newspaper supervised by the Azerbaijan community, there are 79% of positive information, 18% of neutral information and 3% of negative; in a newspaper supervised by the Jewish community, positive information - 32%, neutral information - 56% and 12% of negative. It can be concluded that ethnic publications have a way of communicating positive information about migrant students and their way of life to society, which of course accelerates the process of integration and assimilation. According to the study, the mass media actively influence the formation of public emotions of disgust and indignation or a positive attitude towards migrant students.

Interviewing the migrant students themselves, the pilot study revealed that the most difficult issues for migrant students are issues related to everyday life, employment, language acquisition, cultural customs, and unusual climatic conditions. Migrant students answered the question: "What will contribute more to your successful adaptation in a foreign country?": the presence of one or two fellow countrymen in the field of leisure and study (86%); communication outside the field of education with both peers (100%) and with older local residents (58%); trips to cinemas, where there are food courts and it is easy to start communicating with strangers (88%), walking around the city (24%).

Thus, based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that there are certain stereotypes among the local population regarding a particular ethnic group. These stereotypes are also applied to migrant students who come to study for a long time. Special attention should be paid to the position of inter-ethnic communication broadcast by the mass media, so as not to provoke negative stereotypes among the local population and not to form a stable negative image of a migrant student. Since it is the stable negative images that form the attitudes of negative content, interethnic conflicts, and negative expectations in relation to migrant students.

Conclusion

The importance of the media environment for managing the migration processes of students is beyond doubt. Adaptation problems and integration problems are investigated.

It is determined that it is easier for residents to form their opinion based on personal experience, but a significant place is given to the media. Thus, the presence of real cultural remoteness can play a role in the formation of ethnophobia. First, local residents notice the external differences between migrant students and the local population, and then they note the behavioral differences and the way of life of different ethnic communities.

It is revealed that the most difficult issues for migrant students are: issues related to everyday life, employment, language acquisition, cultural customs, and unusual climatic conditions for them. It is determined that the following factors contribute to adaptation: the presence of one or two fellow compatriots in the field of leisure and study; communication outside the field of education with both peers and older local residents; trips to cinemas.

It is shown that by providing the mass public with positive information about student migration, the mass media enable the society to navigate in a certain way both in the internal and external migration situation. An important role in the construction of the information field is played by the Internet, then by television and printed publications with radio.

It is revealed that information about migrant students is not so common. From the published information, the following can be distinguished: there is more negative information on the central channels, than on the regional channels. An analysis of ethnic newspapers and magazines shows that much more information that is positive is devoted to migrant students compared to the regional and federal press.

It is determined that residents who encounter migrant students in direct communication often form a positive image of a migrant student.

Changing the ethnic proportions of the country's population, like any other complex social process, does not entail exclusively positive consequences.

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Notas de autor

Información adicional

How to reference this article: IBRAGIMOV, I. D.; KORENKO, Y. M.; MATVIENKO, V. V.; KHRISANOVA, E. G.; KAZAKOV, A. V.; ZABAZNOVA, N. M.; KAGOSYAN, A. S. International students in Russian universities: mass media role in attitude peculiarities formation to them and problems of adaptation. Revista on line de Política e Gestão Educacional, Araraquara, v. 25, n. esp. 2, p. 1001-1012, May 2021. e-ISSN:1519-9029. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22633/rpge.v25iesp.2.15282