Genres in the Context of PR-discourse: History, Typology, Challenges of Modern Times

Abstract

The article is devoted to the question of modern functioning of the system of genres in PR-discourse. Today, this issue is debatable, because there are no Ukrainian sources such as textbooks and manuals on this issue, and foreign sources do not fully cover it. In addition, lack of knowledge of foreign languages leads to the inability of students to learn the material and qualitatively apply it in practice. In modern PR discourse, all genres are divided into oral and written, video, audio or print. The article offers an analysis of such genres as press release (its varieties – press announcement, post release), biography, background, fact list, questions and answers, invitations, greetings. Media texts such as image article, image interviews, case stories are analyzed separately. The definition and specifics of such related PR-texts as slogan, resume, press review are specified. The specifics of preparation of combined PR-texts are considered: booklet, prospectus, brochure, newsletter. Particular attention is paid to the correct design of such a combined genre as folders for the press (media kit), which is a part of every official event, such as a press conference, a press tour, a presentation. Official sites, that use PR-genres to communicate, are illiterate, we see many mistakes. A large number of different genres leads to confusion in interpretation, many use all genres chaotically, without going into details, sometimes they are designed uncorrectly, do not reflect the necessary information, because their main task is to help journalists cover a person, group, organization or institution. At the present stage, the form of documents is also changing. PR-documentation is increasingly transferred to the electronic version for placement on sites, sent by e-mail, is changing in the direction of greater visualization. Competent possession of information on writing and visual design is important and relevant today.