Role of culture and media in shaping the image of the father to be discussed at United Cultures Forum
The 12th St. Petersburg International United Cultures Forum will host a session within the ‘Media Culture’ thematic block entitled ‘The Image of the Father in Multinational Culture and the Media in Russia and Worldwide’. Experts will discuss how the media, cinema, theatre, advertising, and digital platforms shape perceptions of the father’s role within the family, as well as the opportunities that culture and the media can offer for strengthening family values.
The 12th St. Petersburg International United Cultures Forum will host a session within the ‘Media Culture’ thematic block entitled ‘The Image of the Father in Multinational Culture and the Media in Russia and Worldwide’. Experts will discuss how the media, cinema, theatre, advertising, and digital platforms shape perceptions of the father’s role within the family, as well as the opportunities that culture and the media can offer for strengthening family values.
In 2026, the Forum will be organized by the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the St. Petersburg City Administration.
Issues relating to the promotion of engaged and responsible fatherhood, greater involvement of men in child-rearing, and the role of the media and the cultural sector in promoting family values were previously highlighted by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation. The forthcoming session will be a logical continuation of the discussion held by TASS as part of the Forum in 2025, and will be in line with the objectives of TASS’s first national award, ‘Russia’s Large Family’.
Participants will examine how the image of the father is portrayed today in the news, on television programmes, on social media, in advertising, in films and in the theatre, and to what extent this corresponds to the idea of men playing an active role in family life and in bringing up children. Particular attention will be paid to raising the social status of fatherhood, current and future measures of state support, the role of traditional faiths in strengthening family values, the influence of the digital environment, and the experience of friendly countries abroad. Experts will also discuss the potential of culture and the media in promoting pro-family policies.
The discussion will be moderated by Andrei Kondrashov, curator of the ‘Media Culture’ section and Director-General of the Information Telegraph Agency of Russia (ITAR-TASS).
Participants include Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation; Sergei Novikov, Chief of the Presidential Directorate for Social Projects; Anna Kuznetsova, Deputy Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; Alexey Eremin, Deputy Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation in the Central Federal District; Wang Bin, Director of the Eurasian Bureau of China Media Group (CMG); Ali Jura, Chief Correspondent for the Anadolu Agency; Father Fyodor Lukyanov, Chair of the Patriarchal Commission on Family, Maternity and Childhood Protection.
“TASS has traditionally supported the St. Petersburg International United Cultures Forum and organizes the ‘Media Culture’ block. TASS continues to address the very important topic of demography. This year at the Forum, we will be discussing an interesting topic: ‘The image of the father in the multicultural landscape and media of Russia and the world’. This choice is in line with the strategic objectives set by the President of the Russian Federation for Russian society. This theme resonates with the ideology and objectives of TASS’s first national award, ‘Russia’s Large Family’, and will serve as a logical continuation of the discussion held by TASS at the 2025 Forum, ‘Focus on the Family. How Culture and the Media Can Help Resolve the Demographic Issue’,” noted Andrey Kondrashov.
The 12th St. Petersburg International United Cultures Forum will take place on 24–26 September 2026. The main theme of the Forum is ‘United Cultures, Shared Values’.
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