Constructing interpersonal relations in the discourse of Russian media

In this paper the relations between participants in the interaction actualized in the Russian media discourse are investigated. Attention will be paid, firstly, to the role and identity of the writer and the reader and, secondly, to the force of the writer’s statements meant to influence the audience, i.e. his personal attitude to the truth of propositions of the text. The empirical data consist of newspaper articles representing ordinary news reports. Concrete analysis of the realization of the interpersonal relations is provided by applying the theory of critical discourse analysis. This investigation of Russian media texts showed that the news texts include quite a few markers indicating the explicit presence of interpersonal relations between the participants of the communication act.