Influential Women of St. Petersburg in Business Journalism: Media Portrait and Professional Status

Chernova Anastasia Nikolaevna ORCID: 0009-0003-1058-6295 Postgraduate student; Institute 'Higher School of Journalism and Mass Communications'; St. Petersburg State University 199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Universitetskaya nab., 7/9 anastasiamurzinaa@gmail.com Other publications by this author

The relevance of the study is determined by the need for a scientific understanding of the successful experience of forming a female model of self-realization. While in Western countries women are forced to fight for equality, and in some countries of Asia and Africa for survival ^[28], in the countries of the former Soviet Union, the fair sex has access to a variety of ways of self-realization. In Russia, starting a family is in harmony with building a career, which makes women's lives multifaceted and dynamic. The definition of a media portrait of a woman in business journalism is carried out using a scientific method: a content analysis of the special issue of the newspaper "Business Petersburg" No. 25 (6081) dated 03/07/2025 "Business Petersburg. 100. Influential women of St. Petersburg 2024" on the subject of a media portrait and the professional status of the heroines of the special issue. The results of the research based on the materials of the St. Petersburg mass media can be used by individuals, scientists, journalists, and politicians outside the region, opening up opportunities for self-realization to more women.

According to the 2021 Russian population census, 78 million women and 68 million men live in the country (Federal State Statistics Service: [website]. URL: https://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn/2020/Tom1_Chislennost_i_razmeshchenie_naseleniya ), of which about 15.5 million women and 10.6 million men have higher education (Federal State Statistics Service: [website]. URL: https://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn/2020/Tom3_Obrazovanie ), which indicates the accessibility of higher education to citizens, regardless of gender. Russia aims to preserve traditional values (Russian President: [website]. URL: http://www.kremlin.ru/acts/bank/48502 ), which does not exclude the unfolding of women's potential beyond the institution of family and marriage, but on the contrary supports the career development of a personality.

The accessibility of education and a promising future for girls, girls and women were formed as a result of systematic actions to debunk stereotypes that affect professional realization. The media can transform human perception of phenomena and change behavioral patterns ^[29]. In this context, the female media image and media portrait become important objects for scientific understanding, since they define the concept of "woman" and model social reality – the female media portrait is especially significant in business journalism, which directly affects the fields of business and politics.

Based on the materials of the leading St. Petersburg business publication Delovoy Peterburg, a study was conducted to get an idea of the female media portrait. The issue of the newspaper No. 25 (6081) dated 03/07/2025, timed to coincide with International Women's Day on March 8, contains mentions of the 100 most influential residents of the city who took part in their work. The determination of the professional status of the heroines of the thematic issue is the subject of the study.

The research methodology is based on the application of the method of content analysis of photo images and text materials related to the participants of the list of the most influential women in St. Petersburg. Together, these photos and texts form the basis for isolating the overall image of a successful St. Petersburg woman.

Literature review

In the context of mediatization, which involves not only the transmission of cultural symbols in the media, but also the transformation of social reality (which determines the dialectical nature of this process) ^[38], signs and meanings acquire special importance. The media image as a phenomenon often becomes the subject of research activity. Often in the scientific field, there are works on the topic of political media images (countries or individuals engaged in political activities), regional (territories, nationalities), corporate (industries, organizations, positions, professions).

The most cited Russian-language works on the media image belong to: T.N. Galinskaya, who identified three trends in the scientific understanding of media images ^[9], E.N. Bogdan, who defines this concept as a special image of reality offered by the media to its audience for perception ^[4]; L.B. Zubanova, who understands the media image of reality as "collectively produced the value-semantic field of information" ^[12]. Among the recently published studies of the media image, it is worth highlighting the following authors: Simakova S.I., who reveals the topic in the aspect of visuality ^{[17; 18; 19]}, Sidorskaya I.V., who distinguished the concepts of "image" and "image" ^[16]; Melnik G.S., who outlined in several works the content of the media image of Russia abroad and in the mind Russians ^{[11; 15; 23]}.

An important structural component of a media image is a media portrait – this concept is practically not disclosed in the scientific field. Speaking about the media portrait, we can mention the names of Tarasova A.N., who considers it as a genre based on the materials of the French media ^[22], Chumikov A.N., who refers to the concept in articles about the modern information field ^[25] and the sociological dimension of media content ^[26]. In the context of this work, a media portrait is understood as a set of visual characteristics of the media object under consideration, which make up a significant component of the media image. Of particular value is the scientific understanding of the media portrait within the framework of sociology, since the visual image can be considered as a transmitter of the "semantic constants" of civilization ^[17].

