The Influence of Information and Computer Technologies and Transnational Media Corporations on Public Legal Awareness

Abstract

Purpose: The article considers specific communicative features of the Internet which have an impact on the development of public legal awareness, particularly, that of today’s youth. Design/methodology/approach: The research methodology is based on the dialectic, historical legal, system-structural, and structure functional methods. Findings: The authors define the main threads in the use of Internet resources as effective agents for legal socialization. This approach should be primarily aimed at equipping the younger generation with skills which will enable them to use online information inculcating legal values. The paper shows how, with the rapid development of Internet communications and digital television, the public’s awareness is left defenseless in the face of “alternative” communicative influence. Originality/value: While the state and society used to directly control the communicative impact of the country’s mass media for centuries, since the beginning of the twenty-first century permissiveness and lack of control over subjects of mass communication have led to the situation when the younger generation is largely exposed to antisocial and criminal ideas and attitudes.