Ukrainians—Brothers, Enemies, or Russians? Strategic Narratives and Visual Propaganda Techniques on Russian News and Political Talk Shows in 2010, 2013, and 2021

• In Event: Media and Manipulation: Propaganda Narratives and the Justification of Russia's War in Ukraine through Information Landscape

Abstract

In this project, I analyze strategic narratives about Ukrainians that were prominent on Russian official television in 2010-2022, as well as the visual propaganda techniques that accompanied them. The focus of this thesis is on how two largest and most popular state-owned TV channels, namely Channel One and Russia-1, employed visual propaganda techniques to create and grow the narratives in order to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started on February 24, 2022. I trace the development of the narratives about Ukrainians and the evolution of the accompanying visual propaganda techniques via two genres represented by the most watched programs in Russia: a TV news program Vremya and a political talk show Evening with Vladimir Solovyev. Specifically, I analyze the broadcasts released during three pivotal years in the relationship between Russia and Ukraine: 2010, when strategic partnership between the two countries was in bloom; 2013, the year prior to the annexation of Crimea; 2021, the year preceding the invasion. By doing so, I expect to learn how the narratives were constructed and what elements, both textual and visual, they consisted of in each of the years, and how the textual and the visual in the narratives developed across the years. This project, therefore, is to shed more light on the origins of the conflict and explain the role media played in it, as well as map the way subtle propaganda techniques have been stifling the freedom of speech in Russia all the while promoting and justifying hostility against its neighbor.

Author

• Arina Kosareva, U of Oslo / PRIO (Norway)