The media become an integral part of the life of every civilized person, creating individual pictures of the world through mediatized information – E.L. Vartanova suggests the concept of "media man" (homo mediatus), denoting a member of society, "whose existence is determined and largely shaped by the content of the media as a product produced by a separate branch of the modern economy, the media industry, and consumed in processes of mass/social communication, as well as communication relations and interests of the individual" ^[6]. Thus, the content of the media portrait of influential women in the business media directly determines the business reality through the existence of participants in economic relations.

The nature of print media is characterized by visuality. The documentary nature of photography fills it with the quality of reality, free from subjective assessments ^[18]. R. Barth also writes about this, "nothing written can compare in authenticity with a photo. The misfortune of language, perhaps its inherent voluptuousness, is due to the fact that it is unable to verify its own authenticity" ^[2]. Therefore, the main empirical basis of the study consists of photographs of St. Petersburg women published in the newspaper.

This research focuses not only on the analysis of visual media materials, but also on the content of the text part, which makes it possible to determine the key characteristics of the mentioned persons in terms of social roles: professional and family status. Acting as a repeater of symbolic forms in the cultural space, the media reproduce social reality anew ^[24]. Scientific understanding of the role model behind the "influential woman" nomination allows us to achieve an understanding of the image offered by the leading business publication of St. Petersburg to its audience.

In the context of the current study, marital status refers to an individual's marital status (marital status, children, grandchildren). Professional status in the framework of this study is proposed to be interpreted as the social status of an individual in accordance with his professional activity, which determines self-identification and position in the system of social relations, based on ideas about the rights and responsibilities inherent in the specialty.

Of particular importance is understanding the professional aspect of the list of the most influential women published in the regional media, the perspective of the journalistic text's influence on the audience: the choice of profession of individuals goes beyond the individual-personal process and is made under the influence of external circumstances and pressure from agents of socialization ^[13] – social institutions, significant relatives and the media, influencing both the former, and the second. Hypothetically, the most common profession and branch of labor in the reviewed list can become a guideline of professional choice for the younger generation.

In the Russian-speaking scientific field, the most popular work on professional status is the work authored by Golovanova E.I., devoted to the study of the category of professional figure in the linguistic aspect ^[10]. Recently, academic success has been enjoyed by scientific papers devoted to research on the status applicable to certain specialties. ^{[1; 3; 7; 20; 27 and others]} and the professional identity of students of higher educational institutions ^{[5; 8; 14; 21, etc.]}. In recent works by foreign authors, there is a tendency when professional status is analyzed in relation to professionalism ^{[32; 37, etc.]}, the consideration of professional status as an identification characteristic of a person, determining his abilities ^{[36; 39, etc.]} or needs ^{[30; 34; 35, etc.]} is particularly popular, and studies of professional status are also conducted in the context of determining the professional identity of individuals ^{[31; 33 and others]}. The consensus of opinions in the scientific definition of the concept of "professional status" has not been achieved so far.

Research methodology:

Based on the materials of the issue of the newspaper "Business Petersburg" No. 25 (6081) for 03/07/2025 "Business Petersburg. 100. Influential women of St. Petersburg 2024" conducted a content analysis of the photo images of the heroines of the list and the texts related to these photos. Some women were honored with the publication of interviews and photos not only in the general list, but also on individual pages. The empirical base of the study consisted of 100 photos and texts. Mostly, the location of the heroines in the list is based on the alphabetical order of their surnames, with the exception of awards in nominations for special contributions in various fields of work.

Delovoy Peterburg is the leading business publication in the North–West, published since May 1993 and has more than 6,000 issues (Delovoy Peterburg: [website]. URL: https://www.dp.ru/staff). The circulation of the newspaper in 2025 is 6,000 copies of each issue. The newspaper is published three times a week and is distributed by subscription, retail and through partners. The newspaper's audience is the business elite of St. Petersburg and all those interested in the economic life of the city.

Stages of content analysis:

1. determining the external characteristics of a media portrait based on a photo;

2. based on the text data, the professional status, the branch of labor activity, and the marital status of the heroines are determined.;

3. Using the quantitative method, identify the most common features in the media image of an influential woman in St. Petersburg and identify the average media portrait.

