Medical press of the First World War period: Construction of social reality

Abstract

Introduction. The First World War is a forgotten and completely unhonored page in the history of Ukraine. Instead, events and facts related to it are actively investigated in many European countries. In journalism and journalism studies, the topic of activity of specialized newspaper and magazine editions of medical topics was not investigated in that period, therefore, a picture of the emergence, formation, and development of such a press was not created, and its systematization was not carried out.
Relevance and goal. The goal of the research is to analyze the problem-thematic components of specialized medical periodicals and continuing publications of the First World War period (1914–1918), to find out the peculiarities of their emergence and activity, and to introduce the specified press into scientific circulation. The relevance is formed by the lack of a comprehensive study of the activities of the specialized newspaper and magazine medical press of the specified period, its systematization, and problem-thematic priorities.
Methodology. Descriptive methods are used as a basis during the research, which allows us to penetrate the causes of this or that phenomenon, find out the main stages of its development, the influence of a specific situation on the nature of events and phenomena; and compare local phenomena with general historical processes. Based on the periodization of the history of the development of the Ukrainian press proposed by the Research Institute of Press Studies, the study focuses on the fifth period – Ukrainian periodicals of the First World War 1914–1917.
Results. The beginning of the First World War led to the closure of many publications. This was caused by increased censorship and financial problems of publishers. However, new periodicals also appeared during this period. In particular, 6 editions of military-medical topics were published: «Voenno-sanitarnii obzor» (1917), «Vrachebno-sanitarnie izvestiya Upravleniya Glavnoupolnomochennogo Krasnogo Kresta Yugo-Zapadnogo fronta» (1916–1918), «Izvestiya Kievskoi rentgenovskoi komissii» (1915–1917), «Nash zhurnal» (1917), «Nashe slovo» (1917), «Pomoshch ranenim» (1914). The thematically mentioned editions focused primarily on essential problems that arose in society with the development of military operations. The authors focused on the treatment of injuries from new ballistic weapons, rapid-fire machine guns, gas gangrene, damage by mustard gas and chlorine, the spread of epidemic diseases on the fronts, etc.
Conclusions. The research gives reasons to state that during this period, 6 editions were published, which, based on typological characteristics, we include in the military-medical press. Their pages were dominated by messages related to the struggle for the lives of the wounded and the organization of military medical aid. These publications played one of the leading roles in the representation of military reality.