Infotainment as a Kind of the Latest Communication Technology: Problem Statement

The article analyzes various scientific approaches to infotainment as a phenomenon of media culture, considers the features of infotainment as a specific type of communication technology. The authors note that infotainment has special methods, techniques, and methods for delivering informative material. Analysis of studies shows that today there is no single view on the essence of infotainment as a phenomenon in the field of mass media and communication. Infotainment arose in the twentieth century as a way to presenting news and facts in an entertaining and humorous way, rather than providing real information. It was aimed at keeping the viewer’s attention as much as possible through strengthening the emotional component and the entertaining nature of the presentation of the material. An important task of infotainment in the last century was to increase the ratings of television channels due to the transformation of both the form and content of the information message. Over time, certain changes have taken place in the meaning of this definition. Infotainment today has certain methods, techniques, methods and means of organizing various types of human and social activities in the field of communication. From the very beginning of its emergence, infotainment was aimed at maintaining the attention of the recipient and through television communication to exert a certain effect on the mass consciousness. Infotainment has in its arsenal a whole range of specific techniques, thanks to which it allows to predict a certain communication performance. Infotainment as a technology is actively and rapidly developing, it has certain specific characteristics and functions that allow it to be interpreted as a broad phenomenon in the synergetic space of information and entertainment. As a phenomenon of media culture, infotainment has a significant impact on various fields of activity and social practices. The consequence of the spread of infotainment technology is such communication technologies as politainment, biznestainment, edutainment, tehnotainment.