The analysis of the image content included:

– determination of the approximate age of the heroines: the assessment was made "by eye" – how old does the heroine look visually? How does the average reader of the publication see it? To verify the objectivity of the researcher's assessment, a comparison was partially applied with the age of the heroines indicated in open sources. In most cases, the researcher's assumption and the real age coincided, sometimes the error was 2-3 years.;

– determination of hair color and styling options: blonde, brunette, brown-haired, light-haired, red, gray or non-standard color; loose long or square, short, tucked into a hairstyle, hidden under a headdress; curly or straight;

– study of faces: eye color, glasses, makeup option (natural, casual, bright) or lack thereof, was the lady smiling or thoughtful;

– an assumption about the nationality of the heroines, based on external data;

– what the heroines are wearing and what color prevails in the photo.

Based on the text materials under the photo, it was possible to identify:

– which female names are more common in the list of the most influential;

– the professional status of the heroines (based on the captions directly under the photo) and the field of work;

– an indication of higher education and academic degree (PhD or doctorate);

– the frequency of indications of marital status (marriage, having children and grandchildren).

It is also necessary to point out the unavoidable errors in any study, as in this one. Firstly, due to the technical characteristics of the images (expansion, scale, color rendering), it is possible to distort some of the data, such as eye or hair color. Secondly, the absence of some data in the text, for example, about the status of marriage or the presence of children, does not mean that this is not the case in the real life of the heroines. The texts are not compiled according to the same template and reflect the different sides of the participants in the list. Finally, and thirdly, the researcher's subjectivity, which affects the perception and interpretation of data, should not be discounted.

The results of the study:

The list of the 100 most influential women of St. Petersburg is presented in the newspaper's issue with photographs with captions and texts of the same format, which together make up small media portraits. In addition to the general, there are differences in the stylistic solution of the materials (photos and texts). There is no information about the authors of the photos and texts, they are probably provided by the heroines themselves or the organizations in which these women work.

In the minds of most individuals, the idea of appearance anticipates the idea of the subject's content, so photographs of the heroines of the list of the most influential women in St. Petersburg are of paramount importance for research and should be analyzed first. All photos are of the same size and shape (square), placed from 3 to 9 pieces per page. All the photos show faces, the lower border of the frame is located just below shoulder level.

The estimated age of the heroines of the photo became the basis for determining the age of the media image of an influential woman in St. Petersburg - 50 years old (average value). Blondes turned out to be more influential (37), followed by girls with hair of all shades of light brown (21), brunettes (20) are in third place, followed by brown-haired women (12), redheads (5), gray (2), with informal hair color (1) and ladies in hats (2Curls are not in trend among influential women – only 23 out of 100 people have them. The absolute majority prefers to wear their hair loose (34), a square haircut is in second place among stylistic solutions (31), short hair is also popular (21). Probably, the lack of complex hairstyles for most ladies is due to the busy pace of life. Nevertheless, St. Petersburg women find time for makeup: 44 people have daily make-up, 38 have natural make-up, only 9 women have no makeup, bright (8) and evening (1) are practically not in use. The photo shows only 15 of the 100 heroines wearing glasses. As far as it is possible to see in the photo, 34 have blue eyes, 27 have brown, 20 have gray, 17 have green, two hid their eyes behind opaque glasses. More than half of them have Slavic looks, 64 of the heroines of the photo are smiling. 66 women are dressed in suits, 23 in elegant blouses and dresses, the rest in uniform or casual and sportswear. In 37 photos, black prevails, in 16 – white and in 16 others – gray, in 7 – blue, in smaller groups of images other colors prevail.

The name plays a big role in the socialization of the personality. The results of the study showed that the owners of the name Elena are much more influential than others. So, the list includes 14 Helen, 8 Anna, 7 Julia, 6 Irin, Tatiana, 5 Catherine, Natalia, Svetlana, 4 Maria, Olga, 2 Alexandra, Alla, Anastasia, Daria, Lyudmila, Marina, Nadezhda, Nina, 1 Alevtina, Alyona, Angela, Valentina, Vera, Victoria, Diana, Efrosinia, Inga, Inna, Karina, Lyra, Lyubov, Margarita, Marika, Nika, Tamara, Ulyana, Elvira, Emma.

The results of the professional status study are based on the italicized instructions in the photo caption. Many of the women manage to perform several roles, so the number of positions and positions reflecting the level of professional status is close to two hundred. So, the influential women of St. Petersburg are 43 directors (25 of them general and 4 executive), 9 business owners/ owners/co-owners/ co-owners, 7 managers, 6 chairmen, 5 deputies, 4 founders, 3 vice-governors (including the first vice-governor of the Leningrad region), 3 heads, 3 deputies, 3 rectors, 2 lawyers, 2 actresses, 2 artists, 2 doctors, 2 bosses, 2 organizers, 2 partners, 2 singers, 2 presidents of companies, 2 commissioners for rights, 2 managers, 2 champions, 1 author, 1 inspirer, 1 vice president of the company, 1 documentarian, 1 head, 1 abbess, 1 mediator, 1 neurolinguist, 1 neonatologist, 1 pediatrician, 1 popularizer of science, 1 prima, 1 professor, 1 secretary, 1 soloist, 1 co-organizer, 1 TV presenter, 1 coach, 1 founder, 1 figure skater, 1 artistic director, 1 member of the Academy of Russian Television.

