This article is devoted to the methods of designing a social reality in the media discourse. In the line with the theoretical problems of the language social role in the information society, the article raises the question about the structure and methods of designing the meanings of public interest in the “centers of social tension”, which include the social reality of labor migration in modern Russia. The authors argue that media texts monitor the current status of this social phenomenon and set cognitive reflective and evaluative structures in the process of mediatization of the thematic content. The basic research techniques used in the study include content analysis, interpretative analysis, cognitive modeling. The authors develop an idea that media discourse of social reality in mass media communication coordinates acquires axiological orientation, presenting itself as a grid of values and value guidance used to determine the discourse identity of the public addressee. In this regard, the axiological polyphony and polarity of the subject area are revealed where the types of content elements act as carriers of dominant general meanings - attractors representing the structures of understanding and evaluating the objects of mediatization of the social tension center. The prospect of further analysis lies in line with the identifying the strategic and technological character of this type of social discourse. The results of the study can be used in scientific research of media and social discourse. The materials and conclusions can also be used in the educational activities, such as educational courses of communication theory, discourse analysis, intercultural communication.