COMPARATIVE DEVICES AS A MEANS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE MASS MEDIA IN POLITICAL TEXTS OF THE BRITISH PRESS

In the present article the authors consider the functions of the comparative devices in British news media texts and their impact on the audience perception. Language remains a fundamental instrument in cultural, socio-economic and political issues transmission. Undoubtedly, any specialized form of discourse possesses its own language and media language is no exception. The media language is diverse, meaningful and comprehensive. Its aims are to draw the readers' attention to particular events, express the creator's attitude and affect the recipient's opinion and consciousness. The news media texts aim at creating and displaying vivid, memorable and informative images and content. The features of the language of news media, in particular political texts of the analytical genre of British newspaper The Guardian, as a form of representation of news media, are determined by its functions. Some scholars outline the following functions of the modern mass media: evaluative, cognitive-educational, hedonistic and informative ones. The evaluative function affects and forms public opinion. Both the hedonistic and entertainment functions are represented by using figurative language that can create visual representation of ideas in our mind. A significant body of research literature brings attention to comparative devices in the political discourse that has distinctive features: imagery, expressiveness, emotiveness, evaluation and manipulativeness. The mentioned features result in formation of certain public awareness and opinion. Thus, comparative devices can be important means of indirect influence and manipulation in the texts related to politics in news by creating a unique and vivid imagery. Explicit and implicit expressions may be identified throughout a news media text by means of language analysis. The study of the language of news media is an opportunity to consider the pragmatic potential of linguistic expressive means as mechanisms of influencing the target audience' consciousness and forming the recipient's attitude to the modern socio-economic and political environments.