The largest number of influential women in St. Petersburg work in government (22), almost the same number in cultural institutions (18) and the education system (9). According to the results of the study, sports (8), medicine (6), trade (5), law (5), banking (4), production (4), communications (4), business (3), utilities (3), science (3), construction (3). Charity (2) and church (2) activities, restaurant business (2) were the least in demand, fewer heroines are professionally involved in motorsport (1), hotel business (1), investments (1), mechanical engineering (1), entertainment (1), real estate transactions (1), agriculture (1), show business (1). It is noteworthy that the results of the study can serve as an argument in favor of the existence of "female" specialties.

The fact of higher education is indicated in 72 texts, it is likely that the other 28 heroines also graduated from higher educational institutions, but the authors of the notes about them did not consider this information significant. The possession of an academic degree turned out to be quite prestigious among influential women in St. Petersburg: 5 of them are doctors of sciences and 17 more are candidates, that is, almost a quarter of the total number. In this regard, it can be argued that the level of education still largely determines an individual's career achievements.

There is practically no information about the marital status of the heroines of the issue, with the exception of a couple of cases: these are texts about Svetlana Agapitova and Alyona Tsygankova. Svetlana Agapitova is at the top of the list of the most influential women in St. Petersburg, so a note about her speculatively sets the form for all subsequent ones. The information that the Commissioner for Human Rights in St. Petersburg is a part-time mother of 4 children and grandmother of 3 grandchildren fills the text with personal content – human, not just formal. In contrast to the mention of family members at the beginning of the issue, the lack of information about the family of 98 of the following heroines makes the texts about them dry – real life outside of professional status remains behind closed doors. On the contrary, the text about Alyona Tsygankova, who, as CEO, manages to be a wife, mother of 2 children, and mistress of a house where cats, dogs, a parrot, a turtle, and fish live, seems sincere. This note is located almost at the end of the list, which once again underlines the incompleteness of the remaining 98, concluding summaries of job changes between 2 texts that convey the value of the family.

Being a mother is a unique experience for a woman, which is undeservedly underestimated. In a situation where the status of motherhood is "erased" by the media editor from the biography of the hero of the journalistic material, the media image becomes unreliable. The task of giving prestige to the role of the mother is more urgent than ever (in the context of the population decline trend in the Russian Federation (Federal State Statistics Service: [website]. URL: https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/EDN_06-2024.htm)). It is worth noting that in the articles of this newspaper, the heroines of the list note the positive influence of the family on their professional development. An unsuccessful way to address family values is perhaps to recognize the indication of the degree of kinship of the "billionaire's daughter" type, which calls into question the personal merits of a woman.

Conclusion

Based on the materials of the special issue of the Delovoy Peterburg newspaper No. 25 (6081) dated 03/07/2025, the media image of a modern influential St. Petersburg woman was analyzed in terms of media portrait and professional status. To sum up, an influential woman in St. Petersburg is more likely to be a blonde of about 50 years old, prefers a business style of clothing (suit) and straight loose hair in her hairstyle. Her appearance is Slavic, so her blue eyes stand out behind her everyday makeup. Her name is most likely Elena. Higher education is mandatory, and possibly an academic degree. Professional status can be designated as director, owner, head; field of activity – government, culture or education.

This media portrait almost exactly describes the cover of the special issue under study, which depicts Elena Finogenova, a striking blonde in a red suit, lawyer, founder and partner of the Pobeda group, founder and ideologist of the Let's Live center. The choice of a specific design for the front page of the newspaper testifies to the professionalism of the editorial staff, who knows or accurately feels the media image of a business woman they create. This approach promises the publication further prosperity, which, however, is impossible without the economic stability of the country. In this regard, the media image of a woman should be supplemented with information about her marital status (as, for example, the image of the cover girl Elena Finogenova was revealed in an interview outside the list of the most influential).

Business journalism has the potential to have a suggestive effect on the audience, which means setting patterns of behavior and revealing the content of role models and socially significant concepts. The media image of an influential woman can be broadcast in a business publication through an image and text that necessarily contains information about her professional status, but this is not enough to form a pattern that promotes the preservation of traditional values and maintains the prestige of the institution of the family.