The article analyzes new interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the relationship and mutual influence of media and conflict in the context of preserving historical memory in the modern media environment. The article examines theoretical, historical, socio-cultural and communicative aspects of the interaction and mutual influence of media and conflict in the context of the current transformation of media space and society. The authors draw conclusions about the role of media in preserving cultural and historical heritage and historical memory in the context of digitalization. They analyze the prospects for further research into the risks, challenges and conflicts arising from the volatility and uncertainty of the contemporary media environment and outline possible outcomes of work in this area. The article identifies significant changes in the way conflict is reflected in different media, and the impact of these changes on individuals and communities affected by them. It identifies the need to consider the new purposes of media texts, using the traditional functions of journalism and involving a representative segment of media consumers in the process of learning about conflict. The authors emphasize the need to analyze the multi-subject digital media environment in order to correlate two types of conflict situations (those generated by the media and those arising for other reasons), to design technologies and ways of managing the processes of media representation of conflict, and to create the necessary tools for this purpose. It is reasonable to predict that interdisciplinary analyses of the mutual influence of the phenomena of conflict and the media will broaden the current understanding of what conflict is in the situation of a new media reality that emerges as a result of the interaction of different media and their target audiences. As a possible prospect for research in this direction, the authors point out the search for ways to improve the effectiveness of media communications in order to reduce the risks of conflict and the formation of measures that are designed to harmonize the techniques of public communication. They draw attention to the importance of such developments to fill the gap in the theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of media representation in the context of current problems of contemporary Russian society, including the risks of conflicts of different nature.

The history of Soviet journalism during the Great Patriotic War has been fairly well researched. Studies on the history of journalism typically analyze how military events were covered in the media and the picture of the war that journalists created. However, the experience of Soviet war correspondents during the war has been scarcely studied. Th is article proposes a different approach to the analysis of the accumulated historical material, specifically: it examines the emotional and psychological state of journalists at war, the peculiarities of their work and daily life. The empirical basis of the research includes both the wartime diaries and the memoirs of Soviet journalists written in the postwar period. A broad array of material has been analyzed, allowing the structure of the study to focus on the war correspondent themselves. The study identifies a range of issues faced by war correspondents during the Great Patriotic War, such as professional problems of selecting information for publication, specific methods of gathering material, as well as ethical dilemmas, and the emotional overloads experienced by journalists. The most informative source for this research was the memoirs of the chief editor of the central military newspaper Red Star, D.I. Ortenberg. His focus was on the working conditions, impressions, and difficulties faced by journalists when selecting topics for publication and interpreting the events they encountered. To a certain extent, the portrayal of their own work in wartime is reflected in the correspondents’ publications, although during military actions, many facts could not be written about due to censorship or ideological restrictions. This study also addresses the topic of “truthfulness” — the truth about the war, as understood by journalists, participants, and witnesses of the events. The research is relevant for analyzing the work of contemporary Russian war correspondents, despite historical differences. It highlights a range of professional, ethical, and psychological issues faced by journalists who carry out their duties in wartime conditions or conflict situations.