Abstract
The article discusses the degree of influence of the media on the political consciousness of the population of Pavlodar region. The authors noted that in any modern political system, the media perform a number of important functions: informational, ideological, educational, integration, criticism, control, constitution and association of political subjects, mobilization and the most important influence, management and manipulation. The political influence of the media is carried out through the impact on the consciousness, mind and feelings of a person. In all democratic states (including the Republic of Kazakhstan), a rational model of mass communications prevails, designed to convince people with the help of information and argumentation built in accordance with the laws of logic. This model corresponds to the prevailing type of mentality and political culture of the society. It involves a joint struggle between different media in order to achieve the attention and trust of the audience. In such countries, it is de jure forbidden to use the media to incite racial, national, class and religious hatred and antagonism. However, even here, various political forces often replace the emotional impact with the promotion of their ideas and values. For this reason, the article is mainly focused on the ability of the media to serve various political purposes: managing information flows, strengthening political decisions, political PR, information lobbying. The authors conclude that, realizing the impact of modern information technologies and virtual information space on public opinion and political processes, government officials successfully use virtual communication with citizens. In preparing the article, the authors used the results of a sociological survey «Studying the degree of influence of the media in Pavlodar region» conducted by the authors and the research group of the NAO «Toraigyrov University», commissioned by the State Institution "Department of Information and Social Development of Pavlodar Region».