authors:
Lesya Panchenko (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8436-1206)
Volodymyr Petrenko (https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6013-9748)
Relevance of the research. The a priori problem lies in the fact that the information agenda does not possess the status of subjectivity; rather, it belongs to the category of classical objects that are shaped at the discretion of full-fledged subjects, namely media owners, beneficiaries, and, so to speak, socio-political “curators.” The key question in this regard may be formulated as follows: do the needs and interests of the actors who generate a particular information agenda always coincide with the national interests of the state and the deeper needs of society?
Problem statement. The information agenda is not a neutral reflection of reality; rather, it is often shaped under the influence of media owners, political beneficiaries, and other interested actors whose interests do not always coincide with national interests and the actual needs of society. Under such conditions, a contradiction arises between society’s need for a reliable, substantively balanced, and strategically oriented information environment and the actual practice of imposing priorities that may be situational, manipulative, or conjunctural. This makes it necessary to study the information agenda precisely as a factor of societal effectiveness, as well as to identify the conditions under which its formation would serve not narrow group interests but the public good.
Analysis of recent research and publications. The theoretical foundations for the analysis of the information environment and its semantic distortions can be traced in the works of J. Baudrillard, who drew attention to the phenomenon of the implosion of meaning in the media, as well as in the writings of M. Foucault, H. Arendt, and M.-R. Trouillot, which illuminate the relationship between power, control over narratives, and the production of socially significant meanings. Contemporary studies by G. Beck, A. Bennett, E. Charlton-Clarke, A. Cooley, A. Dukalskis, S. Reisoglu, M. Shermer, M. Steinberger, and G. Saad examine new forms of propaganda, informational distraction, the crisis of truth, authoritarian influence, and technologies of control over mass consciousness. In Ukrainian scholarly discourse, the works of V. Petrenko, M. Mykhalchenko, and Z. Samchuk are of particular importance, as they address issues of contemporary information and communication trends, distortions of social reality, inadequate perception of actuality, and the deformation of the hierarchy of social priorities. At the same time, despite the considerable body of research, the problem of the information agenda as a factor specifically of societal effectiveness, especially in the context of Ukrainian realities, still requires further systematization and deeper reflection.
Research task. The priority of the research effort is to analyze and systematize the conditions that determine the effectiveness of the information agenda not for individual persons, corporate interests, or заинтересованные parties, but for society as a whole and for the national interests of the state.
Main material presentation. There is little doubt that the information environment is a necessary and, to a large extent, sufficient prerequisite for the materialization of such attributes of the spiritual sphere as worldview priorities, ideas, and values. In the era of the information society, this fact has acquired self-evident, trivial, and realistic features, since it is precisely the informational mobilization of mass consciousness that renders one or another ideological preference nearly uncontested and practically destined for success in terms of mass support.
Conclusions. The effectiveness of the information agenda is largely determined by the power of informational and communicative influences, which shape not only the current state of society but also its vision of the future. Contemporary media technologies increasingly rely on manipulative mechanisms, including the imposition of an illusion of freedom, the clichéd structuring of thought, and the substitution of genuinely important issues with secondary or artificially constructed problems. As a result, public attention is diverted from strategically significant challenges, while the information space begins to serve not the needs of people but a conjunctural agenda. For this reason, the cleansing of the information and sociocultural space from manipulative practices becomes a priority, requiring the development of critical thinking, philosophical reflection, comparative analysis, and public dialogue grounded in the principles of deliberative democracy.
Keywords: information agenda, era of information society, efficiency of society, worldview alternatives, ideological sphere, mass consciousness, sociocultural conditioning.
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