The Liberating Perspective of the Media Landscape in the Context of the Russian-Ukrainian War

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

The panel's purpose is to examine elements of the modern media landscape of Ukraine (partly Russia and Belarus) from a liberation perspective. After the full-scale Russian invasion, the media landscape of these countries changed radically. At the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the telethon's production was the main source of official information designed to counter Russian aggression and coordinate the position of domestic media. The marathon played an important stabilizing role in countering Russian information oppression in the first six months of the war. Interest in alternative sources began to grow, but it is clear that this has its characteristics in wartime, i.e., the development of a culture of vigilance and a liberation perspective. The monopoly on television in Ukraine is not a monopoly on the media as a whole. This distinguishes Ukraine from the media landscape situation in Russia and Belarus, where the state monopoly in the media sector prevails. The panel aims to highlight the significant differences in the media landscapes of these countries and analyze the nature of such changes and future trends. For example, in Belarus, there is a destruction of the journalistic infrastructure and the liquidation of independent media. In Russia, the media is subordinate to the state and popularizes the Kremlin’s narratives. In Ukraine, various online media channels significantly complement the national media landscape. Text forms of communication dominate these channels, so the lack of visual presentation of material leads to other forms of visual communication - memes.

Sub Unit

• Cinema, Television, Electronic Media

Chair

• Andrei Vazyanau, European Humanities U (Lithuania)

Papers

• Transformation of Telethon United News in the Ukrainian Media Landscape during the Russian-Ukrainian War - Mariya Rohozha, Taras Shevchenko National U of Kyiv (Ukraine)

• Iconic Literacy of War Memes and the Liberating Perspective of the Ukrainian Media Landscape - Olena Pavlova, National Technical U of Ukraine "KPI" (Ukraine)

• Construction of a 'Liberation' Narrative in the Modern Russian Media Landscape - Tetiana Klynina, National Aviation U (Ukraine)

Discussant

• Elizaveta Volkovskaia, U of Pittsburgh