ABSTRACT
The Russian media turned the stream of accusations against Russian authorities into a farce, which was expressed in a surge of ironic detective stories, jokes, and parodies of media reports. In the prank, the congresswoman believed in the existence of the island of Chunga-Changa in Africa. The name of the island was taken from a popular children’s song known to many Russians. Provocative humour in mass media communication is public and therefore resonant. It involves large groups of witnesses and participants. An important aspect in the semantic structure of the media discourse is the audience’s approval or negative evaluation of humour. Disapproval of someone’s humorous actions is expressed in the forms of reproach, accusation, vilification, or blasphemy against the humourist. Ethical evaluation of humour is a part of the worldview that unites the spiritual, verbal, and emotional-sensory experience of language speakers.
