The article considers the functional specificity of evidentiality in the popular science media discourse, defines its role in the organization of objecting communication. The hybrid
nature of the discourse under consideration, based on the interaction of the principles of scientific
and mass media communication, on the inclusion of elements of scientific and journalistic styles in
the speech structure of the media text, allows expanding and transforming the functionality of evidentiality, which was demonstrated on the basis of an analysis of the popular science TV programs
“We and Science. Science and Us” (“NTV”), “Scientific Investigations of Sergey Malozemov”
(“NTV”), publications on the website of the journal “Postnauka”, the author’s audio project “Naked digger”. As the main ones, medialinguistic methods of discursive and contextual analysis were
used, which made it possible to identify and systematize the functional features of evidentiality. At
the same time, the principles of functioning of a popular science text were taken into account, depending on the type of mass media and the possibilities of its distribution channel. Evidentiality
turns out to be a popular and convincing means of objection, which implements several functions at once: it participates in creating a media image of an authoritative scientist as a carrier of scientific
knowledge; acts as a convincing argument in a dispute-polemic; involves the addressee in communication by pointing to the source of information; corrects the tone, style of the objecting, and
therefore emotionally rich communicative